Rice is to the Middle East what pasta is to Italy. While rice is a staple in Asian countries, there it is typically served plain; the flavors coming from the sauces for the vegetables, meat or legumes. Iraqi and particularly Iranian rice dishes, on the other hand, are known for their flavours, colours and, especially, their presentation. The way we serve them is something of a ritual. Having more than one rice dish at a meal is not unusual. Sometimes we even make a rice crust on the bottom of a dish so that, when served turned upside down, it looks like a cake.

It took me a long time to get used to making a smaller quantity of rice for dinner. When I was growing up, my mother would serve everyone a big mound of rice topped with whatever stew she had cooked that day. We’d eat the rice with a spoon or by scooping it up with a piece of hubus, or flatbread. I guarantee you that in any traditional Iranian home you’ll find a huge pot of rice on the stove.

The Iranian and Iraqi method of preparing rice: partially cooking it, draining it, then returning it to the pot with fried onion and a touch of water and continuing to cook it very slowly. This method results in delicious dry, almost crispy, rice, but it is time-consuming and the rice loses some of its nutritional value.

Here’s my way: