Rice Pie

This dish is an elaboration on biryani rice. It is perfect for formal presentations. Today it is the specialty dish of the Kurds in northern Iraq. As the name suggests, it is rice with vegetables (pilau), hidden or enclosed (parda) in pastry.

However, covering food with thin bread is not a new technique in the Iraqi cuisine. Its roots go as far back in history as ancient Mesopotamian times, as reflected in the Babylonian culinary tablets (see