Now in its 21st year, WOMADelaide’s Taste the World takes festival goers on a four-day international culinary adventure around the world and InDaily will give you a taste of things to come with a series of weekly recipes by festival artists in the lead-up to the event on March 6 to 9.
Tara Tiba. Photo supplied
This week’s recipe comes from Iranian/Australian artist Tara Tiba, who is not only a good cook, but is praised as one of Iran’s most unique new voices, offering a striking jazzy take on Persian music.
Born in Tehran in 1984, soon after female singers were prohibited from performing in public, Tiba began studying Western classical piano at the age of nine before developing an interest in Persian music at 16 when she embarked on seven years of local training in the classical Persian Radif system. After moving to Perth in 2012, she studied jazz and went on to form her own band featuring both Persian classical and jazz musicians, then released a debut album, A Persian Dream, last year featuring improvisations of classical Persian poetry.
Zereshk polow (Saffron chicken with barberry rice)
Ingredients
3 cups basmati or jasmine rice
1-2 tsp saffron threads
1 tsp turmeric
100ml hot boiled water
500g chicken breast, diced or sliced into strips
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 large potato, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp butter (optional)
1 cup dried barberries, rinsed
2 tbsp almonds, cut into slivers (optional)
2 tbsp pistachios, cut into slivers (optional)
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice (optional)
Oil
Sugar
Salt
Method
Place the saffron in a mortar and grind to a fine powder. Place in a cup and fill three-quarters full with hot boiled water. Set aside.
Put the rice in a pot and cover with water. Boil the rice for 10–15 minutes or until al dente. Drain in a colander.
Put the pot back on the stove and add 3 to 4 tbsp of oil. Lay the sliced potato in the base, to protect the rice, but also to create a delicious edible crust of rice and potato called “tahdig”. (Instead of potato you can also use flat bread or just rice by itself to make tahdig.)
Top with the drained rice and cover with a lid. Cook until the rice begins to steam (about 3 to 5 minutes), then turn the heat to low and wrap the lid in a tea towel (covering the underside) and place back on the pot. The tea towel catches the condensation, stopping it from dripping back onto the rice. Leave to steam for 45 to 60 minutes. By the end you should have perfect, fluffy, separated rice.
Slice the onions and fry in the saucepan. I prefer to make caramelised onion, but it’s not necessary for this dish. (Most Persian dishes start with caramelising the onion.) Add a tablespoon of turmeric. Add the chicken and fry until cooked. Add salt. Add a bit of saffron water. Add lime or lemon juice if you wish. Cover with a lid so that the chicken gets juicy and makes some stock. You can add a bit of water to make some more stock.
Wash the barberries in a colander. Heat butter or oil in a frying pan and add the barberries. Sauté for a few minutes then add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 tablespoons of the saffron water. Add pistachio and almond slivers. Add a bit of the saffron chicken stock. Stir briefly, then remove from the heat.
Mix a cup of the cooked rice with saffron water to make it yellow and set aside. Place a layer of rice on a serving platter, followed by a sprinkling of barberries and nuts mix and the yellow saffron rice. Keep layering, mounding up into the shape of a cone. Leave some barberries and nuts for the top.
Join local chef and food identity Rosa Matto and selected WOMADelaide artists at Taste the World as they celebrate the delicious food and fascinating culture of their home countries, all entwined with musical interludes and intimate personal anecdotes. More information about Taste the World can be found here.
