Persian food anyone?

[Fusorfodder]

So ever since I moved, getting some tasty kabobs is a tedious trip. Despite having a wide variety of other cuisine, my area simply lacks Persian kabob shops. Well, I finally decided that dammit, I was going to have me some kabobs, and that's all there was to it.

Kubideh

1lb of ground beef or lamb, or a mix, you may want the egg if it's lean
1 medium onion
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbs lemon juice
1 egg (optional, I didn't use one)


Mince the onion, and then drain it well. The more liquid you can get out the better. Then, put the onion and meat in a food processor. Mince up the meat until it's almost like a paste. Remove from processor and mix with rest of ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Chill for a few hours or overnight. Form the meat into long tubes on flat skewers. Grill on somewhere between medium and high heat. Hard for me to say since I used a grill pan which wasn't ideal. These benefit a lot by getting a little bit of char going on them. Be sure to rotate them regularly. Since I'm limited to indoors I probably will just patty them next time since that will simplify cooking for me drastically, but with a proper grill, the kabob is the way to go.

That's one half of the meal, now the other! Ok, now you need some rice to serve these with. Now the proper Persian method involves getting a crispy layer of rice, but I just didn't have the right pot for that, and I'm lazy. So! Cook up some basmati rice - be sure to rinse it a few times first until the water is mostly clear when you drain it. While it is cooking, pour a couple of tablespoons of boiling water into something with a spout that can pour a small amount of liquid. Add a pinch of saffron, however much you want to use since it's pricey, stir it up some, and let it steep. Once the rice is done, add in a good bit of butter, I think I used 4 tbs in a quart and a half of cooked rice. Mix that up good, and then serve the rice on a plate or platter. Drizzle the saffron water over the rice to create some yellow streaks, don't bother mixing it.

Place the kubideh kabobs over the rice and serve. Deeeeeeelicious!

This was REAL close to what i would get from the kabob shops. next time I make it I'm going to get some cucumber yogurt sauce going with it (mast-o-khiar). The ingredients are all pretty darn common (albeit pricey for the saffron, sure) but the flavor is downright exotic. I wish I had some pictures from the other night, but it was dinner, and was promptly devoured! I'm also planning on doing a joojeh recipe since SWMBO loves that stuff. Anyone else dabble with Persian cuisine?

 

[A4J]

I love Persian food, as well as middle eastern and Mediterranean food.

If you've got more recipes, please post them.

 

[bierhaus15]

Looks like a great recipe. Been a while since I've made Persian food, though I do make a killer Persian pomegranate stew once a year. And the occasional jeweled rice dish.

I eat/cook a lot of Lebanese and Syrian food since there is a sizable population in my area. Lebanese food is nice for its light and healthy recipes, emphasis on herbs, while the Syrian food has much more use of spices and similarities to Persian cuisine.