The unthinkable Iranian ‘makaroni’
ماکارونی
A while in latest historical past, the fashionable type of Italian-ish pasta discovered its approach into Iran. Nonetheless, it’s a mistake to suppose that Iranians have been strangers to noodles and pasta normally.
Actually, one of many oldest written information of noodles is lakhsha, recognized in jap elements of Iran and Afghanistan as lakhshak, supposedly “invented” by the Sasanian king Khosrow. The identical phrase travelled to Central Asia and Jap Europe, turning into lapsha in Russia and laska in Hungary, each which means “noodles”.
In Iran, any pasta normally is now referred to as makaroni in home use. The standard makaroni sauce is certainly impressed by a basic bolognese, however someplace alongside the best way it has been tamed and domesticated to suit the Iranian palate, with a lot golden onion, a contact of turmeric, cinnamon and saffron, and solely only a trace of tomato paste.
The trick is to undercook the pasta in step one (the parboiling) in order that it gained’t be overcooked after the lengthy second stage (the steaming).
This was a youngsters’ favorite once I went to highschool and – brace your self – we ate it with big spurts of ketchup. I gained’t decide you for those who do the identical. It’s an Iranian makaroni, in any case.
Serves 4
350g spaghetti or spaghettoni
For the sauce
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp golden onion (see beneath)
300g minced meat
¼ tsp floor turmeric
¼ tsp floor cinnamon
4 tbsp tomato paste
200ml sizzling water (from a kettle)
1 tsp saffron infusion (see beneath)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly floor black pepper
For steaming the pasta
1 tbsp ghee (or half butter, half vegetable oil)
1 potato, peeled and sliced crossways into 5mm discs, saved in a bowl of water to keep away from oxidation
Start with the sauce. Warmth the oil in a big heavy-based saucepan with the golden onion. Subsequent, brown the meat over medium–excessive warmth for about 5 minutes, till no pink elements are left. Add the turmeric and cinnamon and cook dinner for one more jiffy, then stir within the tomato paste and cook dinner for about 5 minutes, or till the tomato paste brightens in color. Pour within the sizzling water, cut back the warmth to low and cook dinner with the lid on for quarter-hour.
Stir within the saffron infusion and salt, then modify the seasoning to style. This sauce can have little or no liquid and shouldn’t be as saucy as an Italian ragu. Put aside.
In the meantime, carry a big heavy-based nonstick pan of water to the boil and season with salt. Add the pasta and cook dinner for about half the time indicated on the packet. Drain the pasta and, in the identical pan, carry the ghee and 200ml water to the boil. Put aside half of this oily water in a cup.
Cowl the underside of the pan with the potato discs to make tahdig (the prized scorched rice on the backside of the pan). Then add one layer of spaghetti on the potato slices, then prime with one layer of the meat sauce. Repeat till you run out of each, then pour the remainder of the oily water excessive.
Put the lid on and cook dinner over excessive warmth for seven to 10 minutes. Scale back the warmth to the bottom setting (on a warmth diffuser, you probably have one), wrap the lid in a clear cotton tea towel, place it snugly on the pan and cook dinner for about half-hour to 1 hour.
Gently combine the pasta with the meat combination and serve instantly, scraping the tahdig off the underside of the pan with a wood spatula.
Golden onion
Piaz dagh | پیاز داغ
It’s very useful to have golden onion on the prepared if you’re cooking Iranian dishes, so making an even bigger batch is an effective resolution. It takes a while to slice and fry all of the onion, however it’s going to preserve within the fridge for a few days and you may also freeze some (in a single layer, that’s the important thing).
Makes 2 tbsp golden onion
Oil, for deep-frying (the amount will rely upon the dimensions of your pan)
2 onions, halved, then sliced 5mm thick
¼ tsp floor turmeric
In a big pan appropriate for frying, warmth the oil over medium–excessive warmth. Be sure the onion half-rings are separated from one another. When tiny bubbles seem within the oil, add one slice of onion to test the warmth. If the oil across the onion bubbles and the onion involves the floor, the oil is sizzling sufficient; in any other case, wait till this occurs.
Normally, two sliced onions could be fried in two or three batches, in a 23cm pan. In case your pan is smaller, you need to fry the onions in additional batches. That is truly time saving, opposite to what you could suppose, as a result of one layer of onion fries extra shortly, and piled-up onions turn out to be soggy and take extra time to turn out to be golden and crunchy.
Fry every batch over medium–excessive warmth for about eight to 12 minutes, or till the onion has shrunk down and is totally golden. On the final second for the primary batch, add all of the turmeric, stir round a bit, then with a slotted spoon switch the onion to a big dish lined with paper towel. The onion will darken as soon as faraway from the pan, turning golden brown on the paper. Add one other batch of onion to the pan and repeat. For this quantity of onion, the turmeric added to the oil on the finish of the primary batch is sufficient. (In the event you’re making greater than this quantity, add a splash extra turmeric every second or third batch.) You possibly can preserve the frying oil for per week for frying up extra golden onion, or to make use of in dishes the place a touch of onion and turmeric could be welcome.
Saffron infusion
Za’feran-e dam kardeh | زعفران دم کرده
Infusing is the approach we use in Iran to arrange saffron for all our dishes, each savoury and candy. We name this infusing “brewing” in Persian – the identical verb we use for making ready tea and steaming rice. I do know there are different strategies of making ready saffron as nicely, however please, no matter you do, don’t use the saffron threads dry and on their very own. It’s unforgivably wasteful, as a result of its beautiful flavour and color are launched a lot better when the threads are infused in heat water. It’s additionally approach too costly to simply sprinkle dry saffron threads on prime of dishes, to not point out additionally a bit obnoxious – particularly to these fingers that collected these flowers one morning at dawn within the east of the world.
Makes 3 tbsp saffron infusion
½ tsp saffron threads, very loosely packed
An excellent pinch of sugar
Grind the saffron strands with the sugar in a small mortar. In the event you don’t have a small mortar, you may put the saffron and sugar on a bit of baking paper, fold all the edges so the powder gained’t escape, then grind with a jam jar or rolling pin till you will have a really fantastic powder.
Boil the kettle then let it sit for a couple of minutes. Tip the powder very gently right into a small glass teacup then gently pour three tablespoons of the recent water over it. (By no means use boiling water otherwise you’ll “kill” the saffron.) Cowl the cup with a lid or saucer and let the combination “brew” for at the least 10 minutes with out eradicating the lid to launch the color and aroma of the saffron. After this time your saffron infusion is able to use.
Unorthodox Iranian salad, for winter
Salad Shirazi | سالاد شیرازی
The standard salad Shirazi is an important a part of an Iranian desk, comprising cucumber, tomato, onion, salt and a few acid – ideally verjuice, which we love in Iran. Sadly in winter, the basic salad Shirazi tastes horrible as a result of out-of-season tomatoes and cucumbers style horrible. Nonetheless, I simply can’t fathom a correct Iranian desk with out this salad on it, so I got here up with this winter model, which is inauthentic however completely delectable. The ruby purple pomegranate seeds make up for the acidity of vibrant purple tomatoes, and the feel and anise-like aroma of fennel stand in superbly for the fragrant crunch of cucumbers.
Makes 1 medium bowl of salad
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and diced into 1cm items
1 small purple onion, diced
Seeds of ½ pomegranate
1½ tsp dried mint, or a handful of recent mint leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp salt
Mix all of the substances in a bowl and serve.
Pears poached in wine with mascarpone cream
Like many Iranians earlier than me, I’ve been raised with the concept that sure meals are “chilly” and “moist” and should be accompanied by “heat” and “dry” meals, and vice versa. For instance, we wouldn’t serve fish with yoghurt on the aspect – indispensable as yoghurt is on the Iranian desk – as a result of they’re each “chilly”.
These unwritten guidelines that we all know by coronary heart and apply to our cooking as a part of our culinary id are relics of conventional medication from the Center Ages, practised by Persian physicians comparable to Avicenna, who in flip drew on the teachings of the traditional Greek doctor Galen, who categorised nature, folks, meals and vegetation into the 4 “humours” of chilly, heat, moist and dry.
In premodern Europe too, these identical medical rules had been utilized to food plan and meals combos. The thought was to “right” every meals with cooking and pairings so they’d be balanced. Though extra of a French customized, cooking fruit (“chilly” and “moist”) in wine (“heat” and “dry”) had the identical notion behind it.
And that’s how we obtained these pears, wanting horny and French of their flamboyant and shiny purple wine sauce, with a luscious mascarpone cream on the aspect. Admittedly, the medieval ones couldn’t have been this extravagant.
Serves 8
4 beurre bosc pears, or different pears appropriate for cooking
1 cup purple wine (250ml)
120g sugar
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
For the mascarpone cream
400g mascarpone (could be substituted with cream)
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp Marsala (could be substituted with port)
Peel the pears and minimize in half. Use a teaspoon to take away the seeds and core from every pear half, leaving a pleasant spherical hole.
In a saucepan large sufficient to suit all of the pear halves, warmth the wine with the sugar, bay leaves and cinnamon stick, stirring to dissolve the sugar. With regards to a delicate simmer add the pears, rolling them within the wine so that each one elements are tinged with the wine.
Cowl and cook dinner over medium warmth for 10 minutes. Take away the lid and simmer, uncovered, for one more 20 to half-hour, till the wine has diminished and is slightly syrupy. Go away to chill.
Earlier than serving, whip or combine the mascarpone cream substances collectively till easy. Serve the pears with a beneficiant dollop of mascarpone cream, drizzled with the syrupy wine.
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That is an edited extract from Pomegranates & Artichokes by Saghar Setareh, obtainable in Australia by Murdoch Books ($49.99).
