Persian Rice – Sorry, Measuring Cups

I believe I've posted a few "fool proof" methods for cooking "perfect" rice, but this Persian version takes the grand prize, and it's not even close for second. The beauty of this method is that it doesn't rely on any specific measurements, or even exact times. This will make some of you very nervous, but just go with it.

As long as the pot you use to boil and steam the grains is large enough, this will work exactly as shown. Since we are basically steaming rice that's already been par-boiled and drained, there are never any issues with too much, or too little water.

By the way, I've only made this a handful of times, and so I'm sure there are many things I could improve on. I hear that soaking the rice in cold, salted water before boiling it helps improve the texture even more, which I find kind of hard to believe.

I mean, is there a level of rice perfection that goes beyond perfection? Probably too deep a question for a food blog about rice, so I'll simply close by saying, I hope you give this Persian rice a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 Portions:

• 2 cups basmati rice, rinsed very well
• 3 quarts water, brought to a boil with 3 tablespoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 russets potato, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• salt to taste
• pinch of ground cumin
• 5 or 6 slices of butter for top
• pinch of saffron, ground and mixed with 1 1/2 tablespoons hot water
• parsley to garnish