Eggplant stew or khoresh-e bademjaan

General Note: (this seems an old note, but it is not!) Whether for lunch or dinner, one of the most mainstream Iranian main dishes consists of rice – plain, white chelow, or mixed polow— and a meat stew (khoresh). Now…, chelow must always accompany khoresh, while polow, layered with cooked or fried grains, vegetables, prunes, fruits or meat forms a complete dish.

Like mixed polow, Khoresh comes in tens of various tastes, colours and aromas, although they are all started in the same way and follow the same pattern: That is, lamb, beef, veal or chicken is used as the stew base (1), using four ever present ingredients: cooking oil, fried onion or piaz daagh, turmeric and all spice or advieh ( 2). The differentiating element of khoreshes is the specific set of vegetables, fruits, grains, and prunes that are added to them – often after being friend separately (3). I will tag all khoreshes, as I post them here. Let’s start with one of the most popular one: chicken and eggplants stew (khoresh-e joojeh bademjaan)

Ingredients

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Ground beef mixed polow

General Note: Whether as lunch or dinner, one of the most mainstream Iranian main dishes consists of rice – plain, white chelow, or mixed polow— and a meat stew (khoresh). Now…, chelow must always accompany khoresh, while polow, layered with cooked or fried grains, vegetables, prunes, fruits or meat forms a complete dish as long as it is accompanied by side-dishes such as fresh herbs and salads. Mixed polow comes in tens of varieties, some more standard than the others. I will tag them all, as I post them here. To start, here is one of the less mainstream ones: ground beef mixed polow

Ingredients: Rice, 3 cups. Ground veal or beef, 300 gr. Potato, 1 medium. Onion,1  big. Powder dried lime, 1 full tbs. turmeric half tbs. cooking oil, 2 tbs. A pinch of saffron. Salt and black pepper as needed.

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Aab-goosht

Ab-ghoosht, the most traditional Iranian “soup”, for the lack of a better word, is a rich spicy stew of meat and beans and pretty easy to cook.

Ingredients (serving five):

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Kebab barg

As a rule, kebab barg is served in restaurants (inside and outside Iran), yet I have figured out how to prepare and barbeque it at home and promise it tastes just as tender and delicious.

Buy a whole tenderloin (filet mignon), and after cleaning it up briefly slice it in cross-sections. The width of each slice should be almost equal to the width of barg kebab, or twice the width of skewer. Read the rest of this entry »


Glittering golden piaz daagh

Sliced fried onions are the base of most Iranian dishes. They are also used to garnish certain types of dishes, notably aash-e reshteh.

When used as garnish, onions must be prepared and stir-fried in a special way, resulting in a delicate, crunchy and golden piaz daagh so hard to resist munching as a delicious delicacy! Here is how you do it: Read the rest of this entry »


Ranginak, dates and walnuts dessert

This dessert which always goes with tea, is specific to southern cities of Iran. It is very nice after ghalyeh

Ingredients: 1 kg. Pitted (peeled if skin is too thick); 250 gr. Walnuts; 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour; ½ cup powdered sugar; ½ cup ground cinnamon, about 1 cup of vegetable oil

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Kookoo Sabzi, herbed omelette

This is the first method I make this dish (second and third will followw in the following months)

Ingredients: Parsley and scallions, chopped (1 big bunch each); cilantro and dill, chopped (1/2 bunch, each); fenugreek, dry or chopped (1 tablespoon); lettuce, chopped (two leave), eggs (5-6); red onion, thinly sliced (1 medium); cooking oil, turmeric, salt and black pepper. Read the rest of this entry »


Typical Iranian breakfast


Joojeh kebab on charcoal barbecue

 

Last year we turned our old gas burning barbecue into a charcoal one, in an attempt to recover some of our nostalgic memories of delicious Iranian style kabaabs made on charcoal burning braziers. It was an extremely successful operation with rewarding results!

Blessed by a covered carport, which we use as a kind of porch, we now indulge in grilled everything throughout the year. It might not smell “seasonal” to send wafts of grilled chicken or mouth watering skewer meat kebab in minus 30 degrees out in the snow-covered neighbourhood, but

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A magic called fresh garlic

Green garlic and garlic scapes add delicate, refreshing flavor to salads, and any type of dish you would normally use garlic for. I use them particularly in herbs-mixed polo with fish. They are easy, fun, and extremely rewarding to grow – even in pots. Simply break the bulbs and plant them 5 cm deep in a sunny spot. They should be at least 10 cm apart in a rich, weed-free soil. In Montreal, the  planting time is mid September.