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!

Quttab

This cookie is irresisteable edible Almond-filled  cookie with golden and tender crust, Qottaab is a pastry filled with ground almond and sugare, this delight is originally from Yazd,


ingredients:


Dough
1/2 cup semi thick and sweet  yogurt
1/2 cup melted butter
2,1/2 cups flour
2 egg yolks 
a pinch of salt  or u can use 1/8 tea spoon  salt
1 tea spoon  baking powder
1/2 teaspoon  yeast (powdered)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
 Direction :
Dissolve the  yeast in luckwarm water, leave it for 5 mins in a warm place, whisk the egg yolks with a fork, mix the yolks with melted butter and yogurt, then add  the yeast mixture, flour, baking powder and salt to the mixture of yolks , yogurt and butter, fold them all together gradually, add more flour if it is stciky,  put teh dough ina zip lock bag, leave the dough for an hour in warm place,
 Ingredients for filling:

1 cup ground almonds
1 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoon  ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon almond extract or essense
Dusting:
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 teaspon ground cardamom

Roll out the dough onto a floured board. ( the thickness of the rolled dough should be 0.5 cm)

Cut out rounds using metal cookie cutter or round mold, ( 10 cm round cookie cutter)

place 2 table spoons of  the mixture  of ground almonds , icing sugar ( you can grind sugar cubes to make fine icing sugar) and ground cardamom  in the center of each round, press both sides of the dough over each other, Twist the round  carefuly to keep the filling inside , you can use piroshki press set or turnover press sets, or simply you can do it wih your hands,

Tips: brush the edge of  each round  with  water or milk, they would  work like glue
 if you dont have the press set, place the round or circle  in the palm of your hand, slightly folded, and put 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center , using your thumb and index fingers pinch and twist  the edge to seal and decorate the edge.

Arrange Quttabs nto a greased baking sheet lined wth  baking pape, bake them in a prheated oven  in  180 c o 350 degree fahrenheit,  on the middle shelf for half an hour until golden . remove fromthe oven , let them cool slightly , then dust them with  mixtue of icing sugar and ground cardamom.

In traditional way they fry quttabs instead of baking in the oven.
Noohe jaan!

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

Khoresh Aloo... (prune and chicken stew )

It has been a  while since I've posted  a recipe! I have been  buried   in a bunch of  things but  here I am  with a new chicken recipe and  pitted prune. I just wanted to make a delicious comeback!!

ingredients

chicken 1 kg

pitted prunes  400 gr

2 onions 

Saffron  1/2 teaspoon

turmeric 1/2 teaspoon

oil of your own choice  2 table spoons

4   carrots

 fresh lime or lemon juice 2 table spoon

lemon zest 1 teaspoon ( you can use orange zest   or orange peels)

water 2 glasses

salt and pepper to taste

Direction

wash and soak dried pitted prunes  for about an hour,  peel and slice onions fry in   one table spoon oil until golden and soft. Add chicken and stir-fry it until chicken color changes,  add lemon zest or peels, turmeric and  a pinch of salt and black pepper, they give   such a lovely flavor to your food,  add  enough water and cook  over the medium heat for about 15 minutes,  meanwhile  cut  carrots  lengthwise into 2 inches length and  add them into a frying pan with a table spoon of oil and a table spoon of water  and cook for about 5 minutes or until  its juice/water  is gone , I think this way is better  than frying  carrots  and set it aside, after 15 minutes, add prunes and fresh lemon juice into chicken , let it simmer for 10 minutes, bring   a cup of water into a boil,steep saffron in a boiling water and cover the cup for  2 minutes, then add saffron water into the  food, , finally add carrots  and let it simmer for another 5 minutes, after that  our Khoresh is ready to be served with  rice . Nooshe Jaan!