Oct 14

Another one of my favorite Persian recipes! Tah-chin-e Morgh (Tah-chin with chicken). You can make this Tah-chin by cooking it on stove top or in the oven, but here I share the oven version. Also, at times I like to add some zereshk (barberries) to the Tah-chin, but this time I made it simple :D

Tahchin e Morgh

Tahchin e Morgh

Ingredients:
1 medium onion - chopped up
3 cups rice — rinse and then soak in water for at least 1-2 hours…add salt to the water
skinless/boneless chicken breast cut up
oil
turmeric
1 cup water
salt/pepper
1 cup yogurt
4 eggs
1 tablespoon liquid saffron

Directions:
In a frying pan (that has a lid), saute the onion in oil until tender. Then add the chicken pieces and stir around. Add salt, pepper, and turmeric. Add the 1 cup water and place the lid on the pan, leave the stove on a medium-low heat. Allow the chicken to cook for 30-40 minutes. After the chicken is cooked, place the chicken pieces in a dish to cool. Then use a strainer to separate the onions from the chicken stock. Keep the chicken stock for later.

Personal Size Tahchin

Personal Size Tahchin

In a bowl of some sort mix together your yogurt, 3 eggs, salt, pepper, and some of the saffron. Once you do this, take a few tablespoons of the mix and put it in another small bowl, add the left over egg, a tablespoon of oil, a tablespoon of the chicken stock, and a little more saffron to it and stir. Place the second bowl in the fridge. Once your chicken is cool, place all the chicken pieces in the first bowl and coat it. Place the bowl in the refrigerator as well and allow the chicken to be marinaded for awhile. I only do this for an hour or so, but some people even make the chicken the night before and allow it to sit in the mix overnight.

Tahchin e Morgh

Tahchin e Morgh

When you are ready to make the rice you will place a pot on the stove and fill it half way with water. Once the water is brought to a boil add the rice (after pouring out the water covering the rice). When the rice is boiled and ready, drain the water (use a strainer).

Set the oven to a temperature of 350 °F. In an oven safe round dish (needs to be deep as well) pour some oil and coat the sides. Take 2 spatulas full (2 kafgir) of the rice and mix it with the small bowl of yogurt mix you previously had in the fridge. Now pour that rice into the oven dish and flatten it with the spatula. take out all your chicken pieces from the yogurt mix (previously placed in fridge) and place them on top of the rice/yogurt layer. Pour the remaining rice (white rice in strainer) over everything else in the oven dish and flatten with the spatula. Take the chicken broth left and add the remaining saffron to it (if you wish) and pour it over everything. Cover with foil and place in the oven for approximately 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Tah-chin is almost ready. This last note is very important for making a good looking Tah-chin.

Note: When you want to flip it over place the serving dish on top and then slowly flip over. Wait a few minutes for the dish to cool before doing this. Also, if you find that the crust is stuck you may have to use a knife around the sides to make sure it comes loose.

Appetizer Idea:
You can use a regular or jumbo cupcake pan to create smaller personal sized Tah-chin servings. To bake set oven temperature to 350 °F and let bake for 40 - 50 minutes. If you want the crust to be darker let it bake for 50 - 60 minutes.

Enjoy your Tah-chin!

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Oct 02

I know in America most people are used to going to the store and buying dressings, such as our favorite dressing Ranch. Here is a simple Persian Recipe for a homemade salad dressing. I simply love this dressing :)

Persian Salad Dressing

Persian Salad Dressing

Ingredients:
Mayo
Yogurt (optional)
salt/ pepper
lemon juice or vinegar
olive oil (optional)
ketchup –just a tad

Directions:
Basically, you mixed up your ingredients and have a dressing! You can adjust the contents to your liking, especially the amount of salt/pepper, lemon juice, and mayo you plan to use. I like to put some plain yogurt into the dressing because it creates a lite version … less mayo is healthier. Many people don’t use yogurt and only use mayo, but possibly add more lemon juice and olive oil. The amount of ketchup used varies as well, I typically use 1 tablespoon (or less).

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Sep 30

This is a aash (soup) one of my friends recently made for a gathering. It is from the Kurdish regions of Iran, and is basically a local Kurdish soup called Dokhawa.

Aash Dokhawa

Aash Dokhawa

The ingredients below are enough for a large pot.

Ingredients:
1 package parsley
2 packages cilantro
1 package dill (shevid), or half a cup dried dill (shevid khoshk)
.5 litre (16 oz) plain yogurt
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup Barley (jo) –this should most likely be a pearl barley or other quick-cooking barley. I couldn’t find the exact meaning of balghooreh jo, but I assume its a more processed form of Barley (i.e, pearl Barley)
1 egg yolk
6-7 cups water
salt

Directions:
First whip the yogurt with the egg yolk so that chunks will not be formed when you mix it with the water. Add the egg yolk and yogurt you have whipped to the water and then add all three contents (egg yolk/yogurt/water mixture) to the pot you plan on using. Wash your greens (mentioned above) and chop them up only a little bit, do not chop them up too much cause they need to be fairly large. Add the greens, some salt, the rice, and the barley to the pot. Then allow the contents in the pot to come to a boil. After it boils bring the temperature down to a medium / medium-low and allow the contents to cook for 30-40 minutes.

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