"Am I supposed to put the towel in the rice?" I was standing about 10 feet behind Christina, in the doorway of the office. She sat in the dark, lit by up by the desktops of her computers, red from the left, blue from the right like a pair of 3D glasses.
"Yes, cover the rice with a towel" She said, half paying attention to my question, half absorbed in her work.
"really?? okay.." I turned and walked back into the kitchen, puzzled. I opened the giant rice pot and gently "tucked in" the rice, using a towel. Then I placed a lid on the pot, and continued my cooking. About 10 min later, Christina walks in.
"How's the Persian crispy rice comi..?" She stopped mid-sentence, and then blurted "where is the towel?"
"uh..it's inside the pot, like you said.."
I could tell by her confusion that I had not understood her right.
"Hahahahaha, no not inside the pot, around the lid. My grandmother would always wrap the lid in a towel, like this!" She took a towel and wrapped it around the lid of the pot. It never would have occurred to me to do that.
It is difficult to venture into the world of Iranian cooking without a cultural guide. For example, when I asked the salesman at the Persian market if the baby eggplants had seeds in them, he replied proudly, "oh yes they do, were you looking to make eggplant caviar?"
"Eggplant caviar?? Really?? But the seeds are so bitter!!!" I said, in shock.
"Oh, yes, we sell the seeds separately, in fact, a lot of people come just for the seeds. They have many health benefits."
This, also, never would have occurred to me.
Whenever I dabble in Persian cooking, I rely very heavily in Christina's descriptions of her grandmother's food, and on the delightful writings of Najmieh Batmangli (who has translated traditional Persian recipes for the American cook). I recommend her "New Food of Life", from which this modified tadig recipe originated.
Dill rice with tadig (crispy rice)
3 cups basmati rice
6 cups water
1 1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter) + 1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
Rinse the basmati rice in a fine mesh colander until the water runs clear (or about 8 times). Boil the 6 cups of water and add the rice and salt. Cook for 8 min, uncovered. Remove from the heat and rinse the cooked rice in cold water. Mix 2 cups of the cooked rice with 2 Tbsp yogurt and the grapeseed oil. Spread the mixture on the bottom of the rice pot. Scoop the remaining rice on top of the yogurt rice, but only in the center, so that the rice forms a pyramid. Cover and cook on Medium heat for 1o min. Pour the ghee and water on top, and cover with a lid with a towel wrapped around it. Cook over medium low heat for 1 hour, or until you get a crisp layer on the bottom of the pot (test with a spoon). Remove from heat and place the pot onto a cool wet towel to loosen the tadig. Carefully scoop out the rice, and then invert the pot onto a plate. Add 2 cups of chopped dill to the rice.
Kabab by any other name...
Marinate 1 lb of cubed prime sirloin steak, 1 package organic mushrooms and 1 red onion chopped into large pieces in:
3/4 cup yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp brown rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, diced
The juice from 1 lime
cover and set in the refrigerator for the day (about 8 hours..or you could prepare the night before). Pre heat oven to 350. Skewer the meat on long skewers, top with a cherry tomato. Cook for 40 min, or to desired done-ness.
Salad
whisk together
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
1/2 tsp red apple balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp roasted walnut oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp dried lime (from Persian market)
fresh ground pepper and salt
a pinch of sugar
add mache leaves until the desired proportion of dressing to salad is reached and 1 diced red pepper
Christina's vote: "Grandmother would be proud"
No comments:
Post a Comment