Dec 01

Kashke Bademjan

By Persian Recipes Light Persian Meals, Side Dishes 3 Comments »

This is a simple and tasty Persian dish that can be eaten alone or with bread. I will say that some people chop the eggplants up a bit different, and some even mash the eggplants up a bit, but I like to cut the eggplants into circles. If you are using very tiny eggplants (ghalami) then you may prefer to cut the eggplants up into strips instead of round circles.

Kash e Bademjan

Kash e Bademjan

Ingredients (2-4 people):
1-2 large eggplants
approximately 1 cup Kashk (thick whey) –can be bought in Iranian grocery store, or international store
1 medium onion
1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato Paste
2 tablespoon fulls Dried Mint
oil
salt/pepper

Directions:
Peel the eggplants and cut them up into circles (with a thickness of approximately .5 cm each). Rinse the cut pieces and add some salt to the eggplants. Heat oil on the stove (medium-high heat) in a frying pan and fry the eggplants until golden (both sides need to be fried). If you can’t fry all the pieces in the frying pan at once (which may be the case) just set the fried eggplants aside on a plate until they are all done.

Mix the tomato paste with 1/2 cup hot water. Add pepper and salt (as desired) to the tomato paste and water. In the same frying pan, or in a different one, add all the eggplants and pour the liquid mixture over all the eggplants and cover the pan. Allow the eggplants to cook for 10-15 minutes on medium heat.

Peel the onion and finely chop the onion up into pieces. Fry the onion in oil until golden then set aside. Then fry the dried mint in oil as well. After you place the eggplants in a serving dish pour the Kaskh over the eggplants and sprinkle the onions and dried mint over them. Its ready to be served.

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Nov 19

Loobia Polo (Green Bean Rice)

By Persian Recipes Polo (Rice) No Comments »

The main Khoresht used for making Loobia Polo is Khoreshte Loobia Sabz, which I have explained previously under Khoreshte Loobia Sabz (Green Bean Stew) . I will explain the steps for the Khoresht below as well. The main difference will be that the end product of the Khoreshte Loobia Sabz will be mixed in with the rice to cook.

Loobia Polo (Green Bean Rice)

Loobia Polo (Green Bean Rice)

Ingredients (serving for 4-6 people):
Cut green beans — I used half a bag of frozen cut green beans
Stew meat — used less than .5 lbs, you will want to chop the meat into little pieces
1 full tablespoon Tomato Paste — you can use more if you prefer
Limoo Amani (optional) — you can also use powdered limoo amani
Lemon juice
Salt/pepper
turmeric
1 medium onion — finely chopped
oil
1 1/2 to 2 cups water
3 to 3 1/2 cups rice –rinse the rice well until it is cleaned and then soak in water…add salt to the water you are soaking the rice in and set aside for awhile (or until the Khoresht (stew) is ready)
Potato (optional) — if you wish to have tahdig sibzamini (potato crispy slices) of your rice have cut slices of potato you

loobia-polo1
Directions:
First wash your rice and soak it in water as mentioned in the ingredients section.

In a pot heat up some oil and add your chopped onions to it. Once the onion begin turning a golden color and becomes tender add your meat to the pot. Stir around the meat and then add turmeric, salt, and pepper. Add your green beans to the pot and allow them to fry a bit (if frozen you may have to fry it a bit longer for the ice to melt as well). Add water to the pot, followed by tomato paste and lemon juice (if you choose you can add limoo amani as well). Place the lid on the pot and allow the Khoresht to cook on a medium heat (approximately 1 hour). You will know the khoresht is ready when it has thickened a bit (less watery) and gives out oil.

Once the Khoreshte Loobia is ready in a different pot heat up water on high heat to prepare the rice. Once the water comes to a boil, pour out the water the rice has been soaking in and pour the rice into the pot. When the rice comes to a boil remove it from the heat before it overflows and use a strainer to empty the rice from the pot. In the same pot add some water ( 1/2 a cup) and some oil and place it back on the stove top (still on high heat). At this point if you wish to have tahdig sibzamini you can place cut potato slices on the bottom of the pot (wait till the oil is heated before doing so)…also if you wish to use potato slices be sure to add a bit more oil to the pot. Add half the rice into the pot then pour a layer of the Khoreshte Loobia onto the rice, then add the remaining rice and add any remaining Khoreshte Loobia on top. You can mix around the contents a bit and then place a towel over the lid of the pot and cover the pot. Once the steam begins escaping the pot you can turn the stove top heat to a low temperature. You may want to wait a bit longer before turning the heat to low if you are using potato slices. Let the Loobia Polo cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours and then serve.

Here are some more pictures from Loobia Polo :)
Loobia Polo

And another one:
persian green bean rice

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Nov 10

Koofteh Berenji (Rice Meatball)

By Persian Recipes Koofteh No Comments »

I finally got around to making Koofteh Berenji, which is a very tasty Persian recipe that mixes ground beef, aromatic green vegetables, and rice!

Koofteh Berenji

Koofteh Berenji

One thing to note is that some of the aromatic green vegetables (Sabzi moatar) are not easily found (i.e., Reyhan and Tareh). I used a bit of Cilantro in place of Reyhan since I didn’t have dry or fresh Reyhan. And as I have mentioned in other recipes, in place of Tareh you can use the ends of green onions. But if you happen to have these ingredients definitely use them :)

Ingredients (makes 6 large Koofteh Berenji’s):
1 lb ground beef –lean ground beef (kam charbi) is better
1 lb aromatic green vegetables : mint, Reyhan (if you have it), Tarragon (Tarkhan), Green onions (the ends in place of Tareh; unless you have Tareh), and Parsley. I used Cilantro in place of Reyhan.
2 onions — 1 to be grated and added to the ground beef, the other to be chopped up for Piaz dagh (fried onion)
1 cup rice
1 cup split yellow peas
3 eggs
turmeric
salt/pepper
lemon juice
1 tablespoon tomato Paste
1/2 teaspoon (or less) baking powder or baking soda
zereshk (barberries)
crushed walnuts

Mixing the ingredients for Koofteh Berenji

Mixing the ingredients for Koofteh Berenji

Forming the Koofteh Berenji

Forming the Koofteh Berenji

Directions:
Boil some water in a small pot and add the rice. Once the rice boils use a strainer to drain the water. In a small pot boil water and add the split yellow peas and allow them to boil and then use a strainer to drain the water.

Chop up all the Sabzi (green vegetables), you can use a food processor to chop them up as well. In a large bowl, mix in the grated onion, turmeric, salt, and pepper with the ground beef. Add the rice, split yellow peas, and the green vegetables to the ground beef and mix all the ingredients. Add the baking powder (or baking soda) and the three eggs and mix the ingredients. If you desire you can add a bit more salt and pepper.

In a pot go ahead and saute the chopped onion. Once the onion has turned a golden color take out half the onions. Add 2 cups of water into the pot and set the stove top heat to medium. Mix some zereshk (barberries) and walnuts with the fried onions you took out of the pot. Once the water boils begin forming large round balls and insert bits of the zereshk, walnuts, and fried onions mix into the center.

Insert zereshk, walnuts, and fried onion into center

Insert zereshk, walnuts, and fried onion into center

Cooking the Koofteh Berenjis in water

Cooking the Koofteh Berenjis in water

Note: you can poke a hole to the center of the ball and add the mixture of zereshk, walnut, and fried onion then cover over the hole.

After all the Koofteh Berenji’s are formed and in the pot add the tomato paste and some lemon juice. Make sure the Koofteh Berenji’s are covered with water, if needed add more water to make sure they are all covered. Place the lid on the pot and allow it to cook for 45 minutes.

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