Persian Rice with a Golden Crust Chelow

One of the glories of Persian (Iranian) gastronomy, chelow is tender, sweet, saffroned rice served with an audibly crisp, yogurt-flavored crust. The theory is simple enough (you brown the rice in a single layer on the bottom), but it takes years of practice to achieve a perfect dark-golden crust that comes away from the bottom of the pan in one piece. Here’s how my Persian cooking guru, Najmieh Batmanglij