Happy 2014

 

We just 2,5 hours away from New Year Eve. here in Midwest , there is nothing special at our house. As usually we just stay home, away from crowd , and another reason .. bitter cold outside now ...
But today, I decided to cook Persian dish for our family dinner. Just to honor my husband and my kid .. they loves this dish so much ..

Recipe adapted from Persian Food Guru, Najmieh Batmaglij - with a several adjustment from me to my taste and an easy way.

Before I write the recipe down, let me thank to you my beloved reader ... who always stop by to my blog :

Happy New Year

Wishing you a fabulous 2014, with full of great achievements and experiences, a meaningful chapter waiting to be written.

Kufteh Berenji // Persian Rice Meatballs

Ingredients :
1/2 cups, yellow split peas
1 cup rice (long grain is better)
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoon advieh (Persian Spice Mix) ** see note
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 large onion, thinly spices
2 tbsp onion powder
1 1/2 ground meat
2 cups chopped fresh parsley or 1/2 cup dried
1 cup chopped fresh dill or 1/4 cup dried
1/4 cup chopped fresh taragon or 1 tbsp dried
2 cups chipped fresh green onion / scallion / chives
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup tomato juice
2 cups of water (480 ml)
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron threads, dissolved in 1 tbs hot water

Directions :
1. Pick over the rice, rinse once

2. In medium pot, bring 2 cups of water to boil, add the split peas , cooked until beans become tender, discard the water, set aside.

3. In another pot, brings 4 cups of water ad 1/2 tsp salt to a boil, add the rice and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. Using the fine colander, drain the rice, reserving the liquid, set a side.

4. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add 1/2 tsp salt, the advieh, the pepper, and egg, beat well. Add the onion powder, ground beef, all green herbs / dried herbs, split peas, rice. Knead the mixture throughly for about 10 minutes until it reaches the consistency of a smooth paste.

5.In a heavy pot, heat 1/2 cup of oil over medium heat, add the slices of onions , garlic and fry 15 minutes until golden brown, add ground turmeric, add the tomato juice, water, beef stock, the liquid reserved in step 3, lime juice, 1 tsp salt, saffron water. Bring to boil

6. Shape the meat paste into ball the size of lemon. Gently place the meatballs in the boiling pot of broth. Reduce the heat ; simmer gently for 45 minutes , basting the meatballs occasionally with the broth to prevent them from drying out.

7. Cover partial, cook for 15 minute longer,

8. Adjust salt to your taste, enjoy the meal with yoghurt, lavash bread / thin bread and fresh herbs such mint, basil :)

Make your own Advieh Spices :
2 tbsp dried rose petals
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp ground cummin

throughly mix the ground spices and the rose petals. this recipe makes about 1/2 cups, stored in a airtight container for future used.

Dirty Rice

Oh..wow, first time posting for New Year 2012 - No bad at all :)

This dish is pretty simple and one of alternative to clean up your refrigerator. You can use almost all ingredients you can find on your kitchen :)  Inspired by Paula Deen - with several modification from me, since we didn't eat pork , I add some green healthy veggies.  And one note from me is , using BASMATI RICE or long grain rice only ; so the texture of rice will still look nice and you won't find broken rice when the rice is cooked (this is big NO .. NO when you serving rice to my Iranian's Husband  ^-^  )

Dirty Rice by Fitri Rumah Manis

Ingredients

4- 5 chicken liver (you can skip the liver if you don't like the taste, but trust me..you will never taste the liver after you mixed all the ingredients together)

1 pound ground beef

1/4 cup oil

1 cup chopped onion

8 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup green onion

1/2 cup chopped green onions, both white and green parts

1/4 cup chopped parsley

2 tomato, seedless, diced
4 cups basmati rice, cooked

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Red chili flakes

Directions

Put liver in separate saucepan. Cover with water and simmer until tender. Chop fine and set aside. Saute ground meats in oil until well done. Add onion, garlic, celery,green onions,green beans. Cook until tender. Add livers, parsley, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook about 15 minutes. Add rice then season with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes and add tomato dice at last. Serve immediately