🥔 SIDE
Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust)
Soaked long-grain rice boiled hard in its soaking water with oil and salt, then steamed low and slow until every grain stands apart, with a thin crisp golden crust turned out on top.
Iraqi · easy · serves 4
prep 5 min · cook 30 min · plus 30 min hands-off time
~435 cal · 8g protein · 89g carbs · 5g fat · 1g fiber · 0g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Timman is the Iraqi word for rice, and plain white rice is the backbone of the Iraqi table. Paired with marga, a stew of meat and vegetables in tomato sauce, timman wa marga is the everyday lunch of the country: the stew is spooned over the rice or eaten beside it.
The prized rice is anber, an aromatic variety grown in the southern marshes and the pride of Iraqi farming; basmati or jasmine stands in for it abroad. Iraqi cooks soak the rice, bring it to a fast boil in measured water until little holes appear on the surface, then turn the heat right down and let it steam, folding it gently so the grains stay whole and separate.
Everyone's favourite part is the hkaka, the golden crust that forms on the bottom of the pot. Families argue over who gets it. Cooked with plenty of fat it forms slowly over a long ; the quicker way, as the Iraqi food writer Nawal Nasrallah explains, is to turn the heat up for the last few minutes and then flip the pot onto a platter, so the crust sits on top in one crisp piece.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 2 cups (450 g) long-grain white rice (anber, basmati or jasmine)
- 3 1/2 cups (860 ml) cold water, 1 3/4 cups per cup of rice
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1Wash the rice in a fine sieve under cold running water and let it drain. Tip it into a bowl, add the measured cold water and leave it to soak for 30 minutes.
- 2Pour the rice and all of its soaking water into a medium heavy pot, preferably non-stick. Add the oil and salt and stir once, gently, with a wooden spoon.
- 3Cover and bring to a fast boil over high heat. Boil for about 5 minutes, until most of the water has been absorbed and small holes appear on the surface of the rice.
- 4Turn the heat to low and fold the rice lightly with a fork so the grains can expand. Cover tightly and cook for 20 minutes, folding it gently twice more with a fork along the way.✎ Chef’s noteFold, do not stir. Stirring breaks the grains and makes the rice sticky.
- 5For the crust, uncover the pot for the last 5 minutes and turn the heat to high. Watch it closely and follow your nose: you want a toasty smell, not a burnt one.
- 6At once, put a platter over the pot and, holding both firmly, turn the pot over so the rice drops out with the golden crust on top. Serve hot with marga or any stew.✎ Chef’s noteTurn it out straight away: left in the pot, the steam softens the crust.
Iraqi home cooking, after Nawal Nasrallah, Delights from the Garden of Eden.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Baghdad. The sourness comes from three different places and they are not interchangeable. Tamarind gives the deep fruity kind, dried lime the sharper and slightly musty one, and pomegranate molasses the sweet-sour. Rice is the other half of the table, built up with meat into timman and quzi.
🗺️
Iraq. Iraqi cooking descends from ancient Mesopotamia, famous for masgouf grilled river fish, dolma, and slow-cooked stews over rice. Dates, tamarind, and dried lime lend a distinctive sweet-and-sour depth.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Iraq
Iraqi DolmaVine leaves and vegetables stuffed with tomato-and-pomegranate rice, packed tight and steamed until sweet-sour and tender.
Kahi with GeymarFlaky layered pastry baked crisp, soaked in syrup, and topped with rich clotted geymar cream.
MasgoufButterflied river fish marinated and slow-grilled over open flame, Iraq's national dish and the pride of Baghdad.
Browse all Iraq recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it an Iraq meal
Iraqi ChaiDrink
KleichaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust)?
Soaked long-grain rice boiled hard in its soaking water with oil and salt, then steamed low and slow until every grain stands apart, with a thin crisp golden crust turned out on top.
Where does Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) come from?
Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) is an Iraqi dish from Baghdad, Iraq.
Can Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Timman (Iraqi White Rice with a Golden Crust) take to make?
About 1 h 5 min in all: 5 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking, plus 30 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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