Tah Cheen

Description
Persian Chicken. Tah Cheen (or tah chin), means "arranged at the bottom of the pot" in Persian.

Ingredients

 * 1 (2.25 lbs) whole chickens
 * 1 lb basmati rice
 * 10 ounces plain non-fat yogurt
 * ½ teaspoon saffron
 * 2 large onions
 * 3 egg yolks
 * cooking oil
 * salt (to taste)
 * black pepper (to taste)

Directions

 * 1) Wash rice and soak it in warm water (with added salt) for 2 hours, then filter out the water.
 * 2) Chop onions thinly and fry in oil until slightly golden.
 * 3) Wash and cut chicken, remove skin, and fry in onions until color changes.
 * 4) Add some water and bring to boil.
 * 5) Reduce heat and simmer slowly until cooked, adding more water if needed, then remove the bones.
 * 6) While chicken is cooking, beat the yogurt until it is smooth.
 * 7) Dissolve saffron in half a cup of hot water.
 * 8) Add saffron, salt, pepper and egg yolks to the yogurt and mix very well.
 * 9) Pour a few glasses of water in a large pot and bring to boil.
 * 10) Pour in rice and cook while stirring occasionally until rice grows longer and slightly softens (take care not to overcook the rice, it should still be too hard for eating); again filter out the water.
 * 11) Pour several spoons of oil and several spoons of the yogurt mix into a non-stick pot.
 * 12) Add a thin layer of rice and flatten using the back of a spoon; add a layer of chicken on top followed by another layer of rice, then flatten the rice.
 * 13) Spread several more spoons of the yogurt mix on the rice.
 * 14) Continue in this fashion until chicken, rice and the yogurt mix have been used up, then add some more oil on top.
 * 15) Put the lid on and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
 * 16) Place the pot in an oven (preheated to 250°F) and cook for 1.
 * 17) 5 to 2 hours (note that the longer tah chin is cooked, the thicker the tah dig- delicious crispy layer of rice at the bottom- will be).
 * 18) When cooked, remove the lid and let cool for a few minutes.
 * 19) Place an inverted large dish over the pot and turn it over.
 * 20) Tap the pot in order to loosen the contents inside (the contents should fall on the dish in one piece with the tah dig on the outside).