Iraqi · Side
Timman Bagilla
- Intermediate
- 30 min
- roughly 1 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with richness that coats and comforts, fresh herbs arguing happily on top, ending saline and clean.
Ingredients
- 400 g basmati rice, rinsed until the water runs clear then soaked 1 hour
- 300 g podded broad beans, grey skins slipped off
- 40 g dill, thick stalks removed, chopped
- 80 g ghee, melted
- 30 g salt, for the boiling water
- 1 tsp salt, for the rice
The skills inside
Steaming: basket, leaf and lidSalted water & the float test
Allergen screen
Found: dairy
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Bring 3 litres of water to a rolling boil with the 30 g salt, tip in the drained rice and cook uncovered until a grain crushed between finger and thumb is soft at both ends and still chalky at the core, four to six minutes.
- Drain it at once and rinse briefly with warm water so the grains stop cooking and stay loose.
- Pour half the melted ghee into a heavy pot, spread a thin even layer of rice across the base, then build the rest into a loose mound, folding in the beans, dill and remaining salt as you go.
- Trickle the rest of the ghee over the mound, poke three holes right down to the base with a spoon handle, wrap the lid in a tea towel and clamp it on.
- Steam on the lowest heat until the grains stand separate and dry and the base has set into a crisp golden sheet, about 40 minutes, then lift the crust out in pieces with the rice. 40 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the techniques it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
Steaming: basket, leaf and lid 130 recipes
- Steam was running before the food went in: the water at a rolling boil and vapour coming steadily through the basket, rather than the whole thing warming up together.
- Nothing touches the water at any point: the food sits clear of it throughout, and the level neither drops enough to boil dry nor rises enough to wet it.
- The lid stayed on. Every lift costs the chamber its heat, and the number of lifts should be as close to none as the dish allows.
- Lifted out, the surface is glossy and plump with its colour heightened rather than dulled: greens brighter than they went in, not olive.
- Cooked through with the shape intact: it yields at the centre without having slumped or split, and there is no more than a spoonful of clean condensate beneath it.
Where it goes wrong The lid was loose or dripping and the condensate fell back onto the food, so it arrives waterlogged and pale with its seasoning washed down into the bottom of the dish.
Salted water & the float test 188 recipes
- The water was salted before anything went in, and tasting it confirms it: seasoned on the tongue, with the salt dissolved rather than sitting on the pot floor.
- There is enough water, hot enough, that the pot returns to its boil quickly after the food goes in and never stops moving.
- Where the dish uses the float as its signal, the signal is obeyed: the pieces rise and they come out then, not several minutes later once something else was finished.
- Nothing is stuck to the bottom of the pot or welded to itself, and the water has not thickened into a cloudy sludge.
- Drained on a bite rather than on the clock: resistance at the centre, with no chalky raw core.
Where it goes wrong The pot was too small and the water unsalted, so it never recovered its boil: the food sat in slack water, went gummy at the surface, and comes out bland in a way that no sauce afterwards can fix.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Albariño or Muscadet
- Also Right
- Assyrtiko or Vermentino
- From the Taps
- Witbier
- Zero-Proof
- Sparkling water with lemon
The Atlantic’s whites beside the sea’s own liquor: salinity in sympathy, acid keeping everything bright.
Saved on this device and kept across visits: export from My Menu to move them.