Friday, May 25, 2012

Mirza Ghassemi (Persian Eggplant Tomato "Dip")


Hey guys,

Long time no recipe-ing. Been a bit busy with my thesis proposal and data collection as of late. Please keep me in your thoughts as I go through what is going to be a CRAZY summer. More updates on that as they develop. In the meantime, I have still been cooking to release the stress build up. So as promised, you'll see an Iranian dish on here every so often. The dish I have in mind for today is native to the northern part of Iran and a staple in the Gilaki cuisine. As some of my readers know, my husband's family is originally from Rasht, a province in northern Iran. Gilaki cuisine is very different from what many people consider "Persian food". It consists of very little red meat, other than the occasional vavishka (originally a Russian dish made with ground beef, onions, and tomatoes), or kabob torsh (sour pomegranate kabob). Instead they use a lot of fish and eggs as sources of protein. Also, the use of garlic in Rashti or Gilaki cooking is NOT for the faint of heart. They use garlic like it's nobody's business. (As you will see here shortly).

Mirza Ghassemi (Persian Eggplant Tomato Dip)


Ingredients
  • 1 medium bulb of garlic (not clove, but the ENTIRE bulb) 
  • 4 medium eggplants 
  • 6-7 large tomatoes
  • 7 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • Salt and pepper to taste (make sure you're not under-seasoning)
  • 3-4 Tbs olive oil
Directions
  • Preheat oven to 400 F. Stab each eggplant all over with a fork. Place eggplants (uncut and unpeeled) onto a foil covered baking sheet and bake until soft. Mine took about an hour to really get soft, but check periodically after about 30 minutes. To get really authentic with this you can grill the eggplant until soft. 
  • While eggplant is baking, peel tomatoes by boiling in water for 3-4 minutes (until skin splits) and then placing tomatoes immediately into ice water. You should easily be able to peel of the skin with your fingers. Dice peeled tomatoes and put them into saucepan. 
  • Add a little bit of salt to the tomatoes and cook them down on medium/high heat until about most of the liquid boils off (1/3 should still remain), then lower heat and cover.
  • When eggplant is cooked, remove from oven and peel them and cut off the end. Chop eggplant finely (almost smashing it as you dice, it want it to almost be pasty).
  • At this point peel, finely dice, and smash the garlic. 
  • Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a deep pan and add two-thirds of the prepared garlic to the pan. When lightly browned, add 1 1/2 tsp turmeric to the garlic and stir for a minute or two.
  • Add eggplant and saute for 6-7 minutes. If there's any liquid coming from the eggplants at this point, let most of it simmer off. 
  • Add cooked off tomatoes to the mixture and combine thoroughly.
  • Turn heat to medium-low and allow any remaining liquid to simmer off.
  • While the eggplant mixture is cooking, heat a Tbs of oil in a pan.
  • crack eggs into a bowl and whisk, add some salt and pepper to the eggs (to taste)
  • Add remaining garlic to the pan, saute until lightly browned and add a 1/2 tsp of turmeric--stir for a couple minutes
  • Add whisked eggs to the pan and stir until you essentially have what looks like scrambled eggs (you want the pieces to be relatively smaller and not in huge chunks.) 
  • Add cooked eggs to the eggplant mixture and combine for a uniform look.
  • Taste and add salt and pepper accordingly
  • Cook for 15-20 minutes longer so that flavors combine and then serve and enjoy!
Poke! :D 
It should resemble this :) 

Enjoy!

Now in Rasht, Mirza Ghassemi is usually served as an entree with white basmati/Persian rice, ashpal (white fish eggs), baghali (fresh fava beans), walnuts, and sliced Persian cucumber. We kept it simple with white rice, and salad shirazi (salad made with diced cucumbers, diced onions, diced tomatoes, lime juice, dried mint, and salt and pepper). Oh yeah... and my husband had this with pickled garlic as well. Luckily we had no where important to be the next day. A simpler way to eat it, and the way in which restaurants usually serve it in Tehran or the US is just with warm bread. This makes a perfect appetizer or entree. I imagine it would be a great spread on crackers or toasted french bread as well. 

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Whole Grain Crackers



First order of business...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mothers out there. Coincidentally this year mother's day in Iran was also pretty close to the US mother's day (It was on Friday), but regardless, no matter where in the world they are, mothers are beautiful, perfect, and oh so kind in their own way. A special shout out to my own mommy who I just skyped with! :)

This post may seem like..."omg I can't believe she's posting about crackers", but crackers are big deal. I mean this all actually started when I was eating tea biscuits (these Ulker tea biscuits) with...tea--and I thought to myself, "I wish I could make these". To my surprise, it's totally possible to make crackers. The ones I'm sharing with you guys today unfortunately didn't turn out exactly like the tea biscuits, but they're still absolutely delightful. They kind of taste like a biscuit version of  Nabisco's Wheat Thins--not too sweet, not really salty, good on their own... and a perfect pairing with whatever you want to top it with (peanut butter and jelly, butter and jam, chocolate...). They're also pretty easy to make, with the hardest part being the arm workout from rolling out the dough pretty thin.

I made a couple changes to the original recipe because some people had put in their reviews that the granulated sugar made the crackers a bit grainy and that the amount of sugar really made the crackers sweet.

Whole Grain Crackers
Adapted from www.egglesscooking.com (click for direct link to original recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1 and 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp rolled oats
  • 5 tbsp cold butter (I'm not sure if you can substitute margarine or extra virgin coconut oil for this, but I will try it and let you guys know) 
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar  (or other powdered grain sweetener)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp milk (whatever kind you prefer, 1%, 2%, whole, almond...)
  • A couple tbsp of granulated sugar for topping (you will likely use less than this) 
Directions:
  • In a large mixing bowl, sift flours, baking powder, and salt (sifting is important to ensure that your dough is uniformly mixed and that no lumps get into the batter, I usually whisk these ingredients in the sieve to help mix them up and push them through a bit quicker)
  • Cut up cold butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Mix with a hand mixer or tabletop mixer, or work with your fingers until mixture forms coarse crumbs
  • Stir in sugar and slowly add milk to form a dough
  • Knead dough with hands until smooth 
  • Form dough into a disk, wrap it and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. In the meantime, pre-heat oven to 375 F. 
  • Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil and spray them lightly with oil
  • After 30 minutes in the fridge, lightly flour the surface you're working on and roll out dough into 1/2 cm thickness. I had to do this in pieces--I didn't roll out the entire dough, but instead divided the dough into 6 pieces and rolled each piece individually. It was a little bit more work but it made things a bit easier as the dough is not like a soft stretchy pizza dough.
  • Use a cookie cutter to cut out whatever shape you like from the dough (I used the opening of the smallest size Rubbermaid food container)
  • Combine dough scraps again with rest of the dough and re-roll and repeat cutting process
  • Prick crackers with a fork a few times before placing them on the cookie sheet
  • Top each cracker with a small pinch of granulated sugar before you place in the oven
  • Baking time depends on the thickness of your crackers and the color of your cookie sheet, mine took about 10-12 minutes. I would definitely watch them after about 8 minutes or so. You're looking for a light golden brown color--nothing dark (which happened to a couple of my thinner ones sadly).
  • Leave them to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet when done, and then transfer to cooling rack.

I had these crackers topped with banana slices and all natural almond butter. Almond butter (essentially almonds grounded into a paste) is a great nut butter full of Vitamin E, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, and Phosphorus. It's also a great alternative for people with peanut allergies. The key is to find an almond butter made using cold pressed methods (which ensures that nutrients are all still there), and one that is natural (no sugar, extra oil, etc added). 4-5 of these crackers are a great midday snack and the fiber helps keep you full :). 

Leave me some love in the comments below! 

Enjoy!  

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Update and Sneak Peek!

Hey all!

Thank you so much to those who have continually checked back here! Things are getting a little hectic on the school side of my life, but I promise 2 new recipes this week. Something sweet and something savory! I will be creating a facebook page for this blog soon so that you can follow what happens far easier. Please let me know if there is anything you guys wish to see on here! In the meantime, here's a sneak peak at one of the recipes I'm working on perfecting for the blog: Earl Grey Poppy Seed Muffins (with fig jam and almond butter)!

I wish you all a stress free, relaxing-with-a-cup-of-tea, work/school week! 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Spice Mix Hamburgers


An interesting topic of discussion came up today at work (and is completely NOT work related, haha). For lunch, I had brought in some left over pan grilled chicken and roasted baby red potatoes. After heating my food, I walk into the office and apologize to my co-worker in case my food stinks up the room. I mean after all, it was a spice rubbed chicken breast and an equally seasons roasted potatoes. She said it was no problem, and flatteringly mentioned that is looked and smelled really good. Which reminded me--remember back in elementary school and junior high? You would never want to be caught dead being the kid that brought leftovers for lunch. In my case, left over Persian food is not pretty, nor does it smell like what the standard American child is used to. Shoot, even our spaghetti with meat sauce didn't look and smell the same! I have definitely lived through a couple instances of unforgiving children asking "What is thatttttt???" in that grossed out tone (similar to the "OMG you have coooooties" tone). While I don't remember what I usually took for lunch back then (my memory fails me, haha), I do remember that the sandwiches and pizza were probably the only cool thing a person could bring (and this was confirmed by my office mate).

Fast forward to the more recent years. I crave foods with spices, and try and add an exotic twist to even the most American of foods (i.e these hamburgers). I've learned to embrace the difference and variety and in all honesty, people are becoming more and more accustomed and familiar with the more exotic flavors thanks to the internet and the wonders of food blogs. Hopefully by the time I have kids, they will be more open to trying new things instead of hating on the unfamiliar.


These hamburgers have the basic ingredients of a hamburger, but I've added a mix of spices that bring flavors of the Mediterranean and Middle East. In fact these spices are now widely used in many different world cuisines. For this recipe I used extra lean beef to cut down a bit on the fat content, ground turkey is a good alternative too. But for those of you who would like to indulge an 80/20 lean-to-fat (80% lean beef, 20% fat) is plenty.

Spice Mix Hamburgers
Serves 5-6 depending on size of hamburgers.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb extra lean ground beef
  • 1 medium onion grated finely
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp smoked or sweet paprika
  • 1 Tbs ground meat seasoning (I bought this from my local Middle Eastern food market, but you can use whatever go to ground beef spice you have, or purchase this online--Sadaf has some great food items!)
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
  • Combine beef with spices, mix thoroughly (get in there with your hands... fear not...just make sure to wash them after touching anything else--you don't want to contaminate anything else) 
  • Heat electric skillet or pan--spray lightly with oil (I heated a skillet to 375)
  • Shape beef into patties (Size up to you) 
  • Cook patties on skillet for about 3-4 minutes each side or until juices run clear (I like my burgers well done, adjust time accordingly for anything medium) 
  • 2 minutes after flipping the burger, top with cheese of choice and allow cheese to melt while the other side finishes cooking. 
  • Spray buns lightly with oil and place on skillet while burgers are cooking.
  • I also sauteed some onions to top the burgers with (cut 1/2 onion into rings, spray pan lightly with oil, sautee until browned and starting to caramelize, add a 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce, cook a minute longer and set aside) 

We topped our burgers with tomatoes, middle eastern pickles in brine (found at local middle eastern food market or here), a bit of the saffron aioli I had made earlier that day, pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions and romaine lettuce. This was definitely an indulgence meal. I had one burger, the hubs had 2 (so they were good I guess?). If you try them out, let me know what you think! 











Also, in the comments below, answer this--what are your lunch time memories/nightmares as a child?