Persian Dinner tonight

We were "assigned" 2 dips and a Khoresh.

Louise is famous for her Hummus -- the secret is simple, most people use garbanzos from a can. For some reason (which I can not fathom) -- buying dried chick peas and rehydrating and cooking them yourself adds a wonderful depth of flavor compared to canned. She started that yesterday and finished it this morning. We had run out of Tahine but we have a Greek Grocery a few blocks from the house and I walked and bought a jar there.

Second -- I had the idea of doing Kashk-e Bademjan. Bademjan is eggplant, and Kashk is a very sour "whey" that looks like yogurt or sour cream. I had to peel and slice the eggplants and fry them, browning them and chopped onions. Then into the food processor with various flavorings. It is good. This dish, same name, can either be prepared as a casserole (leaving the eggplant slices intact) or puréed into a dip, which is what I did.

The lamb and rhubarb khoresh was my idea. I had forgotten what hard work Persian cooking can be. Separating leaves from stems for 4 bunches of parsley is pretty brutal. I bought 3 pounds of shoulder lamb chops and deboned and cubed. Nice flavorful tender meat. I browned it and then browned 4 large thin sliced onions and combined. Add liquid, I have learned to include some beef stock along with the water here for maximum savory flavor. After an hour of simmering you add 4 cups of chopped stemmed parsley, which has been fried with a cup of chopped stemmed mint leaves.

The smells get pretty incredible when you add that to the stew. And saffron soaked in water, and turmeric, salt and pepper. Lime juice and a dab of sugar to balance. The rhubarb is not added until the end so it will not completely dissolve and disappear. I have learned that it is difficult to get the rhubarb tender, without allowing it to completely dissolve!

I think our friend Susan will be making a polo (rice) and another Khoresh, and her husband Paul will be making Nan-e Barbari on the grill, and probably chicken kebabs. Another couple is bringing a green salad and the 4th couple is bringing desserts that are supposed to be "Persian-y."

If I have the time and energy I hope to make some Soohan-Ali which is the best candy in the world. A kind of almond brittle flavored with saffron, with finely chopped pistachios on top. Yum!!

What a feast, Frank! My husband had never heard of making Nan-e Barbari at home!

Have you ever made the rhubarb khoresh with another meat? Neither of us love lamb, but the rhubarb intrigues me.

Because my neighbors lived in Afghanistan (Peace Corps) they like Afghan food as well. Actually what Paul made was more of a regular Persian Naan. He makes the dough in a bread machine and shapes it with pulling and pounding and throws it on the bars so it gets a good black scorch in stripes. His bread never tasted better than last night. I asked about how the Nan-e Barbari was different, he said it's a coarser flour and of course there are those little black seeds on the outside.

The dips were very popular, I asked and they said the way I presented the Kashk-e Bademjan was really authentic. A blob of white Kashk in the center, stained yellow with saffron water so it looked a lot like a soft cooked egg. And fried mint and garlic in a ring around that. Susan said next time I should use a potato masher instead of the cuisinart. It tastes better with a lumpy texture, mine was very smooth (but delicious if I do say so).

Susan made rice with barberries -- she made a potato tadigh which was crunchy brown and wonderful. And there was tender cooked chicken served with the rice. She transferred my Khoresh into a ceramic serving container, like a cylindrical tureen with a lid, and added the raw cut up rhubarb to that, and cooked in the oven for 20 minutes so that the rhubarb was exactly done enough, not breaking up, but not chewy or crunchy. That was also delicious. Susan's suggestion was that I not start with chops (which are cut thin) but buy a leg of lamb or some cut of meat where you can cut more substantial chunks, they really should be 1" by 1" cubes. Mine were 1" by 1" squares but less than 1/2" thick when cooked.

We had salads, green salad and enormous sliced heirloom tomatoes, not all that Persian but really good.

And a friend made desserts. Shole Zard but I think she used asian mochi rice, the texture was quite soft compared to what I've had before. She admitted she didn't know what she was aiming for and just tried to follow a recipe.

I made Sohan as Ali -- I really need a decent candy thermometer!!! I got 3 or 4 candies that were nice and golden and then most of them came out mahogany brown. Edible, in fact pretty good -- it is hard to mess up almonds and pistachios and sugar. But I dream of some day making a whole batch and having it turn out YELLOW instead of BROWN. Candy is not a strength of mine I suppose, but most of my friends don't even try to make that.

Anyway. A great evening, good friends, good wine.

[Jenise]

What a feast, Frank! My husband had never heard of making Nan-e Barbari at home!

Have you ever made the rhubarb khoresh with another meat? Neither of us love lamb, but the rhubarb intrigues me.

Hey, we had dinner tonight with two couples we'd never met before and we're thinking of getting together periodically. The thinking goes, if all the restaurants in Bellingham are closing down, then we must create our own restaurant. Both of the other couples are really into Persian food and when I host next month I'm thinking of choosing that for a theme. Wanna join in?

Btw, did our fire engine keep you awake last night?

Have you ever made the rhubarb khoresh with another meat? Neither of us love lamb, but the rhubarb intrigues me.

It's the rhubarb that is the defining ingredient in Khoresh-e Rivas. "Food of Life" says it works equally well with Lamb, Veal, Beef, or Chicken!

Have you ever made the rhubarb khoresh with another meat? Neither of us love lamb, but the rhubarb intrigues me.

It's the rhubarb that is the defining ingredient in Khoresh-e Rivas. "Food of Life" says it works equally well with Lamb, Veal, Beef, or Chicken!

I tried to get the New Food of Life, but it is not currently available on Amazon. I may go for a used one from one of their other vendors.

I am constantly buying used books from 3rd party vendors on Amazon.

Very happy with what I get 95% of the time. Of course it is a little irksome to pay $1.50 for a book and $4 for shipping...

You can find stuff long out of print, too.

"Food of Life" will be just as good as "New Food of Life" by the way as long as it is Najmieh Batmangliej

I just looked on Amazon. Their listing for "Food of Life" is the new edition, 2011, for $34 new and $31 used.

"New Food of Life" is the exact book I have but it was published in something like 1996.

You'd be better off with the newer book and it might be cheaper as well.

Thank you, Frank. I had presumed that the "New Food of Life" was the newer book. I'll go for the actual newer one.

You ARE going to love this cookbook!!!

[Jenise]

Decided to buy it too, but I'll have to find a copy a little more reasonably priced than this!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0033B765K/ref=sr_1_8_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1314302906&sr=8-8&condition=new

Come on, only $9000???

It's a typical Persian contradiction. The "New" Food of Life is really the "Old" Food of Life for $34.

Ordered my "Food of Life" yesterday. Finally a way to use some old Barnes and Noble gift cards. I so often find their prices higher than local bookstores or Amazon, I was pleased to find the better price for a new cookbook on B & N.com.

Come on, only $9000???

I suppose they're out of stock but don't want to say so.

Frank,

I just received the Food of Life . The photos are wonderful! I am hungry just leafing through. There are recipes I have never heard of, Michael is remembering dishes forgotten. I am anticipating quince dishes! Thank you for the recommendation.

SO glad you like it. KNEW you would!!!!!

OK, because our neighbor did such an amazing job with Persian Nan, I was describing it to my brother in law. He and his wife were also in Iran in the time of the Shah -- really, lots of Americans lived in Iran and loved it through most of the 1970's. Anyway they have very fond memories of Nan-e Barbari so when we went down to visit them in MD this weekend, I took along the cookbook and some of the little black seeds. As it happened -- they weren't so interested that we ended up making any bread, and they didn't remember about little black seeds, and he had trouble finding the directions for his bread maker.

BUT the reason I am telling this story is that I have a question. My B.I.L. said he had heard while living there that if someone invites you over and makes Lamb Fesenjan, they must really really like you because it takes several days to prepare. Now as it happens my neighbors have made Lamb Fesenjan several times, and it is the only Fesenjan I have ever had (and I LOOOVE it).

But when I tried to look it up online -- it appears that really in Iran when someone makes a Fesenjan (which is a khoresh with pomegranate juice) they are much more likely to use chicken or duck as the meat! Lamb appears to be a rare substitute, and in the Food of Life cookbook, Khoresh-e Fesenjan (sometimes Khoreshte Fesenjan) is only shown with chicken. Has anyone had a Fesenjan, was it chicken or what?

My B.I.L and his wife also tended to pronounce it "Fessen-joon" which I have never seen in print but which sounds Persian to me somehow. ?!?!??

Now I am really geared up to make this dish. The local middle eastern grocery (where I buy Kashk) has pomegranate syrup. And some of the recipes call for fresh squeezed pomegranate juice from those annoying little seeds. There is even the choice these days of Pom Wonderful. I am kind of thinking duck. Although as I said I love it SO much with lamb...

Comments?

PS the recipes I found online and in the cookbook are NOT for a dish that "takes days to prepare." It looks pretty straightforward, something that would be done start to finish in a matter of hours.

The "joon" versus the "jan" is the Tehrani way of pronouncing it. Many words that would end with "jan" are converted to "joon" when adopting Tehrani "accent", including the "jan" one adds to a name (similar to "san" in Japanese) or title.

Fesenjan was the first Persian dish I was ever served, before I met Michael, my husband. I loved it and maybe it had a little to do with how we ended up together. I have had and made fesenjan with chicken and with beef, using a combination of cubed and ground beef. My husband says that chicken is the typical in Iran and given that neither of us is really fond of lamb, we've never eaten it that way. I agree that, while it takes hours like many Persian dishes, it doesn't take days, unless perhaps you start with a live lamb. I use both pomegranate syrup and grenadine, in a pinch. We don't have any specialty stores near.

And finally, Michael, does not remember ever seeing the little black seeds on Nan-e Barbari. However, in his home they always purchased the bread rather than baking it.

[Jenise]

We don't have any specialty stores near.

Have you tried the Meditteranean store--might be called Mediterranean Specialties--on 32nd behind Sehome Village? They have an excellent array of common and some not-so-common middle eastern ingredients.

Meditteranean store--might be called Mediterranean Specialties--on 32nd behind Sehome Village

I have been to the Mediterranean store just off Cordata near the new Co-op, but I have not been down to one in Sehome I will have to put it on my list, if not just for fun.

Thank you, Susan, that makes perfect sense and I find it pretty fascinating.

My neighbors learned Dari in Afghanistan before they moved to Iran, so they often say "Shamoo" for you instead of "Shamo"

Or at least Susan does, Paul's Farsi is pretty much flawless, according to mutual students who are Persian.

Evidently to (cultured, Tehrani or Isfahani) Persians, that makes you sound like a total hillbilly.