Mar 18

Samanoo is one of the seven items that is typically placed on the Sofreh Haftseen for Norouz. However, it can be made and eaten at any time. The sweetness is all natural and comes from the wheat, but some choose to add more sugar.

Ingredients:
250 grams of unpelted wheat –the same that is used to grow sabzeh
1000 grams of wheat flour — I used whole wheat
sugar (optional) –for those who want a sweeter Samanoo

In other words you use four times more wheat flour compared to your wheat.

Video Recipe:

Directions:
Making it takes a couple of days.

Day 1
Wash the unpelted wheat and soak in a bowl with cold water.

Day 2
Empty out the water in the bowl and add cold water once again.

Day 3
Wet a paper towel and place it on the bottom of a dish (a dish you plan to have the sabzeh grow in). Use a strainer to empty the wheat and rinse the wheat. After you rinse the what add it to the dish with the wet paper towel on the bottom. Soak cotton cloths (or paper towels) and place on top of the wheat. Place this dish in a warm area. Note: you will notice that roots are beginning to appear.

Day 4 - Day 6
Wet the cotton cloths at least twice a day until the wheat roots/sprouts have grown. When you begin to see some of the sprouts turning green thats when you know the wheat is ready to be used for the making of Samanoo.

Note: it may be that you will need to grow your wheat a bit longer. Its important to keep an eye on the spouts and decide when they are ready.

Day 7
On this day my wheat was ready to be used for making Samanoo. To begin you will break off amounts of the wheat (sprouts and roots included) and put it in a blender, add water, and puree/liquefy the wheat. Keep breaking off bits of the wheat and add to the blender with additional amounts of water. By the time all the wheat is blended the concentration will look like oatmeal or Halim.

Empty the contents of the blender into a fine mesh strainer (the strainer should be placed over a bowl). Slowly turn the blended wheat around so that the liquid can seep through. Note: you dont want to push anything through the strainer besides the liquid. Then transfer the blended wheat into a cotton cloth. You will wrap up the sides of the cloth and begin squeezing any remaining liquid milk out into the bowl.

Then empty the contents of the cloth back into the blender, add more water, and liquefy/puree a bit more. Then repeat the steps of using the strainer and then the cloth. You want to continue this process until the milky color is no longer visible. For the amount of wheat mentioned above (250 grams), I repeated the steps about six times.

Then in a large pot add your wheat flour. Gradually begin pouring the liquid onto the flour and mix. You want to add enough of the liquid so that the flour has no lumps and is smooth.

Turn the burner heat on to a medium temperature. Constantly stir the mixture. Since I used whole wheat the color darkened quicker. However, whole wheat does have a texture due to the Saboos (bran). Also, the sweetness usually comes from the unpelted wheat, but if you prefer your Samanoo to be very sweet you should add some sugar.

You need to continue stirring until the water is completely evaporated. Once the water is evaporated the mixture will look something like Halva. You want to fry it for a couple of minutes (no need to add any oil since the wheat has natural oils). Then begin adding hot water gradually and stirring again so no lumps exist.

You can place the lid onto the pot in a way which stream can still escape. You no longer need to continuously stir, instead you can stir every 10-15 minutes. Again you want to allow the water to evaporate and the Samanoo to thicken.

Once the it is close to being ready you can even place a cloth or towel onto the lid and cover the pot for an additional 30 minutes to gather additional moisture.

This process takes awhile, and for the amount of wheat and wheat flour I used it took approximately 5 hours from the time I began cooking the mixture for the Samanoo to prepare. After its ready you can pour it into a dish and allow it to cool before serving.

Samanoo

Samanoo

It helps to have some extra people around to stir :)

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Dec 06

Aab Havij Bastani

Aab Havij Bastani

Americans like Root Beer Floats, while us Persians like Carrot Juice Floats.  This can be a refreshing treat for those who want something sweet, cold, and healthy.

Ingredients:

Carrot Juice — you can use a carrot juice maker, or do as I do and buy carrot juice from the grocery store (i.e., Odwalla Brand)
Vanilla Ice Cream –any kind of vanilla ice cream you like

Directions:
In a glass of your choice, add two scoops of ice cream (or more) and pour on a desired amount of carrot juice. You can use a spoon to eat the ice cream and drink the carrot juice. Honestly, everyone consumes this specific treat/beverage differently :) .

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Nov 27

Ready for a tasty sweet?! Well this is a good one to have! Ranginak is a Persian sweet that you must definitely try.

Ranginak

Ranginak

Ingredients:
500 grams Flour
250 - 300 grams oil — I used liquid oil, but if you use shortening or ghee it will be better
125 grams powder sugar
500 grams dates (khorma) –its best if the dates are soft
125 grams crushed walnuts
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon crushed pistachio

Directions:
In a pot heat up the oil (medium heat) and then add the flour and continuously stir until it is completely fried and becomes a golden color (it may take awhile before it reaches the golden color). Once the flour is done take it off the heat and set it aside until it cools down a bit.

While the flour is cooling down mix together the powder sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Then add this mix to the flour and mix all the ingredients together. Then take out the seeds from all the dates.

Now in a dish pour in half the flour mixture and flatten with a spoon. Then place all the dates on top of this layer of flour and sprinkle the crushed walnuts on top of the dates. Add the rest of the flour mixture on top of everything and flatten with a spoon. Sprinkle the crushed pistachios and some powder sugar on top of the Ranginak.

Note: I would recommend using shortening or ghee to make sure the Ranginak doesn’t give out too much oil.

With a knife you want to cut out  squares for serving purposes.

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