Dec 13

This is a simple and tasty salad. Its great as a side dish or even a meal.  It goes perfect with bread and makes a filling sandwich.

Chicken Celery Salad

Chicken Celery Salad

Ingredients (2-4 people (maybe more)):
2 chicken breasts
4 celery sticks — chopped up
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup olive oil (adjust amount to your liking)
1/2 cup Mayo (adjust amount to your liking)
salt/pepper (desired amount)
turmeric (optional) –don’t use too much because chicken in the salad will be too yellow
1 small onion

Directions:
Boil the chicken in a pot with water. Add a chopped up onion, salt, pepper, and if desired some turmeric to the water. Allow the chicken to cook. Once the chicken is cooked remove it from the water and place it aside until it cools down. When it is cooled down shred the chicken up and add to a bowl.

Add the chopped up celery, finely chopped walnuts, olive oil, and mayo to the shredded chicken and mix the contents. If you want to add more salt and/or pepper this would be the time to do so.

Refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Serve with bread or eat it plain.

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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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Nov 10

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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