Persian kebab kubideh with rice (Chelow kebab)

Posted on August 9, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Kebab is an absolute favourite, the most popular and delicious dish in Iran. In Iranian cuisine, there are different types of kebab with ground meat or diced meat and believe me all are super tasty and you will be over the moon when you have kebab for lunch or dinner.
Kebab is usually grilled over hot coals or in the oven if you have no barbecue.
Chelow kebab means a dish with rice and kebab. Kebabs are various cooked meat dishes.

My today’s kebab is called ‘ kebab kubidhe ‘ made with ground beef/lamb, other kind of kebab is ‘kebab barg’ with diced beef, lamb or chicken. Still, there is more different kebabs.
Chelow or pilaf (pilau) is a kind of plain steamed rice topped with butter, saffron and kebab.
Making a good kebab firstly requires quality fresh meat. It should be combination of lamb with beef ( mixed minced). The meat should be around 20% fat which will keep the kebab juicy and moist.
Secondly, when you buy minced meat, you should ask your butcher to grind the meat 2-3 times or do it at home by using your food processor.
Thirdly, you need to marinate the kebab meat earlier and leave the meat to rest in the fridge overnight.

Once kebab is ready serve it with pilaf/polow, fresh herbs, sumac powder and doogh ( that is an Iranian yogurt based drink).

Ingredients for kebab

600 g ground lamb
400 g beef
250-300 g onion, grated and remove excess juice
1/2 lime/lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for accompaniment

A bunch of cherry tomatoes
4-5 potatoes
3-4 red-yellow bell peppers

Ingredients for mint sauce ( optional)

Handful fresh leaves of mint and coriander
3 tbsp Greek yogurt
1 small bell pepper
Salt to taste

Preparation
Grind finely the meat 2-3 times or ask butcher do it for you. Grate the onion and remove the juice. In a big bowl, add grated onion, salt, pepper, lime juice and meat. Mix well and knead the meat mixture for 3-4 minutes and until well combined… Kneading the meat mixture for few minutes will make the meat like a paste that will stick together and not fall apart when your thread it on skewers. Then refrigerate the meat overnight.

For threading the kebab you can use either metal skewers or wooden ones. If you are using wooden skewers, you need to soak them in water overnight as well to prevent of burning in the oven.
Next day, divide the meat into seven or eight pieces and thread on the wooden skewers by pressing the meat and shaping it evenly. Preheat the oven to 180C for grilling the kebabs.

Place a flat bread or (tortilla bread) on the baking tray and place the kebabs skewers on it. Grill the kebab for 20-25 minutes.The juice from the kebab will soak into the flat bread as the kebab cooks.

Thread the potatoes and peppers on the skewers as well. Grill them in oven 200C for 20-30 minutes. You can do grill the tomatoes too but I just fried them in a pan

For refreshing mint sauce you need to blend all ingredients in a blender and make a puree.
Once kebab and accompaniments are grilled, remove from the oven. Traditionally kebab kubideh is served with steamed saffron rice ( chelow/polow), cubes of butter on top of the rice, fresh herbs such as basil, chives, mint, onions.

Sprinkle sumac powder on kebab. If you serve the kebab with rice, you can sprinkle sumac powder on the rice as well.

.JPG عالی

King rice/Shah pilaf

Posted on July 22, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Shah plov or crown rice is an Azerbaijani signature dish. There are different types of rice dish in Azerbaijani cuisine but this one is king of rice.

This rice dish is known as : Khan rice, shah rice or crown rice and is served in special occasions. Shah rice made with red meat or chicken meant, dried fruits and nuts.

Ingredients

3 cups rice
1 large onion, chopped
400g diced meat, cooked
1 cup raisins
1 cup apricot, cut into small pieces
220 g melted butter
3 tbsp Saffron water
1 large Lavash bread or 5-6 medium tortilla bread
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Rinse the rice in cold water 2-3 times. Then soak the rice in salted water ( add 1 tbsp salt) for an hour.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add chopped onion and fry onion until soft. Then add cooked meat , dried fruits, season with salt and pepper and fry for few minutes. Add saffron water and Stir constantly to prevent from burning and set aside.

Fill a pot with water. Bring it to a boil. Drain salted water of rice and add it to the boiling water. Let to cook for 10 minutes.

Using a colander and strain the rice. Rinse with tap water. Melt the butter and spread it on the bottom and sides of the pot.

Place one round bread on the bottom of the pan . Grease each Lavash or tortilla bread with melted butter and arrange around the sides of the pan, overlaps each other ( as you see in the photos).

Do not leave any open space between breads. Now, Spread a layer of rice in the pot and then pour some of meat and fruits mixture. Pour some saffron water on the rice. Repeat the procedure again.

Cover top of the rice with another round bread then fold the corners down. Grease with melted bread.

Cover the pot with a lid. Cook in the oven for 50-60 minutes until Lavash bread is golden. Remove from the oven and let to rest 5 minutes.

Turn the pot upside down and cut the crust into portions and serve it.

Noosh ulsoon , enjoy it, Noosh-e jan

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King rice/Shah pilaf شاه پلو

Ingredients

3 cups rice
1 large onion, chopped
400g diced meat, cooked
1 cup raisins
1 cup apricot, cut into small pieces
220 g melted butter
3 tbsp Saffron water
1 large Lavash bread or 5-6 medium tortilla bread
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Rinse the rice in cold water 2-3 times. Then soak the rice in salted water ( add 1 tbsp salt) for an hour.

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add chopped onion and fry onion until soft. Then add cooked meat , dried fruits, season with salt and pepper and fry for few minutes. Stir constantly to prevent from burning and set aside.

Fill a pot with water. Bring it to a boil. Drain salted water of rice and add it to the boiling water. Let to cook for 10 minutes.

Using a colander and strain the rice. Rinse with tap water. Melt the butter and spread it on the bottom and sides of the pot.

Grease each Lavash or tortilla bread with melted butter . Place one round bread on the bottom of the pan . Then, grease remaining of breads and arrange around the sides of the pan, overlaps each other ( as you see in the photos).

Do not leave any open space between breads. Now, Spread a layer of rice in the pot and then pour some of meat and fruits mixture. Pour some saffron water on the rice. Repeat the procedure again.

Cover top of the rice with another round bread then fold the corners down. Grease with melted bread.

Cover the pot with a lid. Cook in the oven for 50-60 minutes until Lavash bread is golden. Remove from the oven and let to rest 5 minutes.

Turn the pot upside down and cut the crust into portions and serve it.

Noosh ulsoon , enjoy it, Noosh-e jan

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Chilli con carne

Posted on July 13, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

If you are a spicy and hot dish lover, chilli con carne would be right choice. Chilli con carne means chilli with means. It serves with bread or rice.

Ingredients

500g minced beef
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, peeled and finely chopped
1 red pepper
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground cinnamon
400g kidney or Pinto beans, cooked
400g chopped tomatoes
1 small bunch of coriander
2tbsp vinegar
plain yogurt as much as you wish
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

How to make it

Place the pan on a medium heat and add oil and all chopped carrots, onion, celery, garlic, red pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Stir frequently and fry them for few minutes until softened.

Add minced meat, Pinto beans and chopped tomatoes and chopped coriander . Fry until meat lightly coloured. Pour 1 ½ cups water and vinegar into the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Serve chilli con carne with fluffy rice, or tortilla bread.

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Chilli con carne

Ingredients

500g minced beef
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, peeled and finely chopped
1 red pepper
1tsp ground cumin
1tsp ground cinnamon
400g kidney or Pinto beans, cooked
400g chopped tomatoes
1 small bunch of coriander
2tbsp vinegar
plain yogurt as much as you wish
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil

How to make it

Place the pan on a medium heat and add oil and all chopped carrots, onion, celery, garlic, red pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Stir frequently and fry them for few minutes until softened.

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Tahchin shevid- baghali (Persian dill & broad beans rice cake

Posted on July 11, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Traditionally this rice dish is called Tahchin or upside down rice also known as Persian baked rice cake. Tahchin is an Iranian divine rice dish with beautiful presentation. It’s made of layered meat and rice. It may not look like much from the outside but the combination of cooked meat, yogurt, egg and aromatic spices with rice create a crunchy outer crust and soft inside rice. We Iranians love our Tahchin.

There are different versions of Tahchin made with red meat, chicken, and vegetables. My today’s Tahchin is made with combination of dill or (ُُ Shevid in Persian) and broad beans or (Baghali in Persian) with chicken .

Ingredients

3 cups Iranian rice ( due to it’s amazing aroma and taste)
400 g chicken fillet, cooked and diced
2 cups Broad beans or Fava beans, cooked
1 cup dried dill
500 g Greek yogurt
3 eggs
2 onions, finely chopped
1 tsp cardamom
3 tbsp Persian saffron water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp dried rose petals
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil

How to make it

Yogurt is important ingredient in making Tahchin. We need a sort of thick yogurt, therefore, I have used a traditional way that my mother used to apply and make a thick creamy yogurt by Pouring regular yogurt into a double layer of cheesecloth or kitchen cloth. Tied up the cloth.. Hang it over a bowl and leave to drain overnight. ( as you will see in the following photos).. You would see the liquid left in the bowl. Resulting is a thick yogurt. Wash the rice. Soak it in the salted water for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, fry the onion until slightly soft. Add diced chicken meat. Stir in salt- pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, dried rose petal, dried dill and Fava beans ( just keep 1 tbsp of Fava bean for later) for 2-3 minutes.

Now, In a bowl, mix yogurt with eggs, 2 tbsp of Persian saffron water, pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk it until combine well and set aside.

Pour water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Drain salted water of rice and add the rice to the boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes.

Using a colander and drain the rice.Add half of the drained rice and half of the chicken mixture into the yogurt mixture bowl and gently blend together.

Pour some oil into a non stick pot or pan, spread 1 tbsp of plain fava bean on the bottom of the pot. Spread rice mixture into the pot ( as you see in the photos) and flatten with wooden spoon or spatula.

Then, layer second half of the chicken mixture around the edges of the surface. Finally, layer with second half of the white rice and cover the entire surface. Flatten the top with the back of a large spatula or spoon while pressing down( as you see in the photo). Pour 1 tbsp of saffron water over the rice.

Place the pot on medium heat for 5 minutes. Then lower the heat cover the pot with a lid and cook it for 45-60 minutes until the crust forms.

Once rice is done, let it cool for few minutes. Place a serving platter on top of the pot and gently turn the pot over, Voila you have a wonderful rice cake shape dish. Sooooooooo delish.

Omurice

Posted on May 19, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Hi everyone, I am so excited about this recipe. So I cooked omelette rice yesterday. It was just lovely, gorgeous and delicious rice dish , full of colour , taste , vegetables.

I used chicken meat but if you wish you might be use sausages. You will be surprise how much is easy and simple to make this dish and in other hand how much is tastyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs
2 eggs
2 tbsp ketchup
2-3 slices of cheddar cheese
1 large onion
2 small carrots
1 celery
3 mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic
2 small bell peppers
3 tbsp milk
Salt and chilli flakes to taste
Oil or butter

Instruction

Cut all vegetables into small pieces. Cut chicken meat into pieces. Heat the oil in a pan, add chicken meat season with salt. Fry until cooked and changed the colour.

Heat the oil in a pan again and add all chopped vegetables and season with salt and chilli flakes. Sauté until softened.

Once vegetables are done, add fried meat and ketchup. Mix well together. Next, add rice to the cooked vegetables and combine together.

Now place some of rice mixture in a bowl, add pieces of cheddar cheese and top it with more rice. Whisk eggs in a bowl with pinch of salt and 3 tbsp milk .Heat the oil in a pan, pour the egg into the pan and tilte to cover the bottom of pan. Allow to cook the omelette.

Put a plate on top of the rice bowl and put the omelette top of the rice. It ‘s done , ready .

Basturma or Basdirma polow

Posted on April 29, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Basturma or Basdirma polow /pilaf is a traditional Azerbaijani rice dish that is popular in Ardebil an ancient city near Caspian Sea.

The meaning of the word ‘ Basturma or Basdirma’ translates as ‘ to press’ or ‘ pressed’. An other literally meaning of this word is ‘ buried’. Why the name of this dish is Basturma polow? Well I would say, because meat mixture of this dish would be placed between layers of rice and looks like hidden and buried, so is invisible until to be served.

Flavour and taste of this dish with quince and medlar jam is fantastic.One of Ingredients for this amazing dish are quince and medlar jam or marmalade. Flavour and taste of this dish with quince and medlar jam and saffron is fantastic.

Duck, lamb shank, beef and chicken might be used for this rice dish. I have tried with all and I prefer with red meat and has much better taste, but yet it’s your choice 🙂

Ingredients

3 cups Persian or Basmati rice
1 cup crushed walnuts
300g diced meat
2 large onions, finely chopped
3-4 tbsp saffron water
½ cup quince jam
½ cup medlar jam
1 large potato, peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch of pepper
butter
vegetable oil

Method

Wash the rice and soak in salted water for 2 hours.

In a pot with water and one of chopped onions, add diced meat and cook the meat until tender. Heat the oil in a pan and saute other onion on medium heat until soft. Add pinch of pepper, cooked meat, 2 tbps of saffron water, quince and medlar jams and crushed walnuts. Gently mix all together. Let to fry for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Bring the water to a boil, drain salted water of rice and add rice to the boiled water and cook for 10 minutes. Then using a colander and drain parboiled rice.

Add 3 tbsp vegetable oil to the pot. Set slices of potato at the bottom of the pot. Cover top of potatoes with one cup of rice. Then spread meat mixture all over the rice. Finally spread remaining of the rice top of the meat. Press down the rice. Add rest of saffron water and 1 tbsp butter on the rice and cook the rice on medium heat.

Once rice is ready, hold serving platter over the uncovered pot and unmolding the rice into the platter. Voila you have such a lovely golden crust rice..Serve this dish with pickles specially with olives.

Thanks for reading this recipe. I would be glad have your comments.

Coloured tahdig

Posted on April 25, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

Persian ( Iranian) rice gets steamed with the most scrumptious, crunchy and golden crust that is called ‘ tahdig’ meaning bottom of the pot in Farsi language.

Tahdig, is speciality of Iranian cuisine consisting of crispy, crunchy, golden browned layer of either rice – bread, potatoes or meat taken from the bottom of the pot , while the rice on the top steams.

Usually in serving time of meal there is big battle for having more tahdig and when you have it, it will disappear in a second from the table with no leftover.

Most common ingredients for making tahdig include yogurt and saffron, bread, or potato.

In my previous posts I have shared my recipes with more details for making tahdig: 1- Persian steamed rice with saffron crust and 2- Tahdig.

Today I made coloured tah dig that looks as beautiful as rainbow. It brings sun shine to the kitchen. So if you are interested to have a crispy coloured crust rice that formed at the bottom of pot by frying parboiled rice, try and make this recipe.

Ingredients

4 cups Persian dry rice or Basmati rice

½ cup oil

¼ cup water ( or 7 tbsp )

Food colouring

1-2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Method

Wash the rice with cold water. Fill the bowl with cold water, add rice, cold water and 1tbsp salt. Let to soak for 1-2 hours.

In a non-stick pot, bring water to a boil, drain salted water, pour in rice and add it to the boiling water. Let to cook for 10 minutes. ( If rice is soaked in salted water for 1-2 hours, so 10 minutes cooking would be just enough or drain it).

Using a colander, drain the rice and rinse with cold water.

In a bowl combine ½ cup of vegtable oil , ¼ cup water and 3 spatulas of parboiled rice (about 2 cups rice) and stirring well. Then divide the rice in 3 separate bowls.

I want to make three colours tahdig, so I divided the rice into 3 but if you want to make 2 colours, divide it into 2 separate bowls. Add pinch of favourite colour to the each bowl and mix well.

Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to the bottom of the pot. Cover the bottom of the pot with coloured rice ( you can make a design perhaps or just randomly make a pattern) and pile up the rest of the rice on the top and shaping the rice into a pyramid. put some butter top of the rice.

Cover the pot with a lid and cook over medium to low heat for 30-40 minutes to form crunch crust.

Once rice is ready, hold serving platter over the uncovered pot and unmolding the rice into the platter. Voila you have such a lovely rainbow crust rice.

Persian petit meatballs ( Kofteh rizeh Yazdi)

Posted on April 19, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

In Iranian cooking ‘ Kofteh’ or ‘ Kofta’ is a kind of meat ball. Kofteh means pounded meat in Persian language. Meat ball or Kofta is made from ground meat such as: mutton, beef, lamb and chicken, along with aromatic fresh or dried herbs, nuts, fruits and eggs.

Kofteh is usually shaped into balls and round but sometimes kofteh is in cigar-shape too. Kofteh , kupta, kofta, kufta …. are in different sizes from giant ones to medium and petit kofteh.

Some of cities in Iran are well known for their Kofta recipes. Tabriz an ancient city in NW of Iran is known for having Giant Kofteh Tabrizi recipe, that is one of the most famous and popular kofteh in Iran. This dish includes a giant meat ball made from meat, rice, yellow split peas, aromatic herbs and spices.

Kofteh Isphahani, kofteh Shirazi, Kofteh Kermanshahi, Kofteh Yazdi, are other type of Persian meatballs from different areas in Iran.

Kofteh sometimes is stuffed with nuts, eggs or fruits and sometimes are normal kofta.

Petit kofteh might be served with Persian flat bread or with rice, pickles, yogurt and salad.

Today I made Yazdi Kofteh rizeh ( petit kofteh), that takes its name after the Yazd an ancient city in central Iran. Yazd is an ancient city in Iran and is recognised as a world Heritage site by UNESCO. Yazd is well known for its special architecture that its nickname is ‘ wind catcher’ or ‘ Badgir’. Also this city is well known for having its Zoroastrian ancient fire temple, Qantas (under ground water channels to transport water from water well to surface for irrigation and drinking) and Yakhchal ( yakh meaning ice and chaal meaning pit) is an ancient type of evaporative cooler, it used to create ice in the winter and store it in the summer time.

Ingredients

350g minced meat ( half beef/ half lamb)

1 onion, grated

Handful cherry tomatoes

1 egg

3 tbsp freshly chopped chives or coriander

2 tbsp gram flour

½ tsp turmeric

Salt and chilli pepper to taste

Olive oil

Method

Peel the onion and grate it. Extract juice from grated onion . Add all ingredients to grated onion. Mix well until combine together.

Shape the meat mixture into little balls, the size of a walnut. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add meat balls . Cook until brown. Then add ¼ cup water and cherry tomatoes to the meat balls and let the cook for 10 minutes with the lid partially covering the pan.

I served meat balls with steamed rice-potato but as I mentioned it might be served with flat bread and salad, yogurt and pickles on the side.

Persian turnip-rice soup

Posted on April 15, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

This is a very easy following recipe for turnip soup with a soft texture and lovely flavour. Turnip is called ‘ Shalgham’ in Farsi. There are different recipes for turnip soup, like turnip-carrot, turnip-onion, ….. and this is my turnip-rice soup a Lovely meal for a lunch or as a light dinner.

دوتایی

Ingredients

1 large turnip
3 onions
2 cloves of garlic
4-5 carrots
3 Tbs brown rice
2 vegetable cubes
Some thyme leaves
Salt – Chilli to tase
and olive oil

Preparation:
Preheat the oven. Peel off turnip skin. Cut it into chunks. Place them in a baking tray and drizzle over them some olive oil. Roast it in 160c degrees for 20- 30 minutes.

Peel off onions, garlic and carrots. Cut them into small pieces. Place them in a pan, add some oil and thyme leaves. Stir it for 10 minutes. Dissolve 2 veggies cubes in 500 ml warm water.

Pour it in a pot. Add all vegetables to the pot.Add brown rice, salt and pepper. Let it to cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Pure soup in a food processor. For garnishing you can have some fried onions. Serve it with fresh bread and butter. Bon a ppetit.

همه دوتایی یکی تا

Japanese Salmon rice with fresh vegetables

Posted on April 3, 2018 by rozinaspersiankitchen

You can serve this meal as a main course or side dish.

Ingredients

200 g salmon fish, finely cut into small pieces
200 g rice
2 eggs
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 carrot, grated
3 tbsp green peas
2 spring onions, finely chopped
Salt and oil

Method
Place rice in a rice cooker, add oil, water, soy sauce and cook it. While rice is cooking, Crack the eggs in a bowl, whisk, add pinch of salt and cook.

Then, fry grated carrot, and add chopped green onions and green peas, let to cook until softened carrot and onions softened. Heat the oil in a pan and fry chopped fish.

Add all cooked ingredients to fried fish and mix all together. At the end, everything goes in a bowl with cooked rice and combine together and serve it. Garnish with green onions.