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Hi there, I'm Rose. I love to cook food - and eat it. If you have any questions concerning any of my recipes, drop me a line at:
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rose [at] avocadobravado.net
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At first glance, mast-o khiar looks an awful lot like Greek tzatziki. There are countless versions of yogurt and cucumber based dips stretching from Greece to India. Mast-o khiar is a very simple and straightforward dip, it means “yogurt and cucumber” in Persian. Persian cucumbers are most commonly used for this dip. They have thin skins and don’t require any peeling, but they may be unavailable in your area. If you can’t find them, you can easily substitute with common cucumbers available at your local supermarket, but be sure to cut off their bitter skins and deseed them. Serve with warm flat bread, pita chips, and vegetables.
Mast-o Khiar (Persian Yogurt & Cucumber Dip)
(adapted from Claudia Roden’s The New Book of Middle Eastern Food)
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16 oz yogurt, preferably strained or Greek
2 tablespoons dried or chopped fresh mint
salt & pepper, to taste
2 Persian cucumbers, sliced and chopped
Optional garnishes: more chopped cucumbers, ground dried rose petals, more mint (fresh or dried), olive oil
In a large bowl, beat together yogurt until smooth. Add the mint, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly. Fold in the cucumbers and serve with warm flat bread, pita chips, or vegetables. Add more salt, if necessary. Garnish with any of the following: more cucumbers, mint, dried ground rose petals, or olive oil.
Try the recipe index for more ideas.
It was warm today. By warm, I mean 61 degrees (16 Celsius) without a single cloud in the sky. The warmest months in San Francisco are September and October. So spring and summer days when the sky is brilliantly blue and relatively warm are sacred and must be taken advantage of. I assembled a quick lunch, mostly consisting of leftovers – salmon salad sandwiches, candied cashews, an orange, and this potato salad. Then Cory and I headed to a nearby park on Haight street and basked in the sun for two hours, nibbling on food, reading books, and people watching. In typical Rose fashion, I “basked in the sun” in black boots, a black sweater, and a scarf. Clearly, I haven’t changed much since my days as a teenage goth. Well, except I no longer dab my face with white powder, black lipstick, or write bad poetry. Whew, glad that part of my life is over.
Though Salad Olivieh is a Persian potato salad, the actual origin of the dish is thought to be Russian. I turned my nose up to potato salad for most of my life, but I now have a soft spot for it. I loved the contrasting flavors in this dish, the sourness from the lemons, saltiness from the pickles, and the sweetness from the peas. Definitely a new summer favorite.
Salad Olivieh
(adapted from Turmeric and Saffron)
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6 large potatoes (boiled, peeled, and chopped into bite-sized pieces)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 cups-2 cups mayonnaise
4 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
3 dill pickles, chopped
1 cup frozen baby peas
1 cup frozen chopped carrots
salt & pepper, to taste
juice of 1-2 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
In a large bowl, mix together mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Season to taste. Fold in the potatoes, chicken breasts, eggs, pickles, peas, and carrots. Chill for at least an hour before serving. Optionally, garnish with extra vegetables.
Serves 6-8
Try the recipe index for more ideas.
A kuku is a Persian dish, which is similar in many ways to its distant relative – the Italian frittata. This was my first kuku, so I more or less stayed true to the original recipe courtesy of one of my favorite food blogs, Turmeric & Saffron (I did omit the green bell pepper, though). The kuku was lovely and certainly an interesting way to serve green beans, which I consider to be an otherwise boring vegetable. Kukus make a great side dish to meat, I served it with chicken drumsticks.
Kuku Loobia Sabz (Persian Green Bean Frittata)
(adapted from Turmeric & Saffron)
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2 lbs frozen green beans
1 onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 eggs
3 T flour (I used chickpea flour, but wheat flour is also fine)
1/2 t turmeric
1/3 t paprika
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
a few threads of saffron, dissolved in a couple tablespoons of hot water
2 T olive oil or butter
juice of a lemon
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add onions and cook until golden. Stir in turmeric and add garlic cloves. Cook for another 5-7 minutes and set aside.
- Boil frozen green beans according to package directions. Drain in a colander and cool.
- Transfer green beans to a food processor and pulse until you reach your desired smoothness.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together eggs. Add onion, garlic, flour, paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, saffron, butter, lemon juice, and stir. Mix in green bean mixture.
- Transfer the mixture into a cast iron skillet or greased baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 45-50 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.
Serves 4-6
Not quite what you had in mind? Try the recipe index.
I made a small Persian-themed feast for two tonight and this was the star of the show. When purchasing meat this week, everything seemed to be more expensive than usual. So I opted for drumsticks, which were incredibly cheap. I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for several months and my only regret was waiting this long to make them. The drumsticks were deliciously flavorful with just the right amount of sourness. Go easy on the lemon juice if you don’t have a high tolerance for sourness, though.
Mitra’s Sunshine Chicken
(adapted from My Persian Kitchen)
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1 onion, chopped
10 chicken drumsticks
salt & pepper
1 t turmeric
a few threads of saffron mixed in a tablespoon of warm water
1/4-1/2 c lemon juice (depending on your tolerance for sour)
a few sprigs of a fresh herb, like parsley or cilantro (for garnish)
Heat oil in a large pot, when hot add onions and add chicken on top. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Coat chicken with ground turmeric.
Add about a half cup of water to the pot. Cover and simmer over low heat for a half hour or so, or until the chicken is finished. Stir occasionally.
Once chicken is finished, remove from the pot and place the drumsticks in the oven at about 200F to keep them warm.
Transfer sauce to a blender. Add saffron and lemon juice. Blend until smith. Return the sauce back to the pot. Season to taste, add a little more salt or pepper, if needed. Cook the sauce over low heat for a few minutes, or until sauce thickens.
Arrange chicken in a serving dish and pour sauce over the drumsticks. Garnish with a few sprigs of fresh herbs.
Serves 3-4
Not quite what you had in mind? Try the recipe index.
Ghormeh sabzi, at least according to Wikipedia, is the national dish of Iran. I’m pretty sure a culture is doing something right when their national dish is a stew full of greens. I studied Persian for two years in college and although I love the language, literature, poetry, and history of Iran, I have very little knowledge of the food. This is something that has to change, though. Tomorrow I am going to swing by a Middle Eastern grocery and stock up on ingredients and spend the next couple weeks cooking up lots of Persian dishes (this means you have to as well, Sakina!).
Ghormeh sabzi
(adapted from Gastronomie SF)
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1 large red onion, chopped
1 t turmeric
1/2 t cinnamon*
dash cayenne pepper*
1 lb stewing meat – lamb, beef, or veal
1 bunch spinach
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 bunch fresh dill
1/2 bunch cilantro (I used a whole bunch and it overwhelmed the dish), chopped
1/2 c chives, chopped
1/4 fenugreek leaves, chopped (I couldn’t find fenugreek, so I added a teaspoon of curry powder, as it contains fenugreek… among other things. Definitely not the same!)
1-1.5 c water or beef stock
juice of one lemon
4-5 dried Persian limes (I substituted with the juice of two limes)
1 15-oz can red kidney beans
salt & pepper to taste
Serves 4
* Cinnamon and cayenne pepper are not traditional to this dish. I added those two spices and some curry powder for a flavor boost because I left out the fenugreek.
- Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook until brown.
- Add the spices and incorporate them with the onion. Cook for about a minute. Add the meat to the pot and cook until browned.
- Heat a dollop of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add all of the greens to the pan. Saute them until they are vibrant in color and fragrant. This should only take a few minutes, so keep your eye on them and don’t let them burn.
- Drain herbs in a colander and let some of the oil drain out. Add the greens to the large stockpot with the meat and onions.
- Add lemon juice and about 1-1.5 c beef stock or water to the stockpot. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover the pot and let it simmer for about an hour. Add the dried Persian limes or lime juice to the pot. Simmer for another hour.
- Add kidney beans, simmer for about another 15 minutes. Take a taste test and add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice, if necessary.
Serve with basmati rice or lavash bread. If you can’t find lavash in your area, pita bread will suffice.
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