Friday, October 11, 2013

An Eggy Comeback!

It has been so long since my last post on Tameshk in Kitchen, and I did not think I will be back before finishing my dissertation. But as I get more involved with the writing process, I see myself more in need of easy and healthy recipes which would also provide enough nutritions for a 5-hour daily writing marathon. Needless to say I am more inclined towards dishes that are adaptable to my time and budget.
Egg-dishes have not been my favorite growing up. But now, which unfortunately I have to pretend that I am a grownup, I have come to appreciate the easiness of cooking with eggs.

On this post I will only share what I found today on Huffington Post Taste: The only 40 Egg Recipes You Will Ever Need. Apparently today is the World Egg Day. I had no idea such a day existed and I still have no idea what the day entitles! And since  I am not writing my dissertation on egg-day history, I will gladly delay my efforts in researching the history of this day, but if you know about it please share it with Tameshk in Kitchen.  My favorite among the 40 is: Tomato-y,  Yogurt-y Shakshuka.



Noosh-e Jaan! 
(Sweet to your Soul)
Bon Appétit! 



Thursday, January 6, 2011

Star Fruit & Berries


This is a new post in over two years, so let's go with something light and refreshing.
Star Fruit & Berries is indeed an uplifting dessert.



Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 Servings

Ingredients:
1 Star Fruit: a ripe medium size: Star Fruit is bright yellow when ripe with thin brown lines along the five ridges. The flesh is still firm.
¼ cup Blueberries
1/3 cup Raspberries

Directions:
1- Rinse all the fruits.
2- Prepare the Star Fruit:
a) With a sharp fruit knife remove the brown outer edge on each ridge. It cuts easily. Don’t go deep with the knife. [editorial note: I like the sour taste of the brown edge, so I just remove them and eat them separately. But if you have a more conventional taste you can discard the edge.]
b) Cut off the two ends of the star fruit.
c) Slice the star fruit on its horizontal axis.
d) Remove the seeds whenever you see one.
3- Place the star fruit on a serving plate and add the blueberries and the raspberries to the dish. Enjoy this refreshingly starry fruit dish.

Star Fruit & Berries

نوش جان (Nosh-e Jaan!)
Bon Appétit!



Saturday, October 11, 2008

Persian Celery Stew; My style!

I did not update Tameshk In Kitchen for some time now; Laziness I guess.

Celery Stew Recipe:

Celery Stew is my favorite Persian stew and by far my mom is the ultimate creator of this most delicious and often underestimated Persian stew. This recipe is based on my mom tips, but this by no means is her Celery Stew, for the Magic of cooking does not pass easily to one’s children:

So here, I will give you my version of the stew, which is limited to my American kitchen. Like most Persian stews, Celery Stew is best to be served with rice. I personally like it with bread, but that is perhaps only me.


Farsi name for celery stew is Khoresh-t-e Karafs (Kho- Resht-e Ka- Ra- Fs)* and there are two kinds of celery stew: I categorize them by their colors: red celery stew and green celery stew. The red one has tomato paste with a little bit of mint and parsley. The green one doesn’t have tomato paste and it has a good amount of mint and parsley. By my own classification this is a Green Celery Stew.


Ingredients:

1½ lbs. Beef: Lean boneless beef cut into average (1inch) stew cubes. My mom uses lamb if you want to go with lamb use 2 pounds of lamb. I rinse the meat before chopping.

1 Celery Bunch: 4-6 cups of chopped celery: chop it into even slices; don’t make it too thin. It is better to buy a celery bunch rather than loose celery stalks, and used the leaves.

2 Onions: average size, finely chopped

2 ½ cups Fresh Parsley: washed and finely chopped; I sometimes use dried parsley (1 ½ cups)

½ cup Fresh Mint: washed and finely chopped (just use the leaves). You can go with ¼ cup dried mint

¼ - 1/3 cup Lemon Juice: Lime Juice is better but reduce it to ¼ cup. Add the lemon juice at the end of cooking about the last 10min. ( if you use Omani Lemons (dried lime) use only 2 tbsp lemon juice)

Canola Oil: about 3 Tbsp
4 cups Water: (about 4 cups)

Spices:
½ tsp Turmeric: (ground turmeric)
Dash of Saffron: Persian Saffron is preferred!
Salt & Black Pepper: I go with about ¾ tsp of black pepper. It might be a little more than needed. I like the taste of black pepper; the distinguished taste of black pepper goes well with both celery stew and Ghormeh Sabzi.

2 Omani lemons: It is actually dried limes. I use them as they are, round and dry; I just partially crack their skin by pressuring the two Omani lemons against one another in one hand.


Rice
You can have this stew with any kind of cooked rice: my Rice recipe is here.



Directions:

1- Heat the chopped celeries in a large pan with close lid. No water is needed. After they get juicy add about 1Tbsp oil to the pan and stir. Remove the lid. Add salt and let it be for about 5 min more. Then turn off the heat. (This process (half-cooking celery) will take about 10-15 min) I sometimes half cook my celeries with oil and slat and freeze it ahead of time and to use it later. Rather than let it cook with its own juice, many people fry the celery. I don’t. I like the vegetables to keep their original taste.

2- Heat the oil in an average pot. Fry or sauté the onions until the color changes to semi-golden. Add turmeric. Let it be for 30sec and then add the beef to the pot. After 3-5 min the beef will change its color. Wait for the beef to get a bit juicy then add 2 cups of water to the pot. When the water is boiling, reduce the heat (leave it on medium).

3- You can start cooking the rice at the same time as you are following number 2.

4- Add half cooked celery. Add the chopped parsley and mint. And add one more cup of water. Let it boil, No need for increasing the heat. Add black pepper here (no salt yet). Let it simmer on low heat for about 30min with closed lid. Please note that people often sauté mint and parsley. I don’t.

5- Add lemon juice and salt and Omani Lemons. Stir. Add water if need. Cover the pot let it come back to boil and serve it after 10mint.



Celery Stew; Khoresht-e Karafs!

Noshe Jan (نوش جان)!
Bon Appetit!

*PS. The T after Khoresh, in Khoresht-e Karafs (Kho- Resh- T – e Ka- Ra- Fs), my mother rightly mentioned that, is a common mistake to make the pronunciation easier: the correct version would be Khoresh-e Karafs (Kho- Resh – e Ka- Ra- Fs).


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Chicken & Plum Stew



Actually Chicken and Prune Stew is more accurate for the name, since we use dried plums and not fresh ones. My grandma makes this stew with very ripe plums, apples and carrots, everything fresh, I love it. But for this stew I am eliminating apple and carrot since I think the rich taste of plums/prunes deserves a stew of its own. This stew should be served with rice, like most of Persian stews. For cooking rice please check the direction on one of my previous recipes like here.
















Chicken & Plum Stew:


Preparation & Cooking Time: 45 - 50 minutes
4 Servings

Ingredients:

6 to 8 Chicken Thighs: about 1 Lb. I use skinless and boneless chicken thighs (washed: I almost wash everything). Since I love chicken breast and not thighs I always put 1 or 2 pieces of chicken breast for myself and deduct the same number from the thighs. The chicken breast is drier and less fatty than the thighs and so for this stew I think thighs work better.

½ cup Prunes: about 10 average size dried plums. Cut each prune in half. No need to wash them.
1 Onion: (average size) diced
2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 ½ tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Tomato Paste: (Optional: when I use tomato paste I do not use sugar)
1½ cup Water: Usually chicken produces enough juice while cooking: but I add some more water after all the juice is out.

Spices:
1tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Persian Saffron: If you cannot have Persian Saffron, you have no choice but to use the average quality Spanish saffron.
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1- Heat the pot and add the canola oil. Add diced onions and fry them until their color changes to semi golden (about 3 minutes). Add turmeric powder to the pot, stir and let the turmeric fries with the onions for about 1 minute.

2- Add your rinsed chicken thighs to the pot. Stir and close the lid. The chicken’s color changes after about 5 minutes. Now add the water and pepper. Bring the water to boil and then let the pot stay on medium heat. If you are using tomato paste you should add it at this stage. Then let the chickens cook for another 10 minutes.

3- Add the prunes, saffron and Sugar and let the chicken cook completely. At the end add some salt. I found Prunes and Sugar complete each other’s taste. They also give a very rich color to the meat.

4- Your stew is ready in 45 to 50 minutes. Serve with rice.



نوش جان
(Noushe Jan)
Bon Appetit!