Once in a conversation I mentioned that I enjoyed eating the famous Persian dish 'Ghormeh Sabzi' and that it was actually the only Persian dish that I knew how to cook pretty well.
So she surprised me, by requesting to her husband, who is in Iran, to send me the dried herbs and vegetables needed for that dish. And a few days ago, we received the package.
I told her, that I would cook it for her before she leaves next week and asked her to teach me how to cook 'chelow with potato tahdeeg' (Persian aromatic rice with saffron and potato crust).
Cooking Persian polow or chelow, is not an easy task! It involves a lot of patience and monitoring and since I have always used a rice cooker to cook my rice, I didn't know how to cook a proper Persian rice, specially the ones with 'tahdeeg', that is so loved and cherished by the Persians.
So today, she came over in the afternoon, we chatted while drinking tea and later on we cooked together.
It almost felt like I was cooking with mum in the kitchen!!
It was such a nice experience for me, because Munirh really explained to me step by step the process and techniques of cooking Persian Rice. She showed me how to wash the rice very gently (because it would break otherwise) and then, when to put it in the boiling water and how to check it and how to know and recognized when it was cook to take it out of the water.
But wait, that's not just it!
You then have to put it under cold and warm water at the same time and then get the 'tahdeeg' ready.
She showed me how to make the tahdeeg and when to know if it was done etc. Did you know that you should remove the rice from the stove when, and only when, you are about to serve it!!
I really did learn a lot about Persian Style cooking today and I so enjoyed and loved the whole experience.
She literally took me through it all step by step and here are the beautiful results:
She also showed me some tricks of the trade on how to cook 'Ghormeh Sabzi' and I have to admit, it tasted even better!!
We even cooked 'Koobideh Kebab' (meat kebab) which is also another favorite of hubby, Mona and myself and I guess, of all Persians lol.
And Oh My Gosh!!! The flavours of this dish was so incredible!! She had a secret ingredient in it and now it's my secret too!!
I had never tasted a home-made Koobideh Kebab made in a pan on the stove like that one...
INCREDIBLE I tell ya!!
The aromatic smell that infused the whole house while we were cooking had the other neighbours talking!! lol.. Even Mona couldn't wait till it was ready to eat. The smell made all of us even more hungry I suppose.
And these are the beautiful freshly picked cherries that hubby's father brought for us today!
They have your name written all over it mum! :)
So yeah, now I can proudly say that I know how to cook Persian rice & some dishes in proper Persian Style!!
If you can master chelow, koobideb kebab, and ghormeh sabzi, the rest is not important... (or at least very easy lol ).
But truly, Persian style cooking is truly an art!! And I think I am falling in love with it!!
I hope I made you hungry now :))
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