First Attempt at Persian Food

My friend, Naji, and her mom make the BEST Persian food! I cannot get enough and there's never been anything I've tried that I haven't liked. I finally decided to give it a try myself. Naji taught me how to make Persian rice with Saffron, beef kabobs called Koobideh Kabob, and a yogurt sauce with cucumbers. While the flavors were great, and for a first try I did pretty good, it definitely wasn't as good as what Naji and her mom make. I like to cook and I'd like to say I'm decent at it, however, rice always gives me a problem so I was nervous about Persian rice. You steam it. Well, I burnt the bottom layer and so when I pulled the lid off, it smelled like smoke. If you just use the top layer, it was alright and didn't taste like smoke. I guess practice makes perfect. The yogurt was good, hard to ruin that. Although, Naji's mom makes her own yogurt which of course is much better. The beef got a little too dark on one side but still tasted great. I just had a hard time flipping it. Oh well, I'll get it or try another cooking method next time. For a first try, I did good. I'll definitely keep trying though. Oh....and I can't BELIEVE I forgot to take a picture!!! Sorry!

I also did some research online before cooking. I found a couple of great websites and Persian cooking blogs which ended up being great resources for the meal. Here's what I found:

Family Spice: This shows different ways of cooking the kabobs.
Tumeric & Saffron Persian cooking blog
My Persian Kitchen Persian cooking blog - There's a great blog on making Persian rice.
Javane's Kitchen Persian cooking blog
I also borrowed a book from Naji called A Taste of Persia.

The recipes below are from Naji. I wrote things down and some of it is from memory. I may have remembered something wrong.

Yogurt and Cucumber (Mast-O-Khiar)
Ingredients

• 2 cups yogurt
• 1 large seedless cucumber, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Persian Rice (Polow)

Ingredients

• 3 cups Basmati Rice (1 cup per person, plus 1 extra cup)
• canola oil
• pinch of saffron
• salt

Directions

1. Place rice in a large bowl. Wash rice several times until water is clear. Soak rice in water for at least an hour or even overnight.
2. Boil a large pot of water. Add rice. Dump enough water out so that the water level is about 2 inches above the rice. Bring the water back to a boil and allow it to boil for roughly 7 minutes. The rice should be al dente, soft but still have a little firmness. Drain the rice. (One blog said to have about 3 cups of water per cup of rice.)
3. Add a little oil to the pan and return the rice to the pan. Put a little hole in the center of the rice to allow steam to come through. Add 1/2 cup of water to the rice. Cover the lid with a towel and put the lid on the pot. Cook on low (about 3 or 4) for around 30 minutes.
4. When the rice is finished cooking, heat a few spoonfuls of oil and spoon on rice. 
5. Boil a small amount of water (about 1/4 cup) and add ground saffron. Cover for several minutes. Add about a cup of the cooked rice to the saffron water and stir. You can either add this rice to the rest of the pot and stir it in, or put the white rice on a platter and put the yellow rice on top.

Ground Beef Kabob (Koobideh Kabob)

Ingredients

• 1 pound of ground beef 
• 1 egg
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1 teaspoon Ground Kabob Seasoning
•  salt and pepper
• Canola Oil (about 1 Tablespoon)
• 1  tomato cut into segments

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium to medium high and add canola oil. 
3. Add beef mixture and form one large patty. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. You want each side to be dark brown but not too dark. 
4. To flip, put the lid on the pan, flip the beef so it's on the lid, and then slide the beef from the lid to the pan. Be careful with this step so you don't burn yourself. You should probably do this over the sink.
5. Once flipped, return to heat. Score the beef into long thin rectangles. Add the tomatoes to the top of the beef. Cover and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the bottom side is dark brown. Remove the kabobs from the skillet and serve.