Khoresh Baademjaan- Eggplant Stew

Simple to throw into a pot and forget about, Khoresh Baddemjaan (Eggplant Stew) has big flavors. Salt/sour and if youare my mother-in-law spicy. The eggplant melts in your mouth. Wow this is one tasty stew.
Khoresh Baademjaan (Eggplant Stew)
severs 4
1 chopped onion
1 tsp oil + more for frying eggplant
1 cup of stewing meat (lamb or beef)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup yellow split lentils
1 tsp tomato paste
1 dried lime (or lemon/lime juice)
salt, pepper, hot pepper
1 eggplant

In a pot over med heat brown the onion in the oil. Add the stewing meat and seal. Add the turmeric and yellow lentils. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Stir in the tomato paste, drop in the dried lime, salt, pepper and hot pepper if you like. Its a good idea to cut the lime in half. Put on the lowest heat and let stew 2 to 8 hours. Just make sure it doesn't dry out. Note if you do not have dried lime add 1 Tbs lime/lemon juice 5 min before severing.

Before severing peal and slice the eggplant from top to tail. Can get 8-10 slices from 1 med eggplant. Fry the eggplant in oil until golden on each side. Sometimes I salt and remove extra water from the eggplant before frying and sometimes I don't use oil when I fry the eggplant. Oil and salt are yummy, so its up to you!

Place the eggplant on top of the stew for the last 5 min.

Enjoy with rice.

Pulgogi (Korean Broiled Beef)

I think lots of people may have tried Korean BBQ in a restaurants, but Pulgogi is great for a mid-week meal at home.
Pulgogi Sauce
(adapted Korean Mother's Cooking Notes by Chang Sun-Young)
3 TBS of soup soy sauce (Saeid doesn't like soy sauce so I use this as it is much lighter)
2 TBS sugar
1 TBS honey
2 TBS white vinegar
1 TBS sesame oil
3 TBS chopped green onions or chives
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tps pepper
1/2 tps tahini (or 1 TBS of ground sesame seed, but I think its smother to use tahini)
Mix

The best way to cut thin slices of beef is to frezze it first. Marinate the meat for an hour+.

At this point place the meat on a cookie sheet and cook under the broiler or if you are my mom then just cook in a frying pan for 3 min with all the yummy sauce. Even after my time in Korea I still like to cook Pulgogi this way.
I also made Polow with Korean Wild Rice and enjoyed my Pulgogi with a few kinds of kimshi.

Snow Bbq with Ramen Coleslaw

Ireland does get snow but it melts right away. Since New Years Eve the whole island has been white. We had a Bbq before it turned back to green.

How do you start a Bbq in snow? With the help of a blow dryer!

Saeid's Hamburgers
2 pounds Irish Beef
1 Irish onion grated
salt and pepper
Mix and shape into 6 burgers. These 1/3 pounds were tasty.
I made my mom's Roman Coleslaw, but as it was 6am in Kansas I had to make it from memory.
Roman Coleslaw
1/2 small white cabbage
2 carrots
1 inch ginger
1 package of Roman
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1 tsp lemon jucie
1/4 hot pepper
2 Tbs toasted sesame seed

Finely chop the cabbage, grate the carrots and ginger. Mix with 1/4 of the roman spice package, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, lemon juice and hot pepper. Check the taste. Top with sesame seed and 1/2 the package of broken Roman.

Update: My mom uses some of the seasoning package from the Ramen in the salad.  Make sure to check how much salt your adding!!!

I think the snow made everything taste better!

Cholow Kabab

Back in September I tried to make Kabab Koobideh, but it was only 40% Iranian. Last weekend we had a second attempt with the same ingredients but way better results maybe up to 85%.

Makes 4 Kababs

450 gm Ground Beef or Lamb
2 Onions grated
1 Egg
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
Sumac

The key to making these kabab is crying. After grating the onions place in a clean tea towels and squeeze out all the onion juice.
Mix the dry onion with meat, egg, salt and pepper. Using your fingers mix and mic the meat until it is sticky. (about 5 min) It is a good idea to use gloves for this. Cover the meat and let rest in the frig for 3-12 hours.
Pre-heat oven to hottest setting. (200c+) Line a baking sheet with foil. Shape the kababs and mark the top with the back of a spoon. Bake for 30 min. Add a sliced tomato for the last 5 min of cooking.
Top the kababs with sumac and serve with Cholow rice. Our kababs where a tinny bit dry, so next time we are going to cook them on the grill pan.

Italian Dinner

We had a great Italian dinner this weekend. For antipasto we had olives, beef, parmesan and focaccia.
Rosemarie, Basil, and Garlic Focaccia
2 1/2 cups flour (1/2 of which whole wheat)
salt
yeast
Mix with about 1 cup of warm water, the dough should be soft but not sticky.
Let rise and then press out in oiled pan. Top with olive oil, chopped herbs and very finely chopped garlic. I used a smoked garlic. Finish with salt and pepper.
Bake at 200c for 30 min or until the bread is golden brown.

A butter knife??? This rib-eye was that soft. I seasoned it with salt, pepper and olive oil and cooked it on a very hot grill pan for 3min a side.
Finish the meal off with a spinach, basil, tarragon, mandarin and feta salad. Little and fresh.

Beef Wraps

I haven't been able to get the taste of the winning pizza out of mind. I was thinking that those flavors would work really well in a Tex-Mex wrap.

Heat 1 tsp oil add 1 tsp cumin seeds and let them pop.
Add
250g Irish Beef
1 chopped onion
1 tsp turmeric
2 cloves chopped garlic
Once the meat is brown add some veg.
I had half a eggplant, a yellow bell pepper, some mushrooms and green cabbage.
After the veg cooks down a bit add hot peppers, a can of corn green/black olives and a few tomatoes or half a can of tomatoes.
Finish with 1tsp ground cumin, 1tsp ground coriander, chili pepper, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
Wrap it all up as in or add some cheese or yogurt. This was a great was to use up leftover veg and very tasty but not as good as that wonderful pizza.

Ox Tail Stew

Ox Tail is not something I have ever seen at Wal-Mart, so when I saw these I got them. My husband hates Aabgoosht, which is a chickpea stew/dip. But I've been think how can he not like Aabgoosht. He likes hummus. I bet I can make an Aabgoosht that he will like. I'll make it more like a stew than a dip and he will never know.

Brown the meat.
Remove and cook 1 chopped onion with 1 tsp turmeric and some oil if the pan is dry.
Add 4 cloves of garlic.
1/3 cup of dried chickpeas.
1 can tomatoes
Meat back in the pot.
Cover with water.
Bring to a boil, lower and cook for hours and hours. (6 or more) I left mine in the slow cooker.
An hour before eating add 2 chopped potatoes and one dried lime. Salt and pepper to taste.
Aabgoosht the dip would be eating with bread. But so my husband would think this was a stew I made brown rice (which he also hates). I tried really hard to trick him, but he knew right away. I will not be making this again!

Gormeh Sabzi

Green stew??? It is so so good! Its the herbs which give Gormeh Sabzi its color.
Soak 1 cup of kidney bean over night (can use a can, but add at the end of cooking)
Brown 1/2 cup of stewing meat.
Fry 1 onion in 1 tsp oil and 1/4 tsp of turmeric (so pretty).
Soak 1 cup of dried Gormeh Sabzi, drain and fry in 1 tsp of oil. (My mother-in-law always uses fresh herbs, but its hard to find them here. If you want to use fresh than use cups of chopped fenugreek, dill, parsley, cilantro, chives, and spinach.)
Put everything in to a pot. Cover with water bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for a few hours until the bean are soft, adding more water if needed. 30 min before severing add 2 dried limes (and beans if using canned).

Enjoy with rice. Really do it! I love Gormeh Sabzi and you will too!

Shevid Polow Ba Goosh

This stew is the easiest of all the Iranian stews I know of and even my brothers like it. I learned how to make it from the oddest source. Once I was in my local supermarket cafe, which happened to be in a parking lot. An Irish woman setting next to my husband and I started talking to us. She told us that her 'partner' is Iranian. Small world. She told me about this stew he makes. I have been making it even sense.
Meat and Onion Stew
Brown some meat in a thick pot. Its good to use a cut that has a bone in it. Take out the meat.
Chop 2-4 onions in thick rings and cook them in the pot until they get a nice color.
Add 1/2 tsp turmeric and the meat back to the pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil, lower the heat and let cook for 2 hours +.
My mother in-law gave me some dried fava beans so I soaked them earlier in the day and added them to the stew with the turmeric. I have also used white beans in the past. I like beans, but if you don't then leave them out.

Shevid Polow
To make dill rice just follow the recipe for normal rice but add 1/2 cup dried or fresh dill to it. I made Polow, which is proper Iranian rice.
Soak 2 cups of rice in salted water for a few hours.
Drain soaked rice and bring a big pot of water to boil. Add rice and boil until aledenta about 5 min. Drain the rice and rinse.
Put 1/2 tsp oil in the bottom of a pot or rice maker. Layer 1/3 of the rice on top of the oil then1/4 cup dill, and repeat ending with rice. With the end of a wooden spoon make five steam wholes in the rice. Just stick the spoon in the rice! Put 1 tsp oil over the top. Wrap a clean kitchen towel around the lid of the rice maker or pot and pop on top. Steam the rice for 30 min. Can put a few tsp of butter in the last few min of steaming.

Secret Beef Stew

I have been fighting a cold and after a weekend of chicken soup I wanted something sweet. My husband wanted to make something for me, but we don't have any junk food in the house. So he made me Secret Beef Stew. What was in it? I don't know it is a secret, but it was sweet and tasty!

Indian Takeaway

Last night we treated our self to an Indian takeaway. Were did we order from? Me.
I made Ginger Beef which I saw on This Morning and Baingan Bhurta from Show me the Curry.

I made small changes to both recipes. The beef was should have been lamb and I added some tomatoes for a richer colour. The Baingan Bhurta calls for pea, but I used soy beans. Both dishes where tasty and we didn't have to pay for delivery!

40% Kabab Koobideh with Sangak

My mom asked me for a Kabab recipe. I didn't have a recipe for her as I have never made Kababs before. My first try was 100% yummy, but only 40% Iranian.
A few days ago I started to make the bread to go with the Kabab. It is called Sangak. I had a hard time finding a recipe online, but Sangak is a sour dough so I made a starter. When my starter was ready I mixed up the bread and baked it on some dry beans. Sangak gets its name from stone and should be baked on small stones. The bread was nice, but not Sangak. Beans do not work in place of stones. I will try again.

I used this Kabab Koobideh Recipe from the Iranian Chamber Society:

500 grams ground lamb or beef
2 large onions (grated)
1 large egg (beaten)
4 medium tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon sumac (optional)

Mix meat, onions, egg, salt and pepper well and leave in the refrigerator overnight (or for several hours).

Press the meat around long, thick metal skewers and shape evenly. Thread whole tomatoes on another skewer. Barbeque each side for about five minutes, turning frequently. If skewers are not available or barbequing is not possible, kabab-e koobideh can be shaped into long, thin portions on aluminum foil and grilled at high temperature in the oven. The oven should be pre-heated and kabab-e koobideh should be placed as high as possible near the source of the heat.

I used organic Irish ground beef. But it was too lean for this dish as the dripping from the meat are used to soften the bread. Also foil stole what oil that did come out of the meat. Next time I'll use the BBQ and not the foil. My husband wanted more salt and spice.

Organic Lasagna

While we were gone, Ireland had its annul organic week. We made it back just in time to get half off our groceries. We would normally buy one liter of milk, but with the sale ending soon we got four. What do I plan on doing with four liters of milk? Yogurt? No, I made ricotta. I have a cheese making kit that I got from www.cheesemaking.com . It comes with directions and everything you need to make cheese, just add milk.

I used 2 liters of milk and made 2 cups of cheese and 1 liter of whey. Ya Irish Milk! It would be fine to buy Ricotta.

Ricotta Filling:
1 cup ricotta
2 cups spinach blanched and chopped
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper


Meat Sauce:
2 onions chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1tsp oil
Brown over med heat.
Add:
1 package Organic Irish Beef
1 tsp fennel seeds
Brown
Add:
2 cans tomatoes
2 Tbs tomato paste
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried Basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 fresh bay leafs
Salt and pepper

Cook for 20 min.

I never cook the pasta first so just layer in the the normal way. Top with cheese and bake for 20-25 min at 200c.