For this recipe I followed my friend’s suggestion Nastaran and added grate ginger! It has a beautiful harmony with the flavor of beetroot and yogurt. I also added black onion seeds that combines well with the rest of the ingredients but it’s optional.

This Borani is a good option also as breakfast with cereal but without onion seeds. 🙂

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 8 tablespoons of yogurt (whole, no sugar)
• 1 medium beetroot.
• 2 g grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion seeds
• to taste Salt, pepper

Preparation

– Cut in dice the beetroot, some prefers to grate them. It’s up to you.

– Mix all the ingredients in a bowl: yogurt, beetroot, salt, pepper, ginger and onion seeds. You’re done!

I took this photo the day after. It’s always so much work to do when you have guests at home and want to serve a Persian banquet. So Borani is one of those choices that you can prepare a day before so you may work on other dishes. Time also helps to have a more tasty and colorful Borani!

Notes:

• Some grate garlic instead of ginger. Do as you prefer. The main ingredients are yogrut and beetroot for the rest you are the boss! 🙂
• The proportions between yogurt and beetroot is subjective. For more creamy result add more yogurt.
• When you prepare beetroot Borani the day before, it probably thickens because beetroots and onion seeds absorb the humidity of yogurt. Add 1-2 tbsp of yogurt to adjust Borani’s creaminess.

Noosh e jan

The post Borani of beetroot appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Some add the meat broth for a richer taste. Since we are using ghee/clarified butter this is a vegetarian version but feel free to replace with oil of your choice to have a vegan Adasi.

Ingredients | 4 servings

• 250g / 2 cups lentils
• 1 L Water
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 3 tbsp Clarified Butter
• 1 Onion (diced)
• Salt (to taste)
• Black Pepper (to taste)
• 1 tsp Corn or Potato Starch (optional)

Preparation

– In a big pot, on medium heat, sauté the diced onion.

– When they become golden, add the spices: turmeric & cumin & black pepper.

– Sauté spices for some seconds, to intensify their flavors.

– Add lentils followed by boiling water.

– On low heat, simmer for ⏳ 2 hours.

– 30 minutes before finishing: add salt.

➡️ Because salt increases the cooking time of the lentils and harden their texture. That’s why we add it toward the end of cooking time.

The final touch:

– Mix 1 tsp of corn or potato starch in half cup of cold water.

– Add the mix to Adasi. It will make the soup more shiny and creamy. Simmer for ⏳ 5 minutes and it’s ready.

Notes

• Adasi is served with golpar (Persian Hogweed), drops of lemon, fried onions or a knob of butter. (any of these alone is good enough 🙂 )
• Soak the lentils a night before, for a better and quicker result.
• It’s usually cooked with green lentils

Noosh e jan ☺️ (buon appetite in persian)

The post Adasi, vegetarian lentils soup appeared first on Foodcraftz.

This recipe is the most common type of Eshkeneh in Iran but other versions, like the Booshehri (south Iran) with garlic and coriander, the version with the quince or with yogurt and even with mung beans which is from Khorasan etc. are worth to try.

Ingredients | 2 servings

• 1 big Onion (chopped)
• 2 Potatoes (diced)
• 2 Eggs
• 1tsp Turmeric
• 1 tbsp Flour
• 1 tsp Fenugreek leaf (or 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds)
• 2 tsp Salt
• Ghee/clarified butter
• Black pepper
• 5 cups of water (more or less)

Preparation

– On a gentle fire, stir fry for ⏳ 10 – 15 minutes chopped onions until golden.

– Add turmeric, flour, fenugreek, salt, and black pepper. Stir for some more seconds

– Add potatoes and hot water that completely covers 1 cm above the ingredients. Simmer for ⏳ 20 minutes.

– Add eggs and gently mix the soup while they are spreading. Cook for another ⏳ 2-3 mins and the Eshkeneh is ready.

Notes

• Instead of flour, you can use corn starch/potato starch for a gluten-free version
• Eshkene is a quick dish if the potato’s cut are small.
• The more the base of onion cooks it taste becomes better
• Fenugreek leaves can be found in Iranian supermarkets or online. In case you don’t have the fenugreek leaf, use the seeds in a smaller portion because they are bitter
• Usually it’s one egg per diner

Eshkeneh is served with bread.

Noosh e jan (buon appetite)

The post Eshkeneh, quick Persian soup with onion base appeared first on Foodcraftz.

The key ingredient is black Kale or Cavolo Nero. In their absence also the Curly kale is good. This is a long cooking process. The more Ribollita cooks the more delicious it becomes. So it is even better the next day 🙂

Ingredients | 5-6 servings

• 600g/21oz chopped Kale
• 700g/24oz Cooked Cannellini/Navy beans (or white beans)
• 200g/7oz Savoy Cabbage
• 1 cup Tomato passata
• 2 Onions
• 2 Carrots
• 3 Celery sticks
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 300g/10.5oz Stale Tuscan bread (or any bread of your choice)
• Sage & Rosemary & Garlic for aromatic oil
• Extra virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Preparation

– Cut the bread into small bits and put it aside.

– Prepare the Italian soffritto: sauté the chopped onion, celery & carrots.

– Add garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and stir fry for 10 minutes.

– Add the chopped cabbage and kale, stir fry for another 10 minutes.

– Pour a cup of tomato passata and mix all ingredients together.

– Pour 1.5 liters of boiling water and put the lid on. Cook for ⏳ 1.5 hour.

Meanwhile, make the aromatic oil:

– In a small pot, put the aromatic herbs of your choice, mine was: sage & rosemary, thyme and garlics.

– Pour in extra virgin olive oil (1/2 a cup).

– On very low heat simmer for 5-10 minutes. The garlic shouldn’t burn it becomes slightly brown. Put it aside. While resting the oil absorbs more aroma.

Adding the beans

– Mix 1 cup of water with half of the cooked white beans, blend to have a dense cream. Add it to the Ribollita.

(Optional) some chefs blend the whole Ribollita. Without overdoing, leaving some chunks of veggies but overall having a slightly creamy texture.

– Turn off the heat.

– Add other half of white beans and the chunks of bread. Mix all ingredients together.

– Wait so the rebollita cools down (20 minutes).

– Turn on the heat.

– If the Ribollita is too dry add 1 cup of boiling water. Simmer for ⏳ 10 minutes. (this is the last time). We are re-boiling the soup.

– Turn off the heat and pour half of the aromatic oil (save the other half for serving) and let it sit for 30 mins.

– While Ribollita is resting, it will absorb the aroma of oil and its flavors mature becoming incredibly delicious. Ribollita is served warm not hot.

Serve with toasted bread, in Tuscany they rub garlic to it, and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top. ☺️

Notes

• During the long hours of cooking the kale’s flavor will prevail and creates an incredible umami in the soup
• Ribollita is more delicious the day after.
• Make sure you’ve got a big pot to have space for all ingredients, i miscalculated and had to change my pot to a bigger one while I was cooking this Ribollita 🙂 .

Buon appetito ☺️

The post Ribollita – soup of Tuscany with kale appeared first on Foodcraftz.

What types of apple is the best?

Pink lady, Ambrosia, SweeTango, or any sweet and sour taste apple you find in the market can be great.

Ingredients | 5-6 servings

• 5 Apples
• 100g /3.5oz Flour All-purpose
• 50g /1.7oz Almond flakes
• 40g /1.4oz Coconut shredded
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• drops Vanilla extract
• 50g /1.7oz Butter and some knobs of butter
• 1 tbsp Coconut oil
• 1/4 cup Water

Preparation

– Preheat the oven at 170C°/330F°.

Preparing the apple base:

– Peel, deseed, and slice the apples.

– Add cinnamon and some drops of vanilla extract.

– Mix them and put them in the oven tray.

– On top goes 4-5 knobs of butter.

Making of the crumbles:

– In a bowl combine the flour, shredded coconuts, almonds, and a pinch of salt.

– Pour the melted butter and coconut oil, along with 1/4 cup of water.

– Add some drops of vanilla extract.

– Mix till you have a sticky mass.

– Place the moist crumble by hand on top of the apples.

– Put the baking tray on the lowest rack of the preheated oven.

– Cook for ⏳ 75 minutes.

For a more colorful crumble: put the oven on grill program for the last 5 mins, so the top will become brownish and more crunchy.

Serve it warm with coffee or tea ☕️

The post No sugar apple crumble recipe appeared first on Foodcraftz.

For the olives I used “Taggiasche olives”, their origin is the Liguria region in Italy, but feel free to use any olive you like, just make sure they don’t have any additives. Even if the label says: “added natural aroma”. Because since they are chemicals, in contact with heat in the oven, they change the flavors and ruins the taste of the dish. (It happened to me :-/ )

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 4 Bell Peppers colors of your choice
• 4 tbsp Olives
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 Onion
• 2 Tomatoes
• 2 cloves Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper

Preparation

Preheat the oven at 180C°/350F°

– Deseed and cut into strips the bell peppers, chop the onion, tomatoes and garlic.

– Put the ingredients into a large baking dish, toss with olive oil & oregano.

♨️ Roast them in the oven for ⏳ 1 hour at 180C°/350F° and they are ready.

This dish is tastier if served lukewarm.

Notes

• The roasted peppers become more delicious the next day.
• If you like add some cheese on top, but add them in the last 10 minutes before finishing avoid altering the flavor in too high heat.
• They are a perfect side for all kinds of proteins.

Enjoy! ☺️

The post Roasted peppers with tomatoes and olives appeared first on Foodcraftz.

These rolls are loaded with spinach, which is a great source of Iron with benefits for blood, positive mood, immune system.

p.s. I bought the phyllo dough from the supermarket, It’s so hard to make that at home.

Ingredients | 3-4 servings

• 110g/3.8oz Feta cheese
• 350g/12.5oz frozen Spinach
• 3 medium boiled Potatoes
• 150g/5.2oz Phyllo dough
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Onion
• Clarified butter (optional for brushing the top of the dough)

Preparations

– Cut the fresh/frozen spinach into small pieces.

– Stir fry the chopped onion in a pan.

– Add the spinach, turmeric, cumin, salt and black pepper

⏳? Stir fry for 20 mins so the spinach will lose its water and the mix becomes dry.

The spinach mix should become very soft and dry, since the phyllo dough is very thin, it can be easily softened by the filling’s humidity.

? meanwhile boil the potatoes(if you don’t have them ready)

? In a big bowl mix:

– Boiled potatoes, feta cheese, grated garlic and spinach mix.

– Combine all ingredients together with the help of a masher.

♨️ Turn on the oven on 190C°/375F°.

Preparing the rolls

– Open 2 sheets of dough.

– Add the mix near one side.

– Rotate the dough around the filling.

– Close both sides like wrapping a gift ?

– Make other rolls until the mix is finished.

– Brush the top of each roll with ghee/clarified butter

?why clarified butter? because its smocking point is high, and it gives the surface a nice color and crunch.

⏳♨️ In the oven, let it cook for 25mins (last 4 mins on grill, to have a nice golden color on top)

? The spinach rolls will be ready to serve as soon as they cool down a bit! ?

Notes

• For a richer taste add a bit of smocked feta in the filling.
• Serve them with salad, pickles, or plain yogurt.
• They are great as starters or happy hours ?

Buon appetite! ?

The post Spinach rolls with feta and potatoes appeared first on Foodcraftz.

When I was a kid the potato kuku was one of the sandwiches my mom gave me for school with pickles and tomatoes! Be assured that kids will like it 🙂

Ingredients | 3-4 servings

• 4 Eggs
• 2 medium Potatoes
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1 Onion
• Clarified butter
• Salt and Black pepper

Preparation

– Cook the potatoes in boiling water. Peel them.

– In a big bowl, grate the onion and potatoes.

– Add turmeric, salt, pepper, and four eggs and mix all together.

– In a hot pan, pour generously clarified butter/oil. Add the mix and cover the pan with the lid. Turn down the heat.

– Wait till eggs starts to cook and the kuku solidifies (especially in the center)

– Remove the lid and cut the kuku in 4 pieces, turn them over, add more clarified butter/oil to cook the other side and prevent from burning.

– When both sides have a brown-ish color the kuku is ready!

Notes

• Usually it’s served with pickles, plain yogurt, and Barbari bread!
• Potato kuku is a nice treat for happy hours with alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks

noosh e jan! (buon appetito! ☺️)

The post Potato kuku or kuku sibzamini appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Iran is the land of Ash, according to Wikipedia, there are 50 varieties of Ash in Iran. Ash Reshteh is not an easy recipe, it’s so laborious. Every time I cook, it takes 3 hours. Because i make everything from scratch. If all the ingredients like Reshteh, Kashk (or yogurt’s cream) & legumes are ready, it takes much less but we can’t fast forward the cooking time of Ash because its flavors should be settled. (جا بیوفته)

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 130g/4.5oz mix of beans (pinto, white, red)
• 40g/2.1oz Chickpeas
• 80g/2.8oz Lentils
• 2 Onions
• 100g/3.5oz chopped Coriander
• 200g/7oz chopped Parsley
• 200g/7oz chopped Chives or Leek
• 250g/8oz chopped Spinach
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 3tbsp dried Mint
• 3 clove of Garlic
• 4-5 tbsp Kashk
• 300g/10.5oz fresh or 150g/5.3oz dried Reshteh (noodles)
• Pinch of Saffron (optional: for decoration)
• 3tbs Clarified Butter or oil

Reshteh: if Homemade 250g/9oz, if Packed/industrial 100g/3.5oz

Preparation of ingredients

Legumes:

– Better to soak them overnight (except lentils). In the day after you can cook them in 1 hour. If not, in a pressure cooker they will take 45 minutes to cook (with loads of water).

Reshteh (noodles) you can either:

1- Iranian supermarkets sells Reshteh or you can use pasta (spaghetti shape)

2- Make it yourself: Mix 3 times flour more than water, (like: 70g/2.5oz water, 200g/7oz flour) knead till you have a very dry dough. Let it rest for 1-2 hours then extend the dough to have a sheet of 3 mm of thickness and cut it in strips of 10-12 cm.

➡️ for more details check out reshteh recipe: reshteh

Kashk (the white sauce) you can either:

– If you find buy it from Iranian supermarkets or online shops.

– Homemade Kashk: On low heat, mix 500g/17.6 sour sheep yogurt (preferable) with 1tbsp of salt. Stir gently till it reduces in less than half. I use a blender to make it creamy. (and add some water if it needs) ✅

➡️ The homemade Kashk will not taste the same as the one in Iran, because in that case the yogurt goes through aging process and acquires a pungent taste which is the main characteristic of Kashk. We can’t do that at home because it needs some special conditions that if not respected pathogenic bacteria may grow and are very dangerous.

Final pot

– Chop 1 onion in a big pot (will be the pot of Ash) stir fry, when they become slightly golden add turmeric, cumin, and 1 chopped clove of garlic.

– Stir fry for some seconds.

– Add herbs, spinach and lentils.

– Pour 1.5L of boiling water.

⏳ Put the lid on and simmer for 1 hour.

– Add the cooked beans. Add half of the dried mint & 3-4 tbsp of Kashk and mix well.

⏳ Add Reshteh and simmer the Ash. If Reshteh is fresh 5-7 minutes, if not it +12 minutes.

Since the reshteh absorbs so much water, watch the density of the ash, If it gets too dense add a bit of boiling water.

(optional) Mix 1tbp of flour in a 1/3 glass of cold water. Pour it in and simmer for ⏳ 5 minutes.

– Turn off the heat. Adjust the seasoning, avoid adding too much salt because, we’ll serve Ash with extra Kashk on top which is already salty.

– Let Ash Reshteh rests for 20 minutes. It is essential to serve Ash Reshteh warm not very hot.

Meanwhile prepare the 5 toppings:

– Fried onion: slice onion very tiny, fry till they become golden brown.

– Fried garlic: chop the garlic into slices, fry till they gain golden color and becomes like small chips.

– Mint oil: heat half cup of extra virgin olive oil on medium heat, when it becomes slightly hot, turn off the heat, crush the dried mint between your fingers and sprinkle in pan and it’s done!

– Saffron water: pour in 1/4 cup of boiling water in glass and add a pinch of ground saffron. Leave it for ⏳5 minutes to release all its color to water.

– Kashk: If it’s very dense, dilute it with a bit of water when it becomes creamy it’s ready.

Decorate the serving bowl with the toppings: kashk, fried garlic and onion, saffron and mint oil

Final word: pat your shoulders and call yourself: “Ashpaz“, the one who can cook Ash, which is the word used for “Cook/Chef” in Persian. (it is not a recipe that everyone can do ☺️)

Good luck with cooking your Ash Reshteh 😆

The post Ash Reshteh – Persian dense soup with legumes, herbs, and noodles appeared first on Foodcraftz.

There are many variations of Adas polo عدس پلو ( = Lentils Rice) this is a vegetarian recipe.

This recipe is with saffron tahdig.

Ingredients | 3-4 servings

• 150g/5.2oz Lentils
• 1 Onion
• 350g/12.3oz Basmati rice
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 knobs of Butter
• Clarified Butter
• Pinch of Saffron

For topping

• 3-4 chopped Dates
• a handful of Sultanas (raisins)

Video Recipe:

Preparation

– Cook the lentils in a pot with water and salt for ⏳ 30 minutes.

➡️ The lentils should maintain their shape (be careful to not overcook)

– Make saffron water: In 1/3 cup, add a pinch of ground saffron, pour hot boiling water, wait for 5 mins, when saffron gives its full color to water and becomes red it’s ready.

– dice an onion.

– In a pan, add clarified butter and fry them.

– Add turmeric and salt and the cooked lentils followed by cinnamon.

– Stir fry for some minutes, then turn off the heat.

– Pour half of saffron water to the mix of lentiles.

Making rice & combine with lentils:

– Wash the rice.

– In a big pot, boil salted water and add the rice to it (just like pasta).

⏳ When water starts to boil, and the rice grows in size and floats on the surface, drain the rice (do not rinse)

Final pot

– Place a non-stick pot on medium heat.

– Pour half cup of boiling water and clarified butter with the rest of the saffron water.

– Add the layers: first goes a layer of rice (for a good tahdig), followed by a layer of lentils. Continue, till all the ingredients are finished.

➡️ The heat should be on medium for the first ⏳ 5 minutes.

– With the bottom of a spoon make deep holes in the lentils rice.

– Melt 2 knobs of butter in a cup of salty boiling water.

– Pour it over the pot.

– Cover the pot with the lid and a clean kitchen cloth (= damkoni) to absorb the humidity.

– Cook on low heat, for ⏳1 hour and it’s done.

Toppings

– Fry the chunks of dates for 2 minutes on medium heat.

– Next add sultanas raisins (they are softer and burn quicker).

– Stir fry for a minute all ingredients and they are ready.

Notes

• Some people like it without the sweet topping so sometimes the topping comes aside from the platter (as you see in the photo it’s not my case! lol)
• For the meaty version: stir 150g/5oz of minced meat with turmeric and chopped onion. Add the meat layer alongside others to the pot.
• Serve Adas polo with pickles, Shirazi salad, and white yogurt.

Noosh-e-jan ☺️ (in Persian: Buon appetite )

The post Lentils with Rice – Adas Polo Recipe appeared first on Foodcraftz.