Esfahani-Style Pancake Recipe, Long-Awaited Trip to Iran and My 10 Year Blogging Anniversary

After many years I went on a long-awaited vacation to Iran with my two daughters. It was an amazing trip with many incredible moments. Our trip was intended to visit our families, see the historic sites and spark the love of my home country and the rich Iranian culture in my daughters. We visited Esfahan, Shiraz and Tehran over a span of about three weeks and we had quite a packed itinerary exploring these three major cities. It was an experience beyond all expectations. We were warmly greeted by both sides of the family upon arrival and were graciously shown around the beautiful cities.

This blog was born in the early days of December ten years ago when I was trying to find a way to cope with the loss of my mother. It has since brought me much joy and fulfillment and I am glad that it has helped people cook Persian food. I have received many kind and heartfelt letters over the years that I am so grateful for and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

One of the highlights of our trip was getting to taste new food as well as the old favorites. A new delicious food that we had for the first time was my sister-in-law's pancakes that she made for breakfast on our very first morning in Esfahan. This ingenious پنکیک pancake is more scrambled eggs than the American pancake and contains more eggs than flour. It's also less time-consuming than making pancakes and tastes just as delicious. The entire batter is poured into the pan and cooks slowly on low heat instead of spooning the batter into the hot skillet and making several thin pancakes. Below is Shahnaz khanum's recipe that I tweaked a little.

Esfahani Pancakes - پنکیک اصفهانی 

Ingredients:
Serves 4

4 eggs
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder *optional
1/2 tablespoon sugar *optional
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or butter

For the topping:
Syrup, honey, grape molasses, fresh fruits, or extra butter

Method:

1. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.
2. Add the milk gradually, stirring until well blended.
3. Beat eggs with a fork or whisk and add to the flour mixture. Combine thoroughly.
4. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil, pour in the batter, and lower the heat.
5. Cover and cook until the pancake is fluffy and golden brown on the bottom. 
6. Cut into four equal pieces.
7. Carefully flip each piece with a spatula, cook for another 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Happy New Year! May 2019 be a happy, healthy and prosperous year for everyone!

Dopiazeh Aloo

A while back I received a comment on my blog from a reader asking about an Iranian potato recipe. She wrote that she had just come back from a trip to Iran and she enjoyed a wonderful potato dish in Shiraz. After cooking and eating Persian food for twenty years she had not come across this dish before and she knew that it wasn't a potato kookoo or cutlet. This potato dish was served at breakfast and lunch and a server told her that it was a local dish. After reading this comment I asked one of my Shirazi friends about the recipe and without any hesitation, she said it's dopiazeh aloo! Dopiazeh is a traditional dish from Shiraz and it can be made with cubed or ground lamb/beef, chicken, shrimp, potatoes and a copious amount of sliced onions. Aloo in Farsi/Persian means plum and it's also a term used in Shiraz to mean potatoes. Here's the link for my ground beef Dopiazeh (two onions).

Dopiazeh Aloo - Shirazi Style - دوپیازه آلو شیرازی

Ingredients:
Serves 2

1 pound small potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed
2 large onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
A pinch of dried fenugreek leaves
A pinch of red pepper
Salt and black pepper to taste
Vegetable oil or olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (optional)


Method:

1. Place potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and cook uncovered on low for 15-20 minutes or until tender and not falling apart. Set aside to cool.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes.
3. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and fry over medium-high heat until soft. Add turmeric powder, stir. 
4. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes. 
5. Add the cubed potatoes, salt, pepper, a pinch of fenugreek, red pepper, stir gently until well blended, cover and cook for 7-10 minutes until flavors come together. Add a little fresh lime juice and serve.

Serve with warm bread, pickles, salad shirazi and mast o khiar.

Enjoy!

Moraba-ye Kadoo Halvaie - Persian Pumpkin Jam

I have always wanted to make مربای کدو حلوایی - pumpkin jam but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. One reason was knowing that my modified version of this recipe wouldn't turn out as good as my grandmother's. I always knew that I had big shoes to fill when it came to cooking. My paternal grandmother who we called Khanoum Ahvazi (lady from Ahvaz) was known for her delicious jams, pickles, and khiar shoor (pickled cucumbers). All her food looked and tasted amazing. Khanoum's pumpkin jam was different from any other ordinary jam; the pumpkin pieces were somewhat transparent, crisp, and slightly crunchy on the outside but soft and perfectly sweet on the inside.

What made the pumpkin pieces glass-like and crunchy was the use of آب آهک calcium oxide. I have been told that it's safe to use in food preparation if the directions are followed carefully. I imagine that my grandmother used her mother's recipe and that's how they all made this delicious pumpkin jam. However, since I am an advocate for non-chemical cooking I didn't want to use calcium oxide or any other kind of chemical in my cooking. Therefore, this recipe is not the exact same as my grandmother's. Not only did I not use the required calcium oxide solution, which was one of the key ingredients in this recipe, I essentially made this jam-based solely on the memory that I had of its taste, texture, color and nostalgic feelings for this childhood favorite. After making four different batches to get the pumpkin jam just right, I can finally say that I am pleased with the results and that this is also a healthier version.

Moraba-ye Kadoo Halvaie - Pumpkin Jam

Ingredients:
Yields: approximately 5 cups

2 1/2 pounds pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice
3-4 cardamom pods
2 tablespoons rosewater

Method:

1. In a small, heavy-bottomed pan, combine the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved in water, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes or until the syrup slightly thickens. Set aside.
2. Put the pumpkin cubes into a large pot, pour the syrup over it and add the lime juice and cardamom.
3. Bring to a boil for 5-7 minutes on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, placing the lid slightly open (ajar). Cook for an hour or until they are very soft, gently stirring occasionally.
4.  Add the rosewater in the last 10-15 minutes. You may want to remove the cardamom pods from the jam after cooking.
5. Scoop the jam into clean and dry jars and store the jam in a cool dark place or refrigerate.

Enjoy!

Moraba-ye Beh - Persian Quince Jam with Cardamom and Rose Water

Recently, a reader left a comment on my blog asking for a recipe for quince jam and that's when I decided to make this gorgeous colored, delicious and fragrant jam while quinces are still available in the market. مربای به Quince jam was part of the typical Persian sobhaneh (breakfast) back home in Iran and it included freshly baked warm bread (barbari, taftoon or sangak) right out of the tanoor, a fresh brewed hot cup of chai (tea), sarshir (breakfast cream), panir (my fave, lighvan), butter and honey. Among the many different kinds of jams, quince jam added color, flavor and aroma to our busy breakfast table. I suggest making a large batch since this is the kind of jam that you just want to eat right out of the jar. I wish I could say how long quince jam would last when refrigerated but past a 2-3 month time period I wouldn't know. It never lasts beyond that time in our fridge. It's truly amazing to see the transformation of this light yellowish colored, tart, firm and woody fruit into a sweet fruit jam that is a rich stunning shade of red and soft enough to melt in your mouth.

This time of year, when quince is in season, it is the best time to make the hearty one-pot meal known as tas kabab with layers of sliced quinces or the fall recipe khoresh-e beh (quince stew).  Quince has a thin skin and there's usually no need to remove it, just rinse it well and with a sharp knife gently remove the core but don't throw away the seeds which are used for medicinal purposes. As I have mentioned before in one of my previous posts, a teaspoon of quince seeds mixed with a cup of hot water can help soothe a minor sore throat and chest pains. Nothing of this fruit goes to waste!

Moraba-ye Beh - Persian Quince Jam

Ingredients:
Makes about 4 pint jars 

7 medium sized quince, rinse well under water and pat dry, remove any brown spots and core, slice or cut into bite-size pieces
3 cups sugar (can be adjusted to your liking)
3-4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom or use 2-3 whole cardamom pods (I used green cardamom)
1 tablespoon rose water *optional
Water, 4 cups

Method:

1.  Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice over the quince slices.
2. In a large heavy-bottom saucepan combine the sugar and water, bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, uncovered. Reduce the heat and boil for another ten minutes on medium-low heat or until it thickens a little bit. 
3. Add the ground cardamom and quince slices to the sugar syrup, bring back to a boil on medium heat. Pour in the rest of the lemon juice and add a little more water if needed.
4. Cover and simmer for about 2 hours on low heat. It is recommended not to remove the lid during the cooking to ensure that the quince slices develop the desired rich ruby red color. You can wrap the lid in a clean kitchen towel. I didn't wrap the lid with any cloth and a few times I gently stirred the content.
5. Add a tablespoon of rose water and simmer for another few minutes.
6. Remove from heat and let cool.
7. Ladle the jam into sterilized jars. Cover tightly and refrigerate.

Serve with butter, cheese, thick yogurt and/or as a topping with vanilla ice cream. 

Enjoy!

Moraba-ye Haveej - Persian Carrot Jam

Has it ever happened to you that you have all the necessary ingredients to make a delicious meal but instead you don't know what to cook and are not inspired enough to cook up something new! These are the times you call your mom, sister, friend, or even a neighbor and ask for their opinion. We need suggestions and helpful comments as to how to do our hair, what to wear to a wedding, what color purse matches our outfits and so on. In my case, several days ago I was looking at a 5 pound bag of organic carrots and wondered about the possibilities.

In our home we almost have a set menu that everyone is more or less OK with. There are things that I may make several times a month and then there are those dishes that I rarely make for no special reason and dishes that include carrots are among them. When it comes to carrots, we prefer to eat them raw. There's usually a plate of sliced fruits and vegetables such as carrots, celery, broccoli, apples and oranges on our kitchen table at all times. I needed some inspiration to make something different and new with them. So, I decided to put the question to the fans of Turmeric and Saffron's Facebook Page. That's a community that I'm so grateful for and appreciate to be a part of. There were wonderful responses but the idea of making a مربای هویج Persian carrot preserve with cardamom as suggested by one of the fans had me so excited that  I decided to give it a try!

You can either cook carrots, water and sugar together from the start, or first cook the carrots lightly to soften them a little. However, for me, softening the carrots is not an issue since we are used to eating them raw. 

Moraba-ye Haveej - Persian Carrot Jam

Ingredients:

2 pounds carrots, peeled and grated

2 cups sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

5 cardamom pods (remember to remove the pods)

2 tablespoons rosewater

Method:

1. Place carrots and two cups of water in a large heavy-bottomed pot, bring to a boil. Cook over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. 
2. Add sugar all at once and bring mixture back to full rolling boil, stirring constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. 
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, add cardamom and lime juice, cover and continue to cook for about 30 minutes or until it has thickened and looks syrupy. 
4. In the last 5 minutes of cooking add rosewater, stir and cover the pot. 
5. Ladle jam into sterilized and dry glass jars, allow to cool completely and close the lids tightly, refrigerate.

Haleem: A Wheat and Meat Persian Breakfast

حلیم Haleem/Halim is a favorite traditional meal in Iran and it's usually served for breakfast. The main ingredients for haleem are wheat and meat ( beef, lamb, or turkey). Haleem is a hearty and filling morning meal that is cooked slowly and requires some patience. In Iran, some restaurants serve haleem in the early hours of the morning or sell it as take-out. Some cooks insist on cooking haleem the old-fashioned way by cooking the wheat and stirring it all night long to have it ready for the hungry early risers. However, thanks to modern technology, which has brought about food processors and hand mixers, we can make haleem much faster.

Growing up in the south of Iran, I would witness the vast fields of wheat every spring and the harvesting of crops months later. I wish my New York-born and raised children could experience and witness the process of ground cultivation by hard-working farmers, and observe the blossoming wheat sprouts and the harvesting and all the work and effort that goes into it all. That has been an amazing childhood memory that has helped keep me connected with nature ever since and makes me appreciate what the earth generously offers us each season and in every corner of the world.

Haleem is a dish that is usually made to serve more than one or two people. After putting time, effort, and some love into making this porridge you will want to have your family and friends join you in enjoying this creamy, nutritious and satisfying meal. In Iran, they send out haleem bowls to the neighbors. I remember my mother spooning some haleem into my bowl and talking about how at the time of creation the wheat grain was cut in half to symbolize the equality of humankind and the sharing of food for generations to come. The cultivation of wheat dates back thousands of years ago and has been one of the staples in Iranian cuisine. Now, thousands of years later,  I end this post with a well-known poem by Saadi/Saadi Shirazi,  Iran's very famous poet:

The children of Adam are limbs from one body

having been created of one essence.

When the hardship of time afflicts one limb

the other limbs cannot remain at rest.

If you have no compassion for people's suffering

you cannot be called a "human being."

Haleem/Halim

Ingredients:
Serves 6-8

3 cups pelted wheat, rinsed, soaked 6-8 hours or overnight in 6 cups of water. Drain. 

2 pounds lamb neck or turkey breasts

1 medium onion, quartered

1cup of milk

Salt to taste
Water

Toppings:

Cinnamon

Butter

Sugar

Method:

1. Place the meat in a medium-sized pan, add onion, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and add enough water to cover the meat by 2 inches. Cover and cook for about 1-1/2 hours on medium heat or until the meat is tender. Remove from heat and let cool. Remove and separate meat from bones if using the lamb neck and shred into small pieces.
2. Place wheat in a heavy bottom large stew pot on medium heat, pour in 8 cups of water, bring to a gentle boil for a few minutes, reduce heat to low and cook for about 1-1/2 hours. Add more water if needed. Stir frequently. Using a wooden spoon is recommended. Set aside to cool. 
3. Pour the cooked wheat in a food processor in small batches and pulse until it becomes of a creamy and smooth texture or you can use an immersion blender.
4. Combine the meat and the wheat mixture and return back to the heavy bottom pot on medium to low heat. Add the milk. Simmer for an additional 30-40  minutes until it reaches the desired consistency and becomes a sort of supple and stretchy. Taste and add a little more salt and water if needed. 

Serve warm in individual serving bowls or a large serving bowl. Top with cinnamon, sugar, and drizzle with melted butter. 

Enjoy!

Sobhaneh - Persian Breakfast

صبحانه Breakfast has been called the greatest meal of the day. I couldn't agree more. It only takes a little time early in the morning out of our busy schedule to boil some water to brew a fresh cup of loose leaf tea or make an aromatic delicious cup of coffee. Warm up some flatbread (lavash, barbari, sangag or pita) if it's available where you are, Serve feta cheese and/or butter, walnuts, fruit jams or honey. Many like to serve fruits of the season and sliced small cucumbers and firm tomatoes. This is a typical Iranian breakfast. Where the tea is hot and the bread is warm, cheese (paneer) is tasty and of good quality. In that 10-15 minutes sitting at a table, sipping tea, enjoying the company of loved ones, counting your blessings, and gathering the strength to get up and start a day refreshed and ready to go. The above photo is a picture of my favorite kind of breakfast. I should mention that there are many other morning meals that I'll be sharing with you later on.

Enjoy!