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).

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!

Photo Trailer for Peanut Butter Brownies

I noticed that I did not have any exclusive post in my Tameshk In Kitchen for our New Year, Norooz. So I decided to give you just a photo of these Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Brownies: designed by Little e, baked by Ada, delivered by my husband and eaten by me; well not all of them but I assure you that I contributed a good share in eating them. Although I am not a fan of peanut butter, I like the taste of these brownies. As soon as I get the recipe from Ada, I will post it here. For now please enjoy this photo-trailer. (like movie trailer ;D)

Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Brownies

More Than A Spice Dictionary:

Have you ever had any difficulties in finding spices' names in another language?

Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages is a superb website, introduced to me by our friend, Kia. Gernot Katzer’s Spice Page is more than a spice dictionary and offers answers to many of your questions about spices, like their origins, usage and botanical information.

To find out about most of spices that you know the names in other languages, for instance in Farsi: click on indices, click on Multilingual and then choose your language’s script, for instance Arabic script. You can find the name of your spice in Farsi and find more information on it in English. There are six lingual categories offered in that part.

“Be my guest take a look at it and you will go back there whenever you have spice questions” Says Kia.

Alpinia calcarata ripe fruits

A Simple Banana Cake

A Miracle Banana Cake:

Baking a cake is the hardest thing that can happen in my kitchen and for me every single time I bake a cake and it tastes good is a miracle. This Banana cake was the first cake I have baked. And it is a miracle that has never stopped from happening. It is easy to make for its ingredients are easy to find in every kitchen. Among my friends Dario loves this cake and I know another friend is waiting to examine this recipe.





Baking Time: 50 - 60 minutes
350° F and 5x9 in loaf pan






Ingredients:
3 Ripe Bananas: Tip: I have made this recipe with two or even one bananas. It still comes out perfect. So go with as much ripe banana you have ready at your kitchen.
1 ½ cups Flour
1cup White Sugar
¼ cup Canola Oil: you can use the same amount of butter instead of canola oil
1 tsp Vanilla Powder or Vanilla Sugar Powder
1tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
1 Egg


Directions:
1- Preheat oven to 350° F. Use an aluminum foil to cover your loaf pan and spray your pan with canola oil nonstick spray or just grease it with a small amount of canola oil.

2- Mash the ripe bananas: I use a fork to smash the bananas. It is really easy; just put the bananas in a big plate crush them with the back of the fork.

3- Mix the bananas with the flour, baking soda and baking powder and oil. Then add the egg, vanilla and sugar. Mix well and pour into your baking dish.

4- Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. See if it is baked through. Check with a narrow stick or a toothpick.

A Bowl of Mixed Berries!

Mixed Berries for Breakfast:

Please note that this is not really a recipe. It is just what I put together and like its combination/mixture. I usually eat fruits for breakfast; eating a bowl of mixed, peeled & sliced apple, banana and orange with a cup of hot tea is my usual morning. The days that I really want to be a good girl I have the above fruits with my cereal. From time to time I make a change in my choice of fruits and recently I switched to berries. Not only I love berries, as you can read in the title of this blog, but also I find berries a less time-consuming choice: easy to wash and no need for slicing (except for huge strawberries). So once every couple of weeks, I make one bowl of Mixed Berries and I keep it in fridge. If we have it with our morning cereal it will last us for three days. I sometimes serve it as dessert, and even Alpez, my food critic friend, loves it. If you want to make it for dessert you can have it with whipped cream, ice cream or any kind of gelatin desserts, but I personally like it without any of these additions. The fruits for this mixture are all fresh and raw.

Ingredients:

1 ½ Cups Raspberries: rinsed. I use red raspberries.
1 Cup Blueberries: rinsed
2 Cups Strawberries: rinsed and sliced. I try to go with little strawberries, but usually they are huge, so I slice each in four pieces.
1 ½ Cups Blackberries: I switch between strawberries and blackberries. I usually don’t put them together, No reason at all.
No Sugar is needed.


Directions:

Mix the berries. (It is really confusing, I know!)

نوش جان

(Noushe Jan)
Bon Appetit!

Tips:
1- For a fancy presentation of this dish you can use some Vanilla-Sugar. I think you can guess I don't do it.
2- Keep the mixed berries in a lidded container for refrigerating.

Lulu Carpenters Octagon Café

I was in Santa Cruz for couple of days. Lulu Carpenters Octagon Café was one of the discoveries of those days. I went there to meet with Professor Burke; a nice meeting in a nice place. The place was packed, but pretty quiet compare to its population. We were lucky to find a table while waiting for our coffee to be brewed. In Lulu’s café every coffee order is measured, grounded and brewed freshly. I should mention that at Lulu Café your coffee costs you more than usual, simply because you get a coffee better than usual. I got a cup of Cappuccino which is a small sign of Lulu’s neat style.

In the same neighborhood there is another Lulu Carpenters Café. The Octagon one is located on 118 Cooper St next to McPherson Art Museum.

My Cappuccino Cup, Lulu Carpenters Octagon Café,
Santa Cruz, Jan 2008

Honey Topped Salmon Fillet

Honey Topped Salmon Fillet
The first fish dish I had in the United States was this Salmon with Honey. It made me convert from a devoted fish-hater to a fish-lover enthusiast. The credit for this recipe and my exciting conversion goes to my dearest friend Ada. I usually serve cooked vegetables in the side. Rice also makes a good side dish for the Honey Topped Salmon.

Note: This dish is not as sweet as it sounds. So don’t let the honey part scare you. Honey eliminates the fish smell and gives the salmon a teriyaki like taste.

4-6 servings
Preparation & Cooking Time: 60 minutes on 350°F






Ingredients:

1lb Fresh Salmon Fillet: I usually get the whole amount in one piece. You can also use Salmon steaks (more than one piece) the only difference is that you should cover both sides of the steaks with honey.
3 tbs Honey: You may need more than 3tbs. It depends on the size of the fillet. So use as much as you need to cover the skinless side of the fillet.
1 Onion: Average size, sliced (optional)
No Oil: I do not use oil. Salmon has enough fat in it.

Spices:
Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper: just enough to season the salmon.
3 Garlic Cloves: crushed or sliced (optional)

Side Dish:
3 Carrots: Average size, cut into julienne stripes
1-1½ lb Mixed Small Red and White Potatoes
2 tbs Canola oil
Some Black Pepper

Directions:

1- Preheat oven to 350°F. Rinse the Salmon fillet. Then genteelly dry the fillet with paper towel.

2- Season the salmon with salt, pepper and garlic powder. A quick reminder: we only season the skinless side of the fillet.

3- After using slat, pepper and garlic powder, use a sheet of aluminum foil to cover an oven safe dish or tray. Use a dish large enough so the fillet fits easily. Place the seasoned fillet in the dish. Pour the honey on the fillet so it covers the fillet. You can use the back of a spoon to spread the honey. It is important to use the aluminum foil since burned honey does not clean off easily.

4- On the top of the honey you can put some garlic cloves. I usually bake some onions in the same dish next to the fish. No Oil is needed. Place the salmon in the oven. It is ready after 50 minutes. Check the dish from time to time, so you can control the crispiness of the Salmon.

Side Dish:

I usually prepare the side dish before the salmon. I put it in the oven from the beginning of the preheating process.

1- Wash the potatoes and carrots thoroughly.
2- Skin the carrots and slice them in stripes. Do not slice potatoes.
3- Grease an oven safe dish and place the potatoes and carrots in it. Use some oil to grease the veggies on the top. Pepper them and put it in the oven. They will be ready in about 40 min. I like the carrots to be a little bit dryer; that’s why I put the side dish into the oven before the salmon.

نوش جان

(Noushe Jan)
Bon Appetit!