Tachin Joojeh is a Persian chicken and rice casserole with caramelized onions. The casserole is cooked upside down. When it’s flipped over, the bottom layer, with its beautiful golden crust, becomes the top.
Soon after I got married – more than 20 years ago – a friend gave me a cookbook about Sephardic cooking. I remember thinking the recipes were strange and intriguing. I hadn’t thought about that book in years – maybe even decades. It suddenly popped into my mind a few days ago, when I was researching recipe ideas for “Panning the Globe”.
I was pretty sure I’d never find it in my house, but I did. It still had yellow post-it notes marking the recipes that had interested me way back when: “Sfongo”: Turkish baked spinach and potato casserole, ‘Khoresht Zardaloo”: Veal and Apricot Stew from Iran, “Kadoo Bichak”: Baked Pumpkin and Onion Dumplings from Uzbekistan,”Cous Cous Judgja” from Morocco, and Tachin Joojeh from Iran. It made me smile to be reminded that this journey I’m on with my blog, to explore the exciting food and flavors of unknown countries, started a long time ago.
The term “Sephardic” refers to Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century because they refused to convert to Christianity. It is estimated that 100,000 Jews left Spain and Portugal at this time, and settled in North Africa, Greece, and throughout the Middle East (then the Ottoman Empire).
I’m noticing a pattern in my research that immigration and cultural diversity leads to wonderful, interesting recipes.
Tachin Joojeh get’s its delicious flavor and beautiful yellow color from saffron. Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice. Luckily a little saffron goes a long way.
Saffron is made from the stigmas of little purple crocus flowers. Each flower has only three stigmas. They are delicate and must be harvested by hand. It takes 450 to 500 stigmas to make two tablespoons of saffron threads.
Saffron is frequently used in Persian cuisine and Iran is one of the world’s largest producers of the spice.
Looking back to my newlywed days, I remember making “Tachin Joojeh”. My husband and I liked the name, but even more compelling was the description of the rice, egg and yogurt layer which forms “a firm crust at the bottom of the casserole”.
When you flip your Tachin Joojeh onto a platter and lift the casserole dish off, you will probably stand back and sigh, as I did, admiring the firm brown and yellow crust and the juicy chicken and onions and steamed rice layers that descend beneath it.
And here’s how it looks if you use a rounded bowl-type casserole.
Many countries have wonderful chicken and rice casseroles. Some of my favorites are Indian Biryani, Spanish Arroz Con Pollo, and Jollof Rice from Ghana. Tachin Joojeh is at the top of my list.
Here’s the recipe for Tachin Joojeh: Persian Layered Chicken and Rice with Yogurt. If you make this, I hope you’ll come back to leave a review and let me know what you think!
Persian Layered Chicken and Rice with Yogurt (Tachin Joojeh)
A festive chicken and rice casserole with caramelized onions. Worthy of a special occasion. Serve with garlicky yogurt sauce on the side.
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Festive Main Course
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients
- Yogurt Sauce
- 2 cups plain yogurt, whole milk or low-fat
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled mint or basil to sprinkle on top (optional)
- Chicken and Onions
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 2 large onions, halved and sliced thin
- 3 tablespoons olive oil (divided, see instructions)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (divided, see instructions)
- 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
- fresh ground pepper, to taste
- Tachin
- 2-quart glass (see-through) casserole
- 2 cups long grain Basmati rice, swished with water and drained 6 or 7 times
- 2 egg yolks (whites are not needed for this recipe)
- 3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads crushed with 1/4 teaspoon salt with a mortar and pestle or with the curved back of a fork.
- 2 teaspoons salt (divided – see instructions)
- Fresh black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 tablespoons barberries (or substitute currants)
- some olive oil to sauté the barberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Yogurt Sauce In a medium bowl mix yogurt, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Sprinkle mint or basil on top (optional) Keep in fridge until ready to serve.
- Chicken and onions Season chicken on both sides with 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium heat until very hot. Add chicken – it should sizzle – and cook 6 minutes per side, or until no longer pink. (It will be golden brown on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside) Remove from heat, cut into bite-sized cubes and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet, add onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, turmeric and a few grinds of pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 6-7 minutes over medium heat until onions soften and turn golden brown. Mix with cubed chicken and set aside.
- Tachin: step one Put rinsed rice and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan and add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook, covered, for 7 minutes. Pour into a strainer, drain, rinse with cold water to stop cooking and set aside.
- Tachin: step two Whisk egg yolks, yogurt, saffron, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper in a medium bowl. Add half the cooked, drained rice, mix thoroughly and set aside.
- Tachin: step three Swirl melted butter and olive oil in the 2-quart casserole to coat bottom and sides. Add yogurt & rice mixture and smooth it out into an even layer with the back of a spoon. Add chicken and onion mixture next, making an even layer. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the remaining plain white rice, stir to combine and add to top of casserole, pressing it down gently. Cover casserole with lid or a double layer of foil and bake in the lower third of preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until a light brown crust forms on the bottom. Remove from oven. Carefully flip casserole upside down onto a platter. Cover the top with a clean dish cloth while you give the Barberries a 1 minute stir in a frying pan with a bit of oil. Toss them on top of the Tachin to garnish. Cut Tachin into six servings and enjoy with yogurt sauce on the side.
Notes
[Originally published November 2012. Updated September 2018 with a video, some new photos, added nutritional information, a few tweaks to the written post and double the onion in the recipe.]
Nutrition Information shown is an estimate calculated by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a professional nutritionist.
Keywords: Chicken, Rice, Casserole, Recipe
I am so looking forward to cooking this!!!! Had this meal years ago,loved it ! Have been looking for the reciepe for years!!! Watch this space!🙌🙌🙌
I hope you enjoy Leslie! Please let me know 🙂
Great recipe! I don’t have a dishwasher so I keep promising myself that I’m only going to make food that uses a minimum of utensils. Ha! But I can’t resist interesting,delicious recipes. I used an ovenproof glass baking dish with a square of parchment paper on the bottom. Next time I’m going to use my cast-iron frying pan to get a crisper bottom crust. I used coconut kefir instead of yogurt and that worked out well. I agree with the person who said they’d use more spices in future. The mashed potato idea appeals as well. Thanks for the precise instructions, they made this recipe really doable. 🙂
★★★★★
Just tried this tonight! I didn’t have some ingredients but definitely a 5* for technique since I’ve seen so many different recipes and techniques. So I didn’t have saffron but I used turmeric for that bottom layer, and I did not have yogurt (which I thought I did) so I figured I could substitute that for sour cream and get away with it (I frantically googled on the internet if I could use sour cream in this dish with no definite answers so I hope to serve as an answer for others). Results: I was able to get a crisp!! but I think I could have cooked for about 10 more minutes for a better crunch (60 mins total) so cooking time definitely depends on you. I also could taste the sour cream just a little tiny bit, but I personally didn’t mind it. When I try this recipe again (which I definitely will), I’ll likely use saffron and yogurt and perhaps try cooking it in cast iron to get that crunch I was so hoping for, which Julianna mentioned in her comment. All in all, pretty solid recipe!
★★★★★
I was delighted to see this fantastic recipe! 🙂 Here are some additional tips to get that crispy rice and amazing flavor that makes this a favorite dish for so many of us…
– the additional caramelized onions are a “must”
Рfor vegetarians, you can sub baked or saut̩ed eggplant in place of chicken.
– don’t skimp on the saffron. You want your rice mixture to be a beautiful sunshine yellow (not pale). You can grind the saffron in salt as suggested or with a sugar cube. (It won’t sweeten the dish, but does give the saffron strands something to ‘cling to’). Once ground, ‘bloom the saffron’ mixture in 2-3 T very hot water to a dark orange color and set aside til ready to mix. The saffron water will mellow to sunshine yellow once added to the rice/egg yolk/yogurt. If the mix looks too pale, bloom more saffron and add.
– Once oven is preheated and pyrex bottoms/sides are greased, *heat empty dish in oven* until it is sizzling hot but not burning the oil/butter mix. Carefully remove hot dish and then build layers. Or, if you have a large, **well-seasoned**cast iron pan with tall-ish sides, you can use this for extra crunch– just add additional oil on bottom & sides and preheat the empty cast iron pan til sizzling; remove from oven & then build /add layers and cook.
– ***Important*** To more easily release the rice/prevent sticking: Before flipping, rest pan in cold water in a shallow baking tray so only the bottom is submerged or wrap the bottom of the hot dish in a cold wet dishtowel for ~5 mins before flipping. Run butter knife or spatula along sides/corners to loosen.
– When flipping; strength helps- especially if cast iron. Ensure your ‘flip-to serving plate’ entirely covers the cooked dish pan. Quickly, (come on- you can do this!), and with confidence, flip! Step back and admire your culinary masterpiece. Nooshe-jan!
★★★★★
Thanks for your amazing tips Juliana! I love the idea of substituting eggplant for a veggie version. Also love your tip with the saffron water. And most of all, I appreciate your help with how to get a successful flip-to-serve outcome. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this wonderful detailed comment.
Hi Lisa, thank you for your kind words! There’s a chicken tachin in my oven right now and fingers crossed, it turns out as good as yours looks! I have a gorgeous pomegranate that I seeded to use in place of the barberries. My biggest learning when I first made this dish was not to hesitate when flipping, Otherwise, I would end up with an unimpressive, leaning rice mound that I’d have to cover in sabzi to hide 😉 (sabzi = mix of various fresh herbs like basil, mint, tarragon, watercress…) Take care, be well and thank you for your inspiring blog and recipes!
It was fun trying this new receipe and learning how to make a Persian dish! My friend really misses the taste from back home, and I made this dish for his bday. The rice didn’t turn out crispy, and this was what I was most looking forward to! Any tips on how to achieve this coveted touch? I have a sense that it needed to stay longer in the oven, and yet, I was concerned the top layer of rice would dry out. Thank you for this wonderful site you have created! P.S. Despite the missing crispy rice, he still ate the whole pot in one day! LOL
★★★★★
After totally destroying one of my pots, I tried this in my Persian rice cooker and (again) thoroughly burned the bottom of the rice. Obviously, I overcooked but , after cutting away the burned part, enjoyed the rest! Will try again and cook less!
Helen
By the way, the cooking instructions for the rice cooker are hilarious; Persian translated to Japanese translated to English! Totally incomprehensible, which resulted in side splitting laughter among my friends as I tried to read it aloud!
★★★★
I tried this yesterday and it was quite good, thanks for explaining it so well. I enjoyed reading your story and I am curious to read more about sephardic recipes. Mine didn’t flip well at all so that was a bummer but the taste was still great!
★★★★
Thanks for your version of a wonderful, tasty, and eye candy recipe.
This was a hit at our group gathering! The recipe was spot on, but I had changed a few things out of necessity and taste. I used a Labneh (ran out of yogurt) for the rice mixture, added peas, olives, and fenugreek leaves to chicken saute, used boneless thighs as well as breast meat – I preferred the thigh meat, and also used limes for the lemons in yogurt sauce. My friends did not know of these changes and gobbled it up, and also took home leftovers while asking me to make this again!
Flipping the dish was a challenge, but I will use a casserole dish with handles for easier flipping next time,
Sorry I forgot to post a rating
★★★★★
Can I make it in an opaque metal casserole dish?
Hi Bill. I’ve never tried it in a metal casserole so i can’t be sure. My guess is, it will work. It will definitely taste great. Hopefully it will hold it’s form.
Tried it for the first time last night for my cooking club and everyone loved it (even if it came apart as I flipped the square casserole dish upside down to unmold it). Though the prep took me longer than the estimate, it was worth every minute and hopefully it’ll take me less time in the future.
★★★★★
Hi joy, I’m so glad you and your cooking club loved the Tachin Joojeh, even if it didn’t ‘look’ perfect. that “flip” is tricky! Thanks so much for coming back to leave a comment.
Hello from Stuttgart Germany. Made this tonight, very happy with the results! Just not happy with the high moisture content of the top layer of rice. Also the onions need to be doubled like someone else had mentioned. I will double the rice as I LOVE rice! The Yogurt sauce makes the meal! Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
What can be used instead of yogurt if recipe needs to be dairy free?
Lisa, I have never tried making this without yogurt but my best suggestion is to try it with coconut yogurt. Hopefully the rice will form a nice crust and the flavors will be delicious. Let me know how it turns out.
Enjoyed your story and had same question as Lisa. (Maybe almond milk would also work, I did get it to work with mashed potatoes for a meat meal and it came out great.)
★★★★★
Not only is this recipe amazing, but it makes me smile every time I say it.
★★★★★
I love the name too. SO glad you like Tachin Joojeh 🙂
This is my go-to recipe for if I want to make sure i’m going to impress. I’ve probably made it upwards of 10 times. It’s incredible. I’ve started to use more yogurt rice on the bottom and just a little bit of white rice on top. Either way is delicious. I also like to put as much saffron as I can. I feel that when someone says to use 1/4 tsp of saffron they’re being nice to their reader’s wallets but if you have more on hand it definitely won’t hurt to throw it in.
★★★★★
Hi Lisa, I discovered your blog doing a search for Persian Rice. I adapted this recipe and posted it today for my Food n Flix club. You can find my post with links and credit back to you at https://adayinthelifeonthefarm.blogspot.com/2018/11/tachin-joojeh-foodnflix.html
Thanks for the great recipe. I will be visiting your blog regularly. Love it!!
Hi Wendy, I’m so glad you discovered Panning The Globe and cooked Tachin Joojeh. Isn’t it a fun recipe?! I checked out your blog post – wonderful. I like your adaptation with left over turkey! And I’m excited to watch “A Man Called Ove.” Thanks for that recommendation and thank you so much for the shout out about Panning The Globe. Cheers! Lisa
one more thing Wendy, I agree with you about wanting more onion in this dish and I’ve been meaning to amend the recipe. Thanks for the reminder. I just made the change. You can’t have enough of those delicious caramelized onions!
Made it and loved it! 3 and 5 year old chowed down. (Minus currants and garlic yogurt sauce. They subbed ketchup!) Mine didn’t turn out in a shape (kind of crumbled apart) but I know my oven temp is unreliable. Even though I baked for 60 min it fell apart but everyone loved it anyway. Yum!
★★★★★
What an interesting dish, I’m really curious to try it!
★★★★★
You make me sing ! This is wonderful one ! Pinning to Persian ! Thank you very much !
★★★★★
Hi Lisa
I just printed his recipe, it looks so good. I will be making it during the week and will use dried cranberries in this dish. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more of your delicious recipes.
Great! I hope you enjoy the Persian layered chicken. It’s one of my family favorites!
Friend- this looks amazing!
I love these flavors so much and your writing! It’s like a conversation between us…
This was delicious! I added a lot more spices to the chicken including cumin, garlic salt, turmeric & Vegeta seasoning for some extra flavor. I was also out of EVOO, so I used a combo of Sunflower & vegetable oil. I baked the casserole dish covered for 50 mins & then an additional 15-20 uncovered to get an extra golden crust on the bottom & also was slightly crispy on top (just personal preference) . I would recommend & make again; I will incorporate some veggies next time such as zucchini & peppers.
★★★★★
Your tachin looks amazing Liza and the photos are mouth watering :). I’m looking forward to reading your other posts and drooling over the photos. Gave you a perfect rating.
★★★★★
Thanks so much! I peeked and your blog and I’m drooling over there! ~ Lisa
I made this for Passover last week and it was amazing. Everyone thought it was the best dish at the Seder. Will definitely make again.
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear that. Happy Passover and thank you for letting me know! 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for this recipe and post. I am married to a Persian, and I recently made this version of Tachin for him and his family, and they swear that they have not tasted a more authentic version of this dish since leaving Iran in 1979. Thank you so much!
Thanks Kristen! I’m so glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed the Tachin!
I’m Iranian and love this dish that we call in Persian ” Tahchin” very delicious ! I’m happy that other people around the world enjoy it as well
Sorry mine did not turn out good
But will try nxt time hopefully it might turn out to be good
This is an amazing recipe! DELICIOUSsss! Its hard to find persian recipes…..thanks for putting these recipes out there! I had this or a similar dish in Washington, DC many years ago……. and I am really excited about making it!!! Again THANK You THANK you!!!
I made this last weekend. It was a real treat! Since I’m watching my salt intake, I did try to adjust the salt–seemed like a lot. I look forward to trying some of the other recipes. Thanks!
I made this one the other night. We all loved it!! I used currents since I did not have barberries. I loved the beautiful crust on the rice. It unmolded just like your picture. Will be cooking something else from Panning the Globe this week.
Thanks Carolyn. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Lisa, I’m sighing just looking at the photo of your dish. it looks and sounds so intriguing and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Hi Patty, thank you so much for your nice comments!