Koofteh Tabrizi, Tabrizi Meatball

Is there a smell of any food that always brings back a nostalgic memory?

I would say yes!  Koofteh is  one of the dearest dishes to me ,  not because of the  delicious smell but it  reminds me of delightful  memories of the past and my Mom,  My Mom used to cook it in the  most of family gatherings and parties on special occasions like Eid days.

The following recipe of a joyful and edible   Koofteh is one of those dishes, nobody in the family or relatives could compete with her appetizing foods, especially with her aromatic flavorful Koofteh Tabrizi, So  here I am sharing  the memory of My mother’s tasty hands which can’t be replaced  by no one for me!

Ingredients:

500 gr meat (lamb or beef…I prefer to use half lamb and half beef)

¾ cup split peas

¾ cup rice ( short grain rice is better)

2 eggs or one large egg

4 large onions

1/2 cup  chopped Persian leek

1/3 cup chopped parsley 
1/3 cup chopped cilantro 

1 table spoon dried summer savory  leaves  (marzeh in Farsi)

16  dried prunes

200 gr dried sour cherries ( or barberries)

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 teaspoons turmeric

1 tea spoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red chili powder
spoonful of flour or chickpeas flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 kg tomato
1 or 2 green chilies it depends on your taste, and if you like hot sauce 
1/4 cup verjuice  ...verjuice or Abghooreh  is unripe grape juice  which is sour

Water

Direction

Soak  split peas 2 hours a head 

Cook split peas until tender, scoop out the foam formed on the surface,( I prefer to drain them after bringing the water to a boil )

Cook rice until just tender  ( add  1/2 tea spoon  of turmeric to it )

 

Cook Rice until  just tender ( add 1/2 tea spoon of turmeric)

meanwhile prepare the sauce in a large pot.

saute 2 diced onions in 2 table spoons oil until golden, dice or process tomatoes in food processor, add them to fried onions, add one or 2 green chillies if you like hot sauce,  fry it for 10 minutes over a medium heat,  stir it occasionally, add 1 tsp turmeric,.....

 Then Add enough water like 3 or 4 glasses and 1/4 cup verjuice or Abghooreh, simmer over the low heat

process cooked split peas in the food processor to mash,  do the same thing with the rice , combine ground meat, mashed rice and  split peas,1 tea spoon of turmeric,1/4 tea spoon chili powder, grate 2 onions or you can   process onions in food processor or you can mince  onions, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 table spoons savory/Marzeh, 1/3 cup finely chopped parsley, 1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro and 1/2 cup finely chopped Persian leek,

Add eggs or a large egg and flour may be one or 2  table spoons but you may even need more , Kneed the mixture until to get a  dough consistency,

place a handful of the mixture in your palm  and make a well, place prunes and dried sour cherries or whatever stuffing you like, My mom used to stuff koofteh with hard boiled eggs, walnuts and fried onions and other things, so you can add other stuffing ingredients of your own choice,

If you use complete prunes not  pitted ones, warn the others about the pits to save their teeth otherwise you will need to pay for their dental  expenses!!!!

then go around the edges and seal the meat ball, I make them as size as a large fist, Play with the meat ball to shape a round ball.

you can use cloth something like cheese cloth if you want to make a perfect  gigantic meat ball!

add more water to the simmering tomato sauce season with a pinch of salt, bring to a boil, add the meat balls to the boiling sauce, cover  and simmer for an hour or until cooked,

after an hour or so your food is ready, it seems like a mission impossible but no  I know that it s possible! 

Enjoy your meal!

TIP: turkey meat  can be used as  alternative for the red meat used in this dish, 

Khoresh karafs, Celery with meat Stew

This Stew(Khoresh) is one of the popular dishes, easy but tasty, one of those kinds which can be made by every lazy single person who is not  bothered even with boiling an egg!!! what makes this food everyone's first choice is its humble ingredients like celery parsely and beef or stewing lamb and its aromatic flavor along with some sour notes,
you can cook it next time or even now for your supper table or lunch!

Ingredients : served for 4

2 large onions (peeled thinly sliced)
450 gr meat ( stewing meat , I prefer lamb) cut in 1 inch cubes
1 head ofcelery (wash teh celery wall  and cut in lengthwise ,This is about the length of an index finger)
3 cups fresh finely chopped parsely 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves finely chopped
2 table spoons  dried mint
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons  oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon turmeric

Direction

Brown onion with meat in one table spoon of oil
Add turmeric and nutmeg and 2 glasses of water , cover and let it simmer for 40 minutes
in a nonstick frying pan, fry the  chopped celery in 3 tabelspoons of oil for 10 minutes, add chopped herbs and stir fry it for 10 minutes longer, add dried mint  leaves  and stir it for 2 minutes more, then remove from the heat, add mixture of celery  to the meat , at this stage you can add salt ( if you add salt at the begining of cooking meat, meat will be hardened and it takes along time to be tender)
cover  and simmer over the low heat for about  an hour or so  or until  the meat and celery are tender and soft , after an hour add lime juice , simmer  for 5 minutes longer, taste teh stew before serving  and adjust the seasoning according to your taste,
Serve the stew with rice!
Nooshe jaan!

PS: I forgot to take pictures from cooking process!

Albaloo Polow, Sour cherry Pilaf(Rice with Sour cherries)

A couple of days ago  I found out that I have got a packet of  sour cherries left in the freezer  so I decided to cook Albaloo polow, Albaloo is sour cherry in Farsi,  I usually freeze some summer fruits such as different types of berries for winter use,  I love sour cherry a lot,  I don't like sweet taste in many foods but this  polow is something special, Albaloo polow is delicious combination of sweet and sour taste, I like to taste  actual flavor of every ingredients in foods instead of expulsion of supper power adviyeh(spices).


Ingredinets
3 cups rice (long grain)
1/3 cup sugar
4cups sour cherries
 oil (canola oil)
1 table spoon (Adviyeh for polow)....how to make mixed iranian spice or adviyeh: mix 1tea spoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 2 tea spoons ground dried petal rose, 1 tea spoon ground cardamom)
1 teaspoon saffron
600 gr chicken filet
2 medium onions


Direction


wash and soak  rice in salty water for a few hours,
prepare saffroon by brewing saffron powder in a cup of boiling water,
Lets see what we will do with sour cherries, this part is time consuming , you should  make sure all of them are pitted!! Add sugar onto the top of sour cherries and then stir it gentley with your hand and set it aside for 30 minutes,

This part is like  making jam, but the syup doesn't have as thick consistency as jam, put sourcherries  in a  pan on a medium  heat,  stir it for a while, then let it simmer,  when it s perfectly done  remover from  heat  and  set it aside,

In the meantime,  cook chicken filtes with sliced onions and a cup of water, add a pinch of salt , 2 table spoons of prepared saffroon  and  add adviyeh to the chicken,cover it  to cook  for 20 mins or until the water level reduced,  remove  the remianing  juice and set it aside, add a table spoon of oil to the pan and stir fry chicken filtes for a short while until  they turn golden, you can skip this part if you are on any special diet,

In a heavy sauce pan or pot  bring  9-10 cups of water to a boil , drain the soaked rice  and add  it to the boiling water... reduce the heat to the medium heat to stop boiling ...
TIP:
 you can add a table spoon of white vinegar to the boiling water , this will preserve the white and pearly color of the rice.

drain the rice after 7 mins( for basmati ) 4 mins for iranian rice.....this part is very important  because you should watch the rice carefully to not
over cook it, the rice grains should be  half cooked or barely cooked NOT FULLY cooked. try one or two grains to see if it is ready.

try and test the rice to see if it is salty or not, if it s salty stream water over the drained rice , don't rinse rice thoroughly...just that  much to dissolve the extra salt.

rinse the sauce pan or pot  you  parboiled rice, pour 2 table spoons of melted butter or canola oil in the pan and arrange the already  peeled and sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pot,
then  place the parboiled rice over the potato slices , mound it  to form a pyramid...and  pour 2 table spoons melted butter or canola oil, add chicken filets as additional layer over the rice and sprinkle the  preserved   chicken broth over the rice, cover the pot with  its lid wraped by a clean cloth and cook it for 10 minutes over the medium heat , then reduce the heat  to low to prevent burning the bottom . when rice is ready add sour cherries to the rice and chciken and sprinke saffroon over it and mix it gently ,add pistachio flakes on top of the rice before serving !  

Khoresh Qurmeh Sabzi( Ghormeh sabzi, vegetable and meat Stew)

A: " what is your favorite dish?"

Iranian: " Qurmeh sabzi!!!"

 yes, we Iranians love Qurmeh sabzi,  you may not like Qurmeh sabzi when you eat it for the first time but  I promise you  that  you will  be hooked to it  after the second try. Qurmeh sabzi  is one of those  appetizing dishes,  this stew is a hit for Iranians and miss with non Iranians.  most of non Iranians  don't know much about  this very popular stew. I don't want to exaggerate because some people can hate it , but as far as I know people simply love it. The stew  comes with rice, actually Iranians eat all kind of stews over Rice.

Ingredients: 

2 medium onions .....diced finely 

1 teaspoon  turmeric 

450 gr  meat ( stewing meat or lamb chops)

1/3 cup kidney beans 

3 cups fresh parsley (finely chopped )

2 cups cilantro (finely chopped )

1cup fenugreek (finely chopped )

1cup chives (finely chopped)  or persian leek

1/2 cup spinach( finely chopped)

salt and pepper   for taste

5 dried persian limes ( limoo amani)....I like sour taste  so I usually add more dried lime)

Direction

 Soak beans over night, next day  half cook beans separately,  when I want to cook  beans I usually boil  it for a few minutes, and drain the water , I repeat it twice , this way  beans do not make the stew color  darker or reddish brown  and most important  it prevents  blowing gas!!!! LOL

Dice onions finely , saute onion in oil until translucent, add meat (cut meat in 2cm cubes or use lamb chops)

add turmeric  and stir well , allow  meat to become brown  all sides.

 Add turmeric and , season with pepper (just a pinch of black  pepper) , add 3 glasses of water and cover it and cook it for about an hour, some people add  dried limes and salt too,  but I prefer to not add salt and lime at this stage because it will longer the time of cooking, as salt and sour stuff would harden the meat)

In the meantime break the dried limes into  halves and removes seeds completely, remember  that seeds would give your stew  bitter taste so you rather remove them  completely . (you can see the cleaned and broken  limes in above picture), fry finely chopped  vegetables  in  2 tablespoons oil  or 1  ..depends on your diet,  until its water evaporates and u smell the aroma , don't over fry it  at all,

Add half cooked beans  fried vegetables and dried limes to the meat  , add salt just to taste , add 2 cups water and cover it  and cook it  for 2 more hours.(or 1.30 hours)

Take the first munch and  your eyes will be widened in delight !!!!!!!!! Nooshe jaan