Persian Pilaf with a Potato Crust, p 386

Shamsi Davis' Persian Pilaf with a Potato Crust
Polo Ba Tahdig Seeb Zameeni
Iran
Total Time: 3h 35 min (includes soaking time)
Active Time: 25 minutes (scattered)
WW pts (5 svgs): 8
Bonus: pretty darn tasty; looks super cool when turned out perfectly; looks kind of cool even when turn out doesn't work; very little knife work
Bummer: alot of waiting time; uses many dishes

Ever since I first bought WV, I've been in awe of a few things. One of them is the photo for Persian Pilaf with Lime and Green Beans. This dish is a simplier version of that. It gave me the satisfaction of flipping out a pilaf cake without needing to crack open the dried limes. Yes, I'd like to do that one day, but today is about the saffron-loaded pilaf.


This recipe was actually pretty easy, but there were a lot of steps, so many that I now forgot how excited I was hours ago to use the mortar & pestle. Alot of steps, alot of dishes and the recipe seemed to call for precision. Now that I've made it once, I think the next time will run smoother.

I didn't change the amount of fat called for in the recipe, I just used earth balance instead of butter. Also, I used about 1.5 tsps of sugar because I didn't have a sugar cube. The other alteration to the recipe was an accident. I assumed we had the 2 cups of basmati we needed, but there was only 1.25 cups in the pantry. After weighing our options, we decided to proceed with only the rice we had. As a result, our pilaf was extra saffrony.

This was delicious and pretty cool. I might make it again, but probably not until I make several other rice dishes first.
Note the rice spilled in the background. This was a result of flipping the cake onto a too-small platter, although my husband did do a very good job flipping the heavy cast iron skillet and the cake remaining mostly intact. We did have to take the potato crust off separately, so next time I might follow the alternate pan removal directions.