The season of the fava beans is in the mid spring – early summer. In Iran, people buy kilos and after peeling, they store them in freezer to enjoy various dishes made of it for whole year.

Ingredients | 4 servings

• 530g/12oz minced Meat (with 30% fat)
• 350g/12oz Rice (basmati, Thai or similar)
• 120g/4oz Dill (finely chopped)
• 4 Onions
• 350g/12oz Fava Beans (cut in half)
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Cumin
• Salt and Pepper
• Cinnamon (to taste)

Preparations

– Wash the rice until the water is clear.

– Grate 1 medium onion and squeeze to discard excessive water.

– In a big bowl add rice, grate onion, meat, dill, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper.

– Smash them with a meat mallet and make a sticky paste. The meat’s fat acts as a glue.

– Shape the paste into balls (smaller than tennis balls) and put them aside.

The final pot

– In a casseruole, stir fry 3 chopped onions, until translucent.

– Add a bit of turmeric, salt and pepper and stir.

– Pour hot boiling water to almost half of the pot and stir.

– Place the koofteh/meatballs one by one, gently in the pot. Make sure the meatballs shape is intact.

– Only the the tips of koofteh should remain out of water.

➡️ Important: each meatballs should have 1 inch/2cm of distance from the others. Because when the rice cooks their volume will grow.

– ⏳Put the lid on, cook on low heat untill the juice is reduced to 1/4th.

Last touch: 10 minutes before serving add a bit of cinnamon on the top of each meatball.

Serve koofteh with pickles, plain greek yogurt and salad.

Noosh e jan (Buon appetite) ☺️

The post Koofteh baghali, fava bean meatballs with dill appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Sholezard has two main ingredients: rice & saffron. No Basmati rice for this recipe. Because it should release starch during long hours of cooking. The Thai rice can be a good option, it has perfume and a considerable amount of starch.

Ingredients | 4-5 servings

• 100g/3.5oz rice (i.e. Thai)
• 1.2 liter Water
• 250g/8.8oz Sugar
• 1/2 cups Rose water
• 1 tsp Saffron
• 3tbsp slivered Almonds or/and Pistachios
• Cinnamon for decoration

Preparations

– A night before wash the rice and soak it in the water.

Next day: add water and sugar to rice in a big pot.

– Simmer for ⏳ 4-5 hours. Stir occasionally to avoid the rice stick to the bottom.

➡️ While waiting, mix the rose water with saffron. Cover it and let it rest for an intenser taste.

– Back to rice pot: after long hours of cooking, rice has soften and we have a creamy, shiny and dense cream.

– Add the mix of saffron and rose water.

– Continue to simmer for last ⏳ 5 minutes until the consistency and color becomes like the following:

– Turn off the heat and add half of the almonds. We save the other half for decorations.

– Mix all together and Sholezard is ready. While it’s warm pour it on the serving bowl because it tends to solidify when cools down.

– Wait another 1 hour to cool down

Decorate with cinnamon, almonds, and pistachios and serve 🙂

Notes

• The rose water is a distilled liquid from rose flowers and it absorbs more than any other liquid the color of saffron.
• Usually, Sholezard is poured into small serving dishes or one big bowl. It’s served cold or at room temperature.
• Mix the rice and sugar during the cooking time, it’s very tricky if you add sugar at the end, even for “adjust” the sweetness you will risk the creamy consistency into runny liquid :-/ (it happened to me!)
• The cold Sholezard tends to feel less sweet, that’s why the amount of sugar for Sholezard seems excessive.

Noosh e jan (buon appetite)

The post Sholezard, Persian rice pudding with saffron appeared first on Foodcraftz.

In this recipe, I opted for cooking them in the oven (coated in oil) but this will be a lighter version but not less delicious 😉 .

Ingredients | 3-4 servings

• 3-4 big Eggplants
• 3 cups Tomato puree (passata)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 mozzarella
• 60g/2oz Basil
• 100g/3.5oz Ground Parmesan Cheese
• Extra virgin Olive Oil to taste

Preparation

– Cut the eggplants into disks, sprinkle salt, place them in a sieve and wait for 1-2 hours so they lose their water and become soft.

– Cut the mozzarella in 1cm/0.3inch (if they are fresh) let them rest at room temperature. This way they will lose water.

– Make the marinara sauce: sauté garlic in olive oil, add tomato puree, salt, pepper and cook all together for 10 minutes.

– Turn off the heat and add chopped fresh basil.

– Back to eggplants: pour oil on them and make sure they are coated in oil completely. Put them in the preheated (on 180C°/360F°) and cook each side until their surface becomes golden. (both sides)

Time to Ensemble!

– Setup your working space and bring a casserole where we cook Parmigiana.

With this order, add layers until all ingredients are finished:

• 1- A layer of tomato sauce
• 2- Eggplants
• 3- Tomato sauce
• 4- Mozzarella (again)
• 5- Sprinkle of parmesan cheese

– The last layer should be a mix of marinara sauce and parmesan cheese on top.

Place casserole in the preheated oven (on the bottom side) at 190°C/ 374°F for ⏳ 40-50 mins

Notes

• Before serving wait 1 hour at least so the Parmigiana cools down. When it’s hot, it seems very humid and watery. All the juice will be re-absorbed when it’s cooling down.
• 36 months Parmesan Cheese gives a tastier flavor to the dish.
• The type of eggplant/aubergine used for this dish is called Italian eggplant. They are usually large and short in height with a dark purple color. Since we don’t peel them, better be organic.

Buon appetito!

The post Eggplant Parmesan no frying 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! ☺️)

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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.

For Fesenjan you are free to use any type of meat, either chicken or meatballs the choice is yours. Traditionally in north Iran, where this stew comes from, they use wild poultry meat like goose, duck, quail etc.

In case you can’t find Pomegranate concentrate also the Pomegranate molasses is fine. The elegant and sophisticated taste of Fesenjan, makes it the stew of celebrations and formal occasions. That’s why, in this recipe, we opted for duck’s breast to maintain the level of sophistication.

This stew is served with rice

Ingredients | 2-3 servings

• 170g/6oz Walnuts
• 2 tbsp Pomegranate concentrate/pomegranate molasses (adjustable to taste)
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 1 Onion
• 1 Duck big breast (or chicken or 300g/10oz meatballs*)

➡️ Here is the recipe for basmati rice to prepare which will be served with Fesenjoon.

Preparation

– Blend walnuts, to form a paste.

– In a pot, stir the walnuts on medium heat gently, for around ⏳ 15 minutes. Their color becomes darker.

– Grate half onion, add turmeric, salt, and pepper stir to combine all ingredients.

– Add the duck breast (you can either add chicken or sautéed meatballs*) and the other half onion to the pot.

– Pour cold water till it covers all ingredients.

➡️ Water should be very cold, you can even add 1 cube of ice too. This thermic shock helps the walnuts to release more Natural oil to the stew.

– Stir gently and bring the stew to a simmer.

– Add the Pomegranate concentrate or molasses and stir.

⏳ On medium-low heat, cook for ⏳ 1.5 hours.

– Stir occasionally to avoid Fesenjoon sticks to the bottom of the pot.

When the stew has a dense consistency with a thick layer of oil on top and its taste has a good balance between sweet & sour, the Fesenjan is ready!

Notes

• Fesenjoon/Fesenjan is served with saffron rice, a mix of fresh herbs aside, raw onions, white yogurt.
• The taste of Fesenjan depends on the concentration of Pomegranate, if it’s from north Iran they are sour. If it’s from central Iran it’s sweet. Feel free to adjust the sweetness if you prefer by adding a bit of sugar.

Noosh-e-jan (in farsi: buon appetite) ☺️

*How to prepare the meatballs: combine minced meat (lamb or veal), salt, black pepper, and half of a grated onion. From this sticky mixture create small balls (dimensions like a walnut), sauté on high heat to have grilled surface, add them to the Fesenjan. ⏳ The time of cooking will not be less, because the focus is on the taste of pomegranate sauce that should be mature.

The post Fesenjan, the stew of pomegranate and walnuts appeared first on Foodcraftz.

Don’t expect to have crunchy bread out of the oven right away but if you cut it and toast it, like any other bread, it will become crunchy.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup Almond flour
• 3 tbsp Coconut flour
• 5 tbsp Flax seed flour
• 1 cup Egg White
• 1.5 tbsp Vinegar
• 1.5 cups of hot Water 90C°/194F°
• 5 tbsp Psyllium husk Flour
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• Poppy seeds for the top of the bread
• 1 tsp Baking Powder

Preparation

– Preheat the oven at 180°C/360°F.

– Mix all the dry ingredients.

– Pour hot water and mix.

– Add Egg whites followed by vinegar.

– Knead till you have a compact dough.

– Create dough balls and put them on the baking tray covered with parchment paper.

– Sprinkle some poppy seeds on top.

⏳ Cook in the preheated oven (180°C/360°F), place the tray at the lower side, for 75 mins

The result should look like this:

➡️ I keep them in fridge, they are perfect for the breakfast, i cut them in slices and put it in the toaster to have a crunchy surface.

Enjoy!

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Rabbit has a lean meat so to balance that, better to marinade the rabbit a night before in extra virgin olive oil, herbs, black pepper, garlic. (or any spices of your choice)

Ingredients | 2 servings

• half of a Rabbit
• 1 Onion
• Garlic and Herbs
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 200g/ 7oz chopped Champignon Mushroom (frozen or fresh)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup White Wine
• Chopped Parsley for garnish
• Salt and Black Pepper (to taste)

Preparation

– Mix rabbit with extra virgin olive oil, black pepper, herbs (rosemary, sage, bay leaf), and garlic. Put in the fridge and let it rest for minimum ⏳ 6 hours or overnight.

– No salt has been added to maintain the juice inside the meat.

– Remove the mix from the fridge, wait half an hour, or until it gets to room temperature.

– Add salt.

♨️ Preheat the oven at 200C°/390F°

– In a pan, on medium heat, brown the rabbit with its marinate, then pour white wine.

– Stir so the alcohol evaporates and the flavors combines.

– In a dutch oven: Stir fry the diced onion with salt and pepper.

– Add rabbit & herbs.

⏳♨️ Place the pot in oven and cook for ⏳ 30 minutes

– Meanwhile, sauté mushrooms with olive oil, salt & pepper.

– Add them to the rest of the ingredients.

⏳ ♨️ Continue to cook for another ⏳ 30 minutes in the oven.

Last touch:

– Remove the pot from the oven to the stove, add cream & chopped parsley, give it a stir and after 2-3 minutes it’s ready!

Notes

• In a dutch oven rabbit cooks perfectly in just 1 hour. In a normal pot you’ll need more time.
• In case you don’t want to use the oven, this recipe works perfectly on the stove. First cook rabbit for 1 hour then add mushrooms and cook another 30 minutes.

Bon appétit! ☺️

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Instead of broccoli you can use any other veggie, fried onions and zucchini are another tasty variation of this recipe. Since the taste of some of the ingredients is bland, using a strong flavor cheese can make it much interesting ☺️

Ingredients

• 500g/17.5oz frozen broccoli (or fresh if you have)
• 200g/7oz Pancetta
• 20g/0.8oz cream
• 100g/4oz Mozzarella
• 4 Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Turmeric
• Half of a Chilly
• 160g/5.6 Provolone or Cheddar cheese
• 1 clove of Garlic

Preparation

– Chop the pancetta in small piece.

– Sauté garlic with chilly, turmeric then add pancetta.

– Stir fry till the fat of pancetta melts.

– Add the broccoli and continue to cook for other 10-15 minutes.

– In a jar mix eggs, cream, salt and pepper.

– Cut the provolone cheese into cubes

In muffin mold:

– First goes mix of broccoli, followed by some cubes of provolone.

– Pour the mix of eggs on each muffin cup.

– Put pieces of mozzarella on top.

– Place the muffins in the oven for 15mins on 180°C (356°F) the last 4 mins better to be on grill to have a crust on top.

They are great with salads and pickles.

Buon appetite

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Salsiccia (italian sausage) is a great match with rapini because of its fat

Ingredients | 2 serving

• 1 Sausage/Salsiccia for each person
• 400-300g fresh or frozen Rapini
• 1 clove of Garlic
• Salt and Black Pepper
• Extra virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

– Sauté the chopped garlic in extra-virgin olive oil.

– Add rapini and salt and mix them.

– Add a bit of water and cover the pan with lid.

– Cook for ⏳ 20 mins till the rapini becomes soft.

Salsiccia/Sausage

– Meanwhile in another pan: pour a bit of olive oil and place (halfway opened) sausage from the skin side.

– Pan fry till it forms a dark crust on its surface.

– To hold the sausage flat (because while it’s cooking, it tends to bend) I’ve put a weight on it.

– Turn it over and cook the other side.

– The sausage is ready in 10 minutes on medium heat.

Serve it on a bed of rapini.

Notes:

• In Italy, this duo is also the condiment for pasta. In smaller pieces.
• In vegetarian version replace the Salsiccia with grilled cheese. (usually Caciocavallo)

Buon appetito!

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