Eating Around the World (From Home....And Gluten Free...): Iran

Welcome to Iran! To be honest, this is one country I have no desire to visit and have never had a desire to visit. However, I have a new coworker from Iran, and hearing her talk about it makes me curious. And the architecture of the country is pretty incredible. So, maybe someday...but not anytime soon! Iran is the second-largest country in the Middle East, and their natural gas deposit is the largest in the world. According to Google, the population of Iran is 87.9 million people and the capital is Tehran. Their national dish is...

Chelow Kabab!

Beef skewers! Sounded simple enough. To go along with the Chelow Kabab, we made a rice dish called Shirin Polow, and pistachio cookies called Ghorabiye. The rice dish called for four cups of uncooked rice, which I thought was an unreasonable amount, so I cut the original recipe in half. I'm writing about what I did, so it's a "more reasonable" amount... It was a meal to start the day before, so plan ahead for this one! Here's what I did:

CHELOW KABAB

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, grated and drained

1 tbsp turmeric

1 tbsp sumac

A pinch of saffron threads

Salt and pepper, to taste

4 tomatoes, halved

2 onions, quartered

Dilute saffron in ½ C of boiling water, cover and infuse for 10 minutes.
Mix the ground meat with the grated onion, then add the spices, salt and pepper.
Stir for 2 minutes after each ingredient is added.
Finish with 3 tbsp of infused saffron water and mix well again.
Place in a covered container in the fridge overnight.
Make 4 chelow kebabs by pressing the meat well to metal barbecue skewers. Pinch the meat with your fingers regularly throughout the skewer every inch to give its characteristic shape.
Grill the skewers on a BBQ. Turn them regularly to ensure a perfectly even grilling for approximately 15 minutes.
While grilling the skewers, place the tomatoes and onions on the BBQ and turn regularly. They are served as an accompaniment to the skewers.
Serve hot with Shirin Polow.

(Source: Chelow Kabab)

SHIRIN POLOW

1/2 C sugar

3/4 tsp crushed saffron

3/4 C thinly sliced orange peel

1 tbsp rose water

2 C rice

1 tbsp kosher salt

1/4 C milk

1/4 C avocado oil

1 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 C finely shredded carrots

1/4 C slivered almonds

1/4 C chopped pistachios

Bring sugar, 1/2 tsp saffron, and 1/2 C water to a boil in a small pan over high heat.
Add orange peel and cook until tender, 8–10 minutes.
Let cool, and stir in rose water, then set aside.
Rinse rice in a strainer under water until water runs clear.
Place rice in a medium pan.
Add salt and 2 C water, and cover and soak for 2 hours.
Place pan over high heat and bring to a boil.
Cook until rice begins to rise to the surface.
Drain and return empty pan to medium-high heat.
Add remaining saffron, milk, and oil to the pan.
Return rice to pan, and form it into a mound.
Using handle of a wooden spoon, poke 5 holes in the mound (to let steam escape), cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
Pour butter and 1 C boiling water over rice, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
Cook until a golden crust forms on bottom, 30–35 minutes.
Transfer rice to a platter, separating the grains as you go - break up crust from bottom of pot, and stir into rice.
Garnish rice with candied orange peel, carrots, almonds, and pistachios.
Enjoy!

(Source: Shirin Polow)

GHORABIYE

3/4 C sugar

3/4 C brown sugar

1 C butter, softened

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 C almond flour

2 1/4 C gluten free flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 C chopped pistachio

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix sugar, brown sugar, butter, almond and eggs in a large bowl.
Stir in gluten free flour, baking soda, and salt. The dough will be very stiff.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto cookie sheet.
Sprinkle pistachio on top.
Bake 15 minutes, or until light brown. The centers will be soft.
Let cool completely then remove from cookie sheet.

(Source: Ghorabiye)

The verdict? We didn't like this meal as much as we thought we would. The meat skewers were very hard to make - the meat didn't want to stay on the kabob. I found it easiest to make them into logs on a cutting board, and then stick the skewer through them, and press them lightly into the skewers. They were hard to stay on the kabobs on the grill too. The rice was good, but I have really decided that I DO NOT like rose water - it tastes like grandma! As long as I didn't have any of the orange peels in the rice, I thought it tasted fine. The cookies were incredibly sweet. The recipe said to eat them with tea - I'll have to try that another day. I think they may be better with tea. Overall, they weren't terrible, just not what we were expecting. Handsome Husband liked the meal, but wasn't super impressed either.