Unfortunately, some, industrial dried fruits has other unwanted ingredients on them. Like many, sultana raisins has oil. Check the ingredients list. If it has something other than the dried fruit, better to wash them in advance and spread them on a clean kitchen cloth to dry them.

You can avoid using rum. Just soak the dried fruit on fresh orange juice.

Ingredients | mix of 500g/17oz

• 50g/1.7oz Dried apple
• 120g/4.2oz Dried apricot
• 120g/4.2oz Dried blueberries
• 50g/1.8oz Dried sour cherry
• 80g/2.8oz Sultana raisins
• 70g/2.4oz Candied orange
• 200g/7oz Rum of your choice
• 1/2 cup of Orange juice

Preparation

– Chop dried fruits into small pieces (except the raisins)

– In a big bowl: mix all ingredients, pour the liquor of your choice (I used Bacardi gold), and the orange juice.

– Put the mix in a big glass container, make sure 1/3 of its space is empty.

➡️ When the dried fruits absorb humidity they grow in size, so the container should have enough space

They will be ready after 1 day.

Notes

• Avoid using a plastic container because of the of alcohol which is corrosive.
• If you don’t want to use alcohol use any fruit juice you like.

These dried fruits are perfect for Christmas cake ☺️

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Khoresh bademjan is served with white rice (Kateh style or Traditional style). The rice is cooked alongside the stew.

A popular variant of this recipe called: Gheimeh bademjian which is with the split chickpeas . It gives a richer structure to the stew, I put that optional because it’s not the main ingredient.

Ingredients | 4 servings

• 2 kilos/4.4oz Eggplants
• 400g/14oz Lamb or Veal
• 2 Onions
• 2-3 limu amani or 2tbsp ghooreh or half cup of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• 2tbsp Tomato paste
• 4 big Fresh Tomatoes
• Clarified butter
• Salt and Black pepper
• 2-3 tbsp Split Chickpeas (optional)

Preparation

– Peel the eggplants and cut them in half.

– Add a generous amount of salt and leave them in a sieve for ⏳ 2 hours so they lose water.

Then you can cook the eggplants either:

• Frying (Traditional way): the eggplant in a big pan.
• In the Oven (None traditional): Coat them with oil and put them in the oven for ⏳ 1 hour at 180C°/350F°.

– In both cases: The eggplant cooks and gain a dark brown color.

Cooking the meat

– In a pot place the meat and add one onion, turmeric, 2 cups of water, salt, and pepper.

– Cook for⏳ 2 hours.

No need to chop the meat in smaller size, because in the end, it will be so tender that it divides with a spoon.

➡️ Meanwhile cook the rice so it will be ready when the stew is cooked.

➡️Prepare the sour ingredient: Place the limoo amani in a glass and pour hot boiling water on it after 1 hour they become soft. Create wholes on its skin and add them later to the final pot. If you have ghooreh (sour grapes) or you have lemon juice, you can add it directly to the final pot.

The final pot

– In a big pot, stir fry chopped onion.

– When it turns golden brown add turmeric, salt, pepper, tomatoes paste, and 2 fresh tomatoes cut in half. Stir fry for some minutes.

– Add the cooked meat & its juice (remove the onion, it helps to absorb the smell of the meat).

– Add the split chickpeas (optional).

– On top of them place fried eggplants so they soak in the meats juice.

– On the eggplants goes: the other pieces of fresh tomatoes.

– On low heat, Cook for at least ⏳ 1 hour without stirring!

Be careful with the shape of eggplants: This is challenging, especially when you want to adjust the salt but if you stir gently without mashing the eggplants it will be ok.

The main characteristic of the Khoresh Bademjan stew, visually is, the form and shape of eggplants. They should be maintained intact until you serve them. This is how you show your guest a flawless eggplant stew! This will be very challenging because they become very soft at the end of cooking.

When the stew is dense, and the flavors are well combined, the eggplant stew is ready!

Serve the stew with rice.

Notes

• To cook the meat, if you use a pressure cooker the cooking process will be much quicker.
• This dish is usually served with raw onions (not very socially accepted), fresh herbs, pickles, plain yogurt, and salad. The usual Persian mazzes مزه / چاشنی on the table

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

The post Eggplant stew – Khoresh Bademjan appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Ghee is very beneficial. Its Smoke Point is very high (250C°/480F°) so it’s great for frying. It doesn’t burn quickly and wouldn’t become cancerogenic, it’s easier to digest because the butter protein called casein has been removed.

Ingredient

1kg/35oz butter, I had 5 packs of butter each 250g/8.8oz

Preparation

– In a big pot, place the butters and set the heat on medium

– First, they melt then the liquid should boil, and you’ll see foam on top which by the end of the process it will disappear. don’t stir.

This part takes up to 45 minutes

– We are almost done! At this point the foam has almost disappeared. The impurities are at the bottom of the pot. Turn off the heat and wait for 10 minutes so it cools down a bit.

– Filter the clarified butter with a strainer

Done!

Note

• Don’t stir and do not set the stove on high heat. Be patient. Because ghee can burn easily.
• This process could last for 1 hour. (depends on the quantity of butter)
• Avoid storing the clarified butter in a plastic container.
• Wait for 10 minutes before pouring it into a container – if it’s too hot – it could crack the glass.

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Ingredients | 2 servings

• 350g/12.3oz Spinach
• 1 onion
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 3-4 tbsp Extra virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Black Pepper

Preparation

– Chop the onion.

– Stir fry with turmeric, salt, and pepper.

– Add the spinach and sauté, till they starts to lose water.

– Make 3 holes in the pan.

– Add eggs in them.

– Wait till the eggs are half cooked before mixing.

➡️ It’s important to feel the chunks of eggs when you eat Nargesi.

– When the eggs are cooked the Nargesi is ready!

Serve with bread (Like barbari bread) and some drops of lemon and olive oil on top.

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

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