Mohsen Zandimoghadam adds chicken to the rice dish tahchin, which is layered with barberry and saffron. (Fangliang Xu)

It's a challenging dish with a tricky finish. When Mohsen Zandimoghadam first tried making tahchin, he messed up the crunchy layer of rice on top, known as the tah dig.

He had left it in the rice cooker too long and ended up burning it.

"It has happened to me and it has happened to every Iranian. You don't want to eat that," he joked.

Luckily, his mother in Iran coached him through the recipe via Whatsapp, and he's now learned to perfect the layered dish made from rice, chicken, saffron and barberries.

For the final instalment of our series What I Bring to the Table, Zandimoghadam taught his friend, Lisetta Chalupiak, how to make tahchin.

Ingredients

-- 1 onion
-- olive oil
-- ½ teaspoon turmeric
-- 800 grams boneless skinless chicken breast
-- 250 grams plain yogurt
-- 1 teaspoon saffron
-- 3 eggs (yolks only)
-- 800 grams basmati rice
-- 3 cups water
-- ½ cup cooking oil
-- 2 teaspoons salt
-- ½ teaspoon pepper
-- 1 tablespoon rose water
-- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
-- 3 tablespoon dried barberry

Directions

-- Prepare saffron by crushing a pinch and mixing it with hot water 1-2 hours before cooking.
-- Rinse rice with water 3 times and let it soak for 2 hours, with a little salt.
-- Place raw chicken breasts in a pot along with chopped onion, turmeric, salt, pepper, cinnamon and a cup of water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and cook for about 45 minutes on medium-low heat.
-- After chicken is cooked, cut it into smaller chunks.
-- Boil water in a separate pot and add the rice and olive oil. Let let it cook.
-- Once rice is a bit soft, drain it in a colander and let it cool.
-- Put barberries in a bowl of water for 15 min.
-- Now mix eggs (yolks only) and yogurt in a bowl with saffron.
-- Add rice to the mixed yogurt, egg and saffron and combine them well.
-- Add cooking oil to a pan, then add half of the mix to it and spread it evenly.
-- Add all the cooked chicken chunks and spread.
-- Add barberries as the next layer above chicken.
-- Add the remaining rice to the pan.
-- Brush a bit of olive oil to the surface of the rice and close the lid and let it cook for 30-45 mins.
-- Tahchin is ready! Turn it over onto a serving dish. Top layer should be crispy.