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Tah Chin

A Persian rice dish with marinated chicken, yogurt, saffron, and cinnamon.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,569 recipes mention both. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven375°F, then 400°F, then 325°F

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Marinate and soak

  1. Marinate and refrigerate the chicken in yogurt, saffron and cinnamon.

  2. Combine rice and salt with enough cold water to cover and allow to soak for a few hours or overnight if possible.

  3. Remove chicken from yogurt mixture (save the yogurt), and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.

Prepare the rice and yogurt mixture

  1. To the saved yogurt, add 1 egg and 1 tsp saffron; beat to mix.

  2. Drain rice that has been soaking.

  3. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil.

  4. Add 2 teaspoons salt and drained rice, and boil for 10-15 minutes.

  5. Pour rice into a colander and rinse with lukewarm water.

  6. Remove chicken from baking dish and set aside.

  7. Mix yogurt/egg mixture with rice.

Layer and bake

  1. Melt ½ cup butter with 2 tablespoons water in the bottom of a baking dish.

  2. Arrange half of the rice over the melted butter.

  3. Scatter chicken cubes over the rice.

  4. Top with remaining rice.

  5. Cover tightly.

  6. Bake at 400°F for 14 minutes.

  7. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake for an additional 40 minutes.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chicken + ricetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,569 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Saffron + ricetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together628 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cinnamon + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cinnamon + saffrontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together406 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Pepper + saffrontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together781 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken breasts
Provides the main protein, which stays moist when marinated in yogurt before baking.
Plain yogurt
Tenderizes the chicken and adds moisture and tang to the rice layer.
Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish, with soaking and brief boiling giving separate, fluffy grains.
Egg
Binds the yogurt mixture into the rice so the crust holds together when sliced.
Butter
Fries the bottom layer of rice to a golden, crisp crust and adds richness.
Saffron
Gives the rice its golden colour and a distinct floral aroma.

The step that matters

Cover tightly before the long bake. A tight seal traps steam so the rice cooks through and the top does not dry out during the long, low-temperature bake.

Flavor stand-ins for the saffron

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, yogurt, cinnamon, pepper, rice, egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  2. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  3. Turmericbetter flavor fit
  4. Saffronthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, yogurt, cinnamon, pepper, rice, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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