Oct 04
This is a lot like the Persian recipe for Halva, except the one main difference is this is made with rice flour while Halva is made with wheat flour (typically white flour). I used a smaller amount for my ingredients because I wanted to make less.
Tar Halva
Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup rose water
1 teaspoon liquid saffron (or you can use a bit of ground up dry saffron)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
Directions:
In a small pot bring the water to a boil and add the sugar, rose water, and saffron. Stir until sugar is dissolved and leave on a low heat. In another larger pot on medium temperature heat up the oil and then add the rice flour and continuously stir. Once the flour has started to change color and gets to a darker color you will place it off the stove burner and carefully pour in the liquid. Be careful it will steam up and is hot! Then you will quickly begin stirring the contents together until they begin to solidify and kind of stick together. Tar Halva doesn’t stick together like Halva does because of the different texture. Also, Tar Halva seems to be oily. Pour the contents into a plate and press down and then give it a design.
Note: One other main difference is that you will fry the rice flour for Tar Halva a bit less than you do the flour used for Halva.
Tagged with: Rice Flour • Rose Water • Saffron • Sugar
Oct 02
Khorak is a Persian Recipe / dish that is basically a combination of various vegetables with a meat (or just all vegetables). There are various forms of Khorak. This specific recipe deals with tuna fish.
Khorake Tone Mahi
Ingredients:
2 small cans tuna fish
2-3 small onions — chopped up and sauteed in oil until tender
2 medium potatoes –chopped up into squares and fried in oil
2 cups chopped mushrooms
lemon juice (desired amount)
salt/pepper (desired amount)
oil (unless the tuna fish is in oil instead of water)
Directions:
First saute the onions and fry the potatoes separately and place them aside.
In a frying pan pour a bit of oil, unless the tuna cans you have already have oil. I used tuna that was in water, so I poured a bit of oil into my frying pan and set the temperature to medium. I opened the tuna cans and drained the water out completely. Place the tuna into the pan and stir. After about 5 - 10 minutes add the onions and then the mushrooms. Note: you can also choose to begin by sauteing the onions in the pan and then adding the tuna, followed by the mushrooms.
Add salt, pepper, and lemon juice then cover the pan for an additional 15 minutes. Afterward, you can serve and top with the potatoes you fried earlier.
Tagged with: Mushrooms • Potatoes • Tuna
Oct 02
I know in America most people are used to going to the store and buying dressings, such as our favorite dressing Ranch. Here is a simple Persian Recipe for a homemade salad dressing. I simply love this dressing 
Persian Salad Dressing
Ingredients:
Mayo
Yogurt (optional)
salt/ pepper
lemon juice or vinegar
olive oil (optional)
ketchup –just a tad
Directions:
Basically, you mixed up your ingredients and have a dressing! You can adjust the contents to your liking, especially the amount of salt/pepper, lemon juice, and mayo you plan to use. I like to put some plain yogurt into the dressing because it creates a lite version … less mayo is healthier. Many people don’t use yogurt and only use mayo, but possibly add more lemon juice and olive oil. The amount of ketchup used varies as well, I typically use 1 tablespoon (or less).
Tagged with: Ketchup • Mayo • Vinegar • Yogurt
