blue artichoke

If this is any indication, Iranian food is awesome, but designed for people with nothing better to do than sit around boiling and peeling nuts all day. Not a cuisine for people who do things like work or attend baby showers. I found the recipe in a book my mom bought when we lived in Saudi Arabia. It's called International Cooking: Recipes from the International Women of Riyadh Saudi Arabia, and you can only buy it here. These are the first recipes I've tried, but I'm sure you'll be seeing more from the book in future Wandering Gullet entries. There don't seem to be any serving sizes indicated in the recipes, so I made a whole mess o' Iranian food. I should have been tipped off by the ingredient amounts listed in kilos (2.2# for you Americans). I used my brain, kitchen scale and estimating prowess, but not my note-taking abilities (my librarian grandmother would be ashamed), so I can't share with you an exact replica of my meal. But I can set you loose on the recipes I started from. Recipes are mere suggestions, anyway.

Shireen Polow (Iran)

International Cooking: Recipes from the International Women of Riyadh Saudi Arabia
I used an assortment of chicken parts in my freezer: two thighs, two drumsticks, two boneless, skinless breasts and one mystery cut. Altogether, they weighed ~2 1/2#. Though the recipe doesn't say it, if you choose to use a 2-3# chicken, it will be much easier to cook, serve and eat if you cut it into pieces first. I forgot to slice the almonds, but after cooking them, they didn't really need it. Also, I don't know why the recipe calls for almonds and pistachios; after cooking, they sort of lose their flavor and really just provide texture. You could just use one nut (almonds are cheaper). This recipe is very time-consuming and produces lots of dirty dishes. The end result is worth it, but maybe only for special occasions or when you want to make some Iranians nostalgic for home. Or when you want to combine dinner with dessert; this dish is very sweet.

150 g. shelled almonds
150 g. shelled pistachio nuts
Peel of 3 oranges (remove all white)
½ kilo carrots
300 g. sugar
2-3# chicken or chicken breasts
10 g. saffron
300 g. cooking oil
2 T. butter
1 kilo rice, long grain
S/p, as desired
2 t. cinnamon

Put almonds and pistachio nuts in enough boiling water to cover and cook for 5m. Drain, remove skins, slice almonds and set aside. Put orange peel in a pan of boiling water and simmer 5m. Drain and repeat procedure. Simmer for 10m; then drain. Peel carrots and slice julienne style. Mix orange peel, carrots and nuts with ½ c. water; add sugar and boil 3 minutes.

Cook chicken in large vessel with enough water to cover chicken and add s/p. When chicken is approximately half cooked, dissolve ½ of the saffron in a small amount of hot water and pour the solution over the chicken. Then set aside.

Cook and drain the rice. In a deep saucepan pour in oil, a layer of the orange peel mixture, then add a layer of chicken pieces and sprinkle with cinnamon. Repeat the layers until all of the ingredients are used. Then place pot on low heat to steam cook. After approximately 40 minutes, mix the remaining saffron (dissolved in hot water as before) with the butter (melted) and pour the mixture over the rice. Serve hot.

Borani Spinach (Iran)

International Cooking: Recipes from the International Women of Riyadh Saudi Arabia
GC liked this dish a lot; me, not so much. I think it might have been too much of a contrast with the sweet chicken dish; it confused and bewildered my taste buds. It was very garlicky (I used 2 cloves) and almost astringent. I used a few fistfuls of spinach and only ~2 T of yogurt, just enough to pull it together. This would pair better with a savory dish.

1 kilo spinach, washed well or 2 (10 oz.) pkg of chopped, frozen spinach
3 sprigs celery leaves, chopped or 2 T. dried celery leaves
½ L yogurt
S/p as desired
1 clove garlic, chopped

Chop spinach and celery; cook with garlic until tender, if necessary add 1 T. of water to prevent sticking to the pan. Make certain all water has evaporated. Then mix with yogurt. Add s/p. Chill in refrigerator and serve.

Almond Cookies (Iran)

International Cooking: Recipes from the International Women of Riyadh Saudi Arabia
I planned to make these for dessert, but didn't have time.

250 g. flour
200 g. butter
200 g. blanched, peeled and chopped almonds
2 egg yolks
100 g. icing sugar
1 small pkg vanilla
¼ t. salt (if using unsalted butter)

Mix all until you have a soft dough. Let rest in fridge, then roll out and shape in your favorite mold – horseshoe, star, diamond, etc. (bite-size). Place on cookie tray. Warm oven to 400F and place in oven to 10-14m depending on thickness or until they turn light brown. While warm, sprinkle a little icing sugar mixed with a little vanilla powder.

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