Sep 24

Zereshk Polo ba Morgh (Barberry Rice with Chicken)

By Persian Recipes Polo (Rice) 9 Comments »

Zereshk Polo is one of my FAVORITES!!! And I really mean that! I just love this Zereshk Polo dish.  Good thing its also one of my husbands favorites…except he likes to add loads of sugar to his Zereshk Polo.

Zereshk Polo

Zereshk Polo

Ingredients (for 4-5 people):
1 medium onion
2-3 chicken breasts (or other chicken parts) - cut up into pieces
liquid saffron
sugar (3-4 spoons usually is enough)
3 cups rice - soak in salt water after washing the rice
1 cup zereshk (barberries)
salt/pepper
turmeric
oil

Directions to make Zereshk Polo (ba Morgh):
In a pan, saute onions until tender then add cut up chicken pieces. Stir the pieces around a bit and then add salt, pepper, and turmeric powder. Add 1 cup water and cover the pan for the chicken to cook. Set the temperature on medium- low and let it cook for 30 minutes - 45 minutes. Once cooked you can keep 1/2 cup of the chicken stock (after straining it) if you wish to pour it over the rice.

In a large pot bring water to a boil, and then add rice (after draining the water the rice is soaking in). Guessed right! This is the polo for zereshk polo. Once the rice boils drain it and add about half a cup to one cup water to the pot, oil, and if you choose butter. Set the pot back on the stove and leave it on high temperature. Pour the rice into the pot. If you choose you can also place the chicken pieces in the pot between a two layers of the rice. I typically make the chicken separate from the rice for Zereshk Polo. At this time if you chose to save chicken stock you can pour it over the rice. I usually add a bit more oil to the chicken stock, plus some saffron. Obviously, if you want to keep your Zereshk Polo closer to a white and not a yellow you don’t want to pour saffron into your chicken stock. Once this is done cover the lid of the pot with a towel and place it over the pot. When steam starts escaping from the sides of the pot you can take the temperature down to a low setting. Allow the rice to cook for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

Wash the zereshk (barberries) after cleaning them (make sure there are no stones mixed in). Place them in a small pot and set the temperature to medium. Add some oil to the zereshk (barberries) and add a tad bit of liquid saffron and then pour a couple spoons sugar into the pot and mix. Once they have cooked you can turn the heat to low or turn it off. If you leave it on the stove too long it can be over cooked. I usually make the barberries about 10 minutes before everything is done.

Once you are ready to serve the rice put half the rice on a serving platter then mix 2/3 of the remaining rice with 2/3 of the barberries you cooked and pour on top of the rice on the platter. Then take the remaining rice and add saffron to it and the remaining barberries and decorate onto the top of the platter. Place the chicken around the platter or keep in a separate platter. You can save some barberries to sprinkle on top of the chicken as well.

Note: Some people don’t like the barberries to be too sweet, so if you just add about 3 or so spoonfuls of sugar to them that should be good. Then if anyone desires they can add more sugar to their plate…that’s pretty much what my husband ends up doing to his Zereshk Polo :D

I hope you enjoyed this Zereshk Polo recipe, and please don’t forget to check out my other Persian recipes.

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Sep 17

Gheymeh

By Persian Recipes Khoresht (Stew) 3 Comments »

This is the Persian recipe for Khoreshte Gheymeh, which is a stew that is poured over rice and has tiny cut up pieces of stew meat (gooshteh gheymehee) –hence the name of the stew! :)

Gheymeh

Gheymeh

Ingredients:
.5 lb Stew meat- cut into very tiny pieces
1 medium onion - chopped up
1 large potato
1 cup yellow split peas
oil
salt/pepper
turmeric
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 dried lime (limoo amani) and/or dried lime powder (I used 1 dried lime and a tad bit of the powder)
lemon juice
liquid saffron (optional)

Directions:
In a medium or large pot, saute the onions until tender and then add the cut up pieces of meat. Note: you can use more that .5 lbs of meat, but I typically use small amounts of

Khoreshte Gheymeh

meat. Stir the meat and onions, then add turmeric, salt, and pepper. After a few minutes of stirring everything and allowing the meat to cook a little add 1 1/2 to 2 cups water. At this time you can add the dried lime and/or the powder, the tomato paste, and some lemon juice. Cover the pot and leave it on medium heat.

In a frying pan add a bit of oil and put it on medium - low heat. Wash the split peas and then drain the water. Add the split peas to the pan and saute them a bit. If you skip this step and add the split peas to the stew before they are slightly sauteed in oil they will become mashed up and not hold their form. Once you have cooked them for about 5-10 minutes, pour them into the pot and stir in with the rest of the stew. Take the temperature of the pot down to a medium-low heat after about 15 - 20 minutes (after you add the split peas). I also added some liquid saffron to the stew at this time.

Now you will need to chop up the potato french fry style to prepare it and set aside. I did this and placed them in a bowl and rinsed them then soaked them in water. I added salt to this water as well. This way the color of the potatoes wouldn’t change and I could fry them when my stew is almost done. Once you fry the potatoes you can set them aside until 5 minutes prior to taking the stew off the stove. If you throw the fries in too early they will make the stew watery. I usually set some of the fries aside to decorate on top of the stew once I have poured it into a serving bowl. Note: instead of fries you can buy the shoe string potatoes at the grocery store and use those.

The amount of ingredients listed above is enough to feed 4-6 people (possibly more).

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Sep 15

Kabab (Kabob) Koobideh (Ground Beef Persian Kabab)

By Persian Recipes Kabab 16 Comments »

Many people (typically not Persian’s) think of kabab (kabob) as something on a tiny stick with bell peppers, and onions in between small beef pieces.  Here I will explain my recipe (or rather one passed down by my dad) for Kabab (Kabob) Koobideh.  :)

Kabab (Kabob) Koobideh

Kabab (Kabob) Koobideh

Ingredients:
1 lb meat - the best meat will be 80/20 …lean meat will not come out juicy!!
liquid saffron (optional)
Somagh (Sumac)
salt/pepper
3 spoons noon khoshk (breadcrumbs)
1 large red onion (or other onion if you prefer)- need to grate the onion and strain all the water out of it…it needs to be dry!

Directions:
Mix the ingredients well, and mash the ingredients up so well that the meat finds a sticky effect. Leave it in the fridge for an hour or two. When you bring the meat out once again mash it up and punch it. Then the hard part of forming it on the kabab skewers comes. This takes much practice and honestly I cant do it that well. You will take small amounts of the meat and stick it to the skewer by pressing down and getting it to stick well. I will have a video up soon that will show you the way in which it is made, and how to form it on the skewer. I also have a little cheating kit where you can push the skewer into the meat.

When you go to cook the kabob on the grill make sure you flip it over really fast at the beginning. Otherwise if one side cooks and the other hasn’t the meat will all fall off the skewer. Once done take the meat off the skewer using bread (usually pita). Serve with bread or rice.

Note: You may want to grill some tomatoes as well since they go really good with the kabob!

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