Food Photos

Thursday, March 30, 2006

LOTS of Persian Food...

Okay, so my other computer is STILL being worked on, so pictures coming pretty soon but not today. Anyway, last weekend myself, significant other, friends and my sister got together to make Persian meal. There's a pretty large Iranian community in Southern California, actually, and just a couple of weeks ago they had a celebration for Persian new year, Now Ruz. As I hadn't had Persian food in a long time, and a co-worker wanted to experience a new cuisine, I decided to try my hand at some traditional recipes. Personally, I have no idea whether this meal is anything like what they eat today in Iran, but the food turned out pretty good nonetheless.

My first exposure to Persian food happened during my college years wherein some friends and an acquaintance, who happened to be Iranian, took us to a Persian restaurant. I remember the food being good, but as I had no idea what was what at the time, I stuck with chicken kebabs...which was pretty unadventerous, I know. Since then, though, I've been to a few Persian restaurants in Orange County, specifically Darya and Caspian. Both are good, though Caspian is the more affordable of the two, though Darya has more of that "fine dining" vibe.

So, what did we have at our meal? The dishes we made were Fesenjan, which was poultry (duck is apparently traditional, but we used chicken) and rice in a pomegranate and walnut sauce; a small salad with cucumber, red onion, tomatoes, garlic, lemon, and olive oil; borani, or a mashed eggplant and yogurt mixture; "jeweled rice," which consisted of basmati, various types of dried fruit (apricots, golden raisins, sour cherries, barberries and dates), saffron and chicken; onion-and-tomato marinated lamb kebabs; a yogurt sauce with garlic, cucumber, and mint; and an awesome chewy-yet-fluffy bread called Sangak that we bought at Wholesome Choice a Middle Eastern market in Irvine. By the way, the Sangak came in a...vast is the only word to describe it...sheet about 14 inches wide by 36 inches long, all for just bit more than $2. I also bought the majority of the ingredients I used at this market, too. For example, it's pretty tough to find pomegranate syrup in regular markets, and Wholesome Choice specializes in Middle Eastern ingredients. By the way, Wholesome Choice has an extensive food court serving Persian, Indian, Chinese, Mexican and American food, just in case you're in the area and are looking for something fast and a little different.

The Fesenjan was probably the most impressive dish I made, largely because the sauce, which is key to making this dish work, was far easier to make than I thought it would be. The Jeweled Rice also turned out far better than I expected, as I managed to get the crispy crust (called tah dig) on the bottom. Last time I tried to produce the crust the rice didn't turn out so well.

There will be pictures coming soon illustrating the steps, but in the meantime, here's the recipe for Fesenjan that I took from Claudia Roden's cookbook, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, and modified:

Rice:
2 cups of basmati rice
Enough water to fully cover the rice
A couple teaspoons of salt for the cooking water
A small pinch of saffron boiled in about 1/4 cup of water

Chicken:
2 lbs. of boneless chicken thighs, chopped into 2- to 3-inch pieces
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to fry the seasoned chicken in

Pomegranate Sauce:
1 whole onion, diced
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
6 to 8 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup chicken stock

This recipe requires decent timing, as you don't want the sauce finished before the rice and chicken. The rice is pretty simple though I actually made it the traditional way, which is more labor intensive than just cooking the rice in twice as much water until it's the right texture.

For the rice, first rinse the rice 2 or 3 times in lukewarm water. A collander with a fine mesh works the best for this step and later in the process. Next, salt a large pot full of water and bring it to a boil. Add the rice. Cook the rice until it's almost done (you need to eat a couple of grains yourself to test it), just slightly underdone. While the rice is cooking, put the pinch of saffrod threads in the 1/4 of water and microwave it for about 1 minute. Next, drain the rice back into the collander in the sink and shake out the excess water. Using the now-empty pot, put it back on the stove, melt about a tablespoon of butter in it over low heat, and add the rice. Pour the saffron-infused water (threads and all) over the rice and put the lid on. Now, you let the rice steam itself (the liquid left in the rice will accomplish this) for 20-30 minutes.

If you're using a non-stick pan, the crust shouldn't stick when you're ready to take the rice out. However, if you're using a regular pot/pan, to get the rice crust (the tah dig) to unstick itself, run cold water over the bottom of the pan. That will loosen the crust and allow you to remove it without totally destroying it.

The chicken is very basic. First, chop up the chicken thighs into 2- 3-inch chunks. Season them with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Note that the above seasoning amounts are just suggestions. I found that although you could taste the seasonings a bit, the chicken flavor did come through, which is what I was going for. I didn't want the garlic and onion flavor to class too much with the sauce. Next, pour some olive oil in a large pan and turn the heat to medium low. When the pan and oil are hot, add the chicken and cook until the juices run clear.

For the sauce, saute the chopped onion in a little olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat until they are somewhat caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Next, toss in the chopped walnuts. Cook the walnuts with the onions for a couple more minutes and then add the chicken stock. To this mixture you want to add the pomegranate molasses and the sugar. You'll end up cooking this until the sauce coats a spoon, which on medium low heat on my stove took about 15 minutes. Be careful not to reduce it too much; you want a sauce, not some sort of pomegranate onion candy.

Okay, assembly and plating is pretty basic. First, get a platter big enough for all the rice and put the rice down as a base. Next, place the chicken on top of the rice. Put the sauce in a bowl on the side with a serving spoon. Let people help themselves to the chicken, rice and sauce. That's it. Enjoy. This recipe will serve about 4-6 people if you're not eating anything else with it, though I'd suggest a salad of some sort.

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