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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Oct 11

This is a favorite Persian recipe in Iran. Its made usually using Bulgur, which is a type of quick forming wheat and can be purchased in Middle Eastern grocery stores. I have used something else as my quick forming wheat in this recipe, which is easy to find in grocery stores. I also used turkey breast and turkey leg (two separate pots) when I recently made this. Its probably much easier to use turkey breast, since separating the meat off the turkey leg can be difficult. I will explain the ingredients for making just 1 large pot of Haleem below. Also, many people use different forms of meat (lamb, beef, or even chicken breast) to form their Haleem.

Haleem (Halim)

Haleem (Halim)

Ingredients:
1 lb - Quick 1 minute Quaker Oatmeal — make sure you buy the 1 minute oatmeal
1 lb Turkey Breast or Turkey Leg
1 onion
Cinnamon
Melted Butter — at the end to pour over Haleem
sugar
salt

Directions:
In a pot place your turkey breast, a cut up onion, salt, and cinnamon. Allow the turkey breast to cook fully, then allow it to cool after it is cooked. Once the turkey breast is cooled shred it up by throwing it in a food processor. I used skinless and boneless turkey breast … I actually bought turkey breast cutlets cause thats all they had at the store.

In a very large pot I poured the instant 1 minute oatmeal (Quaker Oats brand) and then covered it with water. I put the stove top heat on medium and allowed the contents to boil. I kept adding water as needed, especially to make sure the contents weren’t too hard to stir and dried up. After the initial boil I brought the stove top temperature to a medium-low and allowed the contents to cook for at least 45 minutes before adding my turkey breast. Remember to stir occasionally so the contents don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

After an additional 30 minutes I used my blender to puree the contents even further. If you don’t have a blender, or would prefer to use your food processor, you can do that instead. Either way you will want to pour the Haleem into the blender or food processor in batches and then pour the contents from the blender to a different pot or bowl. If you want to return the contents to the same pot you may want to wash the pot after you have emptied everything. This also means you have to pour the Haleem from the blender into another bowl or pot then leave it in the new pot to continue cooking, or return it to the previously used pot after cleaning it. In the blender I used the puree option to grind everything up into a more liquid form. Thats the way Haleem should look :)

I then allowed the Haleem to cook for an additional 2-3 hours to fully be thickened and prepared…or as Persians say “ja beofte”. You want to serve the Haleem hot, so heat it up before serving if you are serving at a later time. I also melt butter to pour over the Haleem (typically you pour it over the contents of the large bowl you are serving it in). I also leave some melted butter for anyone who wants to add more to their Haleem. I add cinnamon and sugar in additional to the melted butter over the bowl. Many people like to add sugar and cinnamon to their Haleem, some even like salt. So I usually leave sugar, cinnamon, and salt on the table for anyone to add to their Haleem. At times I make a sugar/cinnamon mix in a small bowl that can be added to the Haleem.

Note: You can add some cinnamon and salt to your Haleem when it is cooking as well. Again the way it is eaten is a personal choice, and some people add sugar, cinnamon, or salt to satisfy their tastebuds :D

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Sep 15

Many times Abgoosht is referred to as Dizi, but this has to do with the dish it is cooked in. For many of us we use pots, slow cookers, or even pressure cookers for convenience and the amount of time we have. The traditional recipe for Abgoosht is what I am sharing with you here.

goosht-Abgoosht

Ingredients:
Lamb meat ba ostokhan (with bones), or other meat as long as it has bones.
3-4 potatoes (depending on size of potatoes)
1 medium onion
Salt/Pepper
Turmeric
1 cup Nokhod (garbanzo beans)
1 cup lobiya sefid (white beans)
1-2 Limoo Amani (dried limes)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
Lemon Juice (optional)
Cinnamon

Directions:

These directions are specific to a pressure cooker, but may be modified for a regular pot or slow cooker.

tilit-Abgoosht

Place the meat, onion, white beans, garbanzo beans, and dried lime(s) in the pressure cooker. Pour in water to cover everything, you may just want to pour in the water used to soak the beans and maybe some more if its not enough. Cover the pot and place it on med. heat. Once it steams you can release some of the steam, but allow it to stay on the stove for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes you will open the pressure cooker (steam will need to be released first if not done so completely). Add the washed potatoes (do not peel the skin off yet), tomato paste, and a little bit of cinnamon. At this time if you feel it is necessary you can add some lemon juice.
Cover the pressure cooker again and allow everything to cook for another 15 minutes on med. heat (it should steam up). Once it has steamed up, let the steam out and open up the pressure cooker.
When ready to serve you will pour the water into a separate bowl and then prepare the meat to be mashed up.

Preparing the Mashed meat (goosht koobideh):
You will peel the skin off the potatoes, clean the meat off the bones, and take out the dried limes. Mash the meat, potatoes (maybe not all the potatoes), and beans all together. Then you can pour some of the water on it is you desire. It is ready to eat with bread.

Preparing the tilit (water/bread):
You will want to tear up pieces of pita or barbari bread (or a combination) and pour the water over the bread. The bread pieces become soaked and this part of Abgoosht is called Tilit.

Note: The maghz (center) of the bones is really good. When I was young my siblings and I used to fight over who gets to eat it…in fact we still do. So if you want to extract it after you are separating everything, beat the contents of the bone out.

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