Mast-o-Laboo - Persian Beet & Yogurt Dip

There are so many types of street food vendors here in New York, fruit stands, soft pretzels, hot dogs, toasted chestnuts, and so on. The other day, we took a stroll down Fifth Avenue and to Rockefeller Center to see the holiday decorations and lights. My daughters bought roasted peanuts from a street vendor, and the warm, nutty smell instantly took me back to my childhood in Iran. I remembered how my mother would buy me fresh, whole salted walnuts, grilled corn (balal), and warm, juicy cooked beets (laboo). Sometimes I wonder if it's simply nostalgia, or if the food we grew up with tasted better.

Beets are an interesting root vegetable; they add so much color to life. They stain everything they touch, your cutting board, your hands, and your nails. It makes me wonder whether, long before modern cosmetics, people used beets as make-up to tint their cheeks and lips. 

Cooked beetroot (choghondar) can be served in many ways: sliced in salads, cut into quarters with a sprinkle of sugar, or mixed into yogurt. Even the green can be added to the ash, the hearty vegetable-and-bean stew, where it lends a wonderful flavor. Yet, the greens are usually discarded before serving. That may be why we have the Iranian expression used when someone feels ignored, unappreciated, or excluded from decision-making: "Am I a beetroot leaf here?  (pas man inja barg-e choghondaram?) 

Mast-o- Laboo/Borani Laboo - Persian Beet & Yogurt Dip

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

-3 small beets

-2 cups plain thick yogurt
-A pinch of sugar (optional)

-Garlic powder
-Salt

Method:

1. Place the beets in a pan, cover with water, and cook over medium heat for about 45 minutes or until tender.
2. Remove from the heat and set it aside to cool.
3. Peel, cut into small bite-sized pieces, or grate them using a food processor or a hand grater.
4. Combine the yogurt, beets, and a dash of garlic powder, salt, and a pinch of sugar.  Mix well. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Serve cold.

Enjoy!