Iran Iran Iran

STARTER

Kashke Bademjan (Eggplant Dip)

• 1 large eggplant
• ½ onion thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• Salt & olive oil
• Dr Food whole grain pita bread to serve
  

Peel eggplant whole and slice a few gashes on the side, rub all over in salt immediately and let sit for 20 minutes. Slice egg plants in thin slices, oil liberally and then grill in medium heat till golden brown, set aside and cool when ready. Meanwhile sear garlic and onions in frying pan till golden brown, set aside and cool. Roughly pulse/blend all ingredients together with sour cream so that it still has a chunky texture. Arrange on flat plate garnished with flat leaved parsley and a sprinkle of light spices of your choice. Toast pita and scoop it all up!

MAINS

Dizi (Lamb Stew)

Prepare 7 hours before serving

• 1.2 Kilograms of freerange lamb shoulders, diced into 3 x 3 cm chunks, keep a bone if poss
• 2 onions - roughly chopped
• 2 clove garlic - roughly chopped
  
• 2 tsp tumeric
• 1 litre water
• 1 Tbs salt
  
• 1 can tomatoes
• 1 can chickpeas
• 6 potatoes cut into chunks
  
• 2 Tsp tomato paste
• Pickles to serve
  

Heat oil and fry 1 of the onions & garlic in medium heat with tumeric, then turn to medium high. Fry lamb quickly to seal in the juice, turn heat off as quickly as possible after this. Place this into a large pot. Add canned tomatoes and tomatoe paste and any bones and fat. Put enough water into the pot to just cover the ingredients with salt. Turn heat on to low. Let this simmer for 5 hours or so. Then add potatoes and the other onion for the last 2 hours. Serve with picked vegetables such as gherkins or green chillis.
- Traditionally this dish is cooked and served in small clay pots called dizi, with very large chunks of pure lamb fat. The way you're suppose to eat this dish is to drain the liquid and soak it up with bread, then mash the rest of the content with a small hammer. When not in an ideal world a less fatty and unmashed version was accepted by my guests.

Joojeh Kabab (Chicken Skewers)

• Skinned chicken chunks in 2.5 cm cubed pieces
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• Capsicums in 2.5 cm cubed pieces
• Toothpicks soaked in water

Marinate chicken overnight or at least 3 hours in olive oil, lime juice and salt & pepper. Skew up alternative chunks with capsicums. Grill in medium heat till lightly brown. Serve immediately with lime wedges, fresh tomatoes slices, and pickles.

Damy (fried rice with grains)

• Cooked basmati rice – 1 cup per person
• Cooked grain mix – eg. brown, red lentils, split peas mixture of chopped nuts such as pistachios, cashews or almonds
• ½ chopped onions
• Salt & pepper
• Grape seed oil for frying

Sear onions in oil and salt & pepper till golden brown. Add grains first and fry till a bit crispy. Then add rice, fry for 8 – 10 minutes.

Kateh (steamed rice)

• Basmati rice - 1 cup per person
• Approx 8 saffron strands soaked in ¼ cup boiling water for at least 30 minutes
• 100 g Barberries soaked in hot water

Prepare rice in steamer or by absorption method as you usually would. Remove saffron strands from soaked water, add 2/3 cup of the cooked rice in it to colour it and return to heat of some sort to let the colour set in some more. To serve, pile white rice on bottom in a pyramid shape, then sprinkle yellow rice on top. Drain barberries from water and garnish liberally.

DESSERT

Bombay Oranges

OK I cheated with a Gordon Ramsay recipe here but it was a refreshing finish to the afternoon nevertheless.

Pumpkin Tofu Curry

This is a fushion South East Asian-Indian dish that's perfectly vegan as it has plenty of vegetable proteins, and minimum allergy causing ingredients. Ensure you use canned/fresh coconut milk rather than block solids as it is too fatty for this combo.

You Will Need

300g sweet pumpkin - skin removed and diced into 2.5 by 2.5cm cubes
250g firm tofu - cut into 2.5 cm2 cubes
1 onion - half moon sliced
400mL can coconut milk
1 cup frozen beans
Assorted curry powder
brown sugar (if desired)
Softly cooked brown rice to serve
Corriander to garnish

Soy sauce to flavour
Fish sauce to flavour if catering for pesca-vegans

Method

1. Saute onions in oil on medium-high heat in a pot, add in a dash of salt and assorted curry powder, cook till onions turn just clear
   
2. Add pumpkin to the pan and turn heat slightly higher, cook for about 5 minutes, then add coconut milk and tofu. Cover and cook for further 8 - 10 minutes or till the pumpkins are just tendering. Taste the dish now and adjust flavouring to suit by adding more salt, curry powder or a dash of brown sugar
   
3. Add in frozen beans, cover for another 2 - 4 minutes till its all hot.
   
4. Serve on rice, garnish with corriander and sauce.
   

Spice it up with Lentil Soup

I thought spring in London would be just manageable -- nah uh. Its bitterly cold, grey and windy. The best sancturies for the weary hearted are the cosy narrow shopfronts of cafes so abundant on the streets. It warms you up instantly and recharges you to face the bleak air outside. If I had a cafe in London I would cook this:

You will need

Core ingredients
1 carrot (diced)
1 onion (diced)
2 sticks celery (diced)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 Tsb salt
1 can tomatoes
1 cup red lentils
3 cups home made stock

Seasoning (pinch of each)
Chilli flakes (my favourite are these ones I got in Rome - see pic)
Curry powder (or any combo of tumeric, cumin, garam masala etc)
Paparika
Pepper
Coriander and/or italian parsley to garnish

1) Saute onions, celery & carrots in cooking oil on med/high heat in large soup pot, add salt & spices.

2) When just cooked, add lentils and coat well with oil. After 1 minute or so add canned tomatoes, crushing if they are not the chopped variety. Leave to simmer for another 3 or 4 minutes.
3) Add stock. Mix well, turn up heat and boil for 8 - 10 minutes. Turn heat to lowest and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, carefully stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
4) Garnish and serve with crusty toast, best ones are with cheese, melted or unmelted.

GG Martini

Shake and serve:
Juice of 2 grapefruits (just under 1 cup)
2 shots of gin
1 shot of vodka
Ice
Serves 2

Tis the sunny season and mum and dad's tree is o'fruit'n. Feel the enamel of your teeth melt as you squeeze the brain out of these puppies.

Eye Ball Popping Piri Piri Sauce

HOT HOT HOT!

Steam is coming out of my ears - this is honestly the most satisfying brain hemorrhage inducing stuff I've tasted since Rama's extra hot tikka masala. Phhoooooooooooooooffff!!

You will need:
3 large red chilis n- roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic - peeled
Juice of 1 lemon
half hand full italian parsley
1 Tsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 packet (150g) tomato paste

Pulse all together in the blender. Preserve in jar in fridge for up to 2 weeks.

I had these with chicken breasts - marinate for 1/2 hours before grilling in medium-high heat. Serve with a cucumber type salad to edge off the heat.

Noodle Art

This is a fun little project for when you've got some left over noodles and plenty of time.

Ingredience:
1 fairly long unbroken cooked noodle, cold if possible or you may burn youself.
Method:
Flop and curve noodle over non-stick or pre-greased objects such as spoons, chopsticks, plastic bottle tops or the kitchen wall. It needs to be stable and unable to move. Leave to dry over night and remove. Display however and where ever you like. In this case I have made a Loch Ness Monster and placed it next to a plastic crab for effect.

NB1: For advanced players, experiment with different types of noodles and combinations thereof (eg. pasta, egg noodles, rice noodles, soba noodle... possibilities are boundless really.)
NB2: This may still be edible if you consume this within 3 days in coldish climate.

Grilled Tiger Campsicums & Endives salad

(these things are quite tiny, no more than about 10cms long each, and the flesh is thin but substantial & flavoursome)

The Japanese organic farmers that are always on time at the Northside farmers markets here in Canberra are possibly my most trusted food source when it comes to salad suppliers. Their varieties are mostly newly developed japanese ones, so I could hardly find anything on the internet on how to prepare them. The organic nature of the veges really make me feel assured tucking into these things.

Salad leaves are usually over prayed by chemicals particularly if they have to travel and store for days before getting onto the table. A friend of mine that slogged her days as a supermarket assistant in the vege section said her hands used to sting after packing lettuces because of the harsh pesticides. Imagine that in your stomach, particularly if they are to be eaten raw etc.

Ingredience
Tiger Capsicums x 6 per serve
3 - 4 cloves garlic, dash of olive oil, sprinkle of rock/sea salt for roasting dish
Endive leaves x 250g per serve
Shredded nori

Method
1)Place tiger capscicums evenly on thinly olive oiled roasting dish, lightly crush garlic without removing skin, sprinkle with salt
2) Grill in medium heat till skin of caps are lightly brown
3) Serve chilled or warm on bed of fresh endives garnished with light shreds of nori drizzled with olive oil from tray, dash of pepper.

..................

The earthy smokey flavour of the tiger capsicums and its intense flesh made this dish taste extremely sexual. It made me fantacise about being in an alley way in New York with a Jamaican who has just smoked a dozen cuban cigars & doused in rum. (???).

Kimchi Tapanade

Ingredience
150g cabbage kimchi, roughly chopped
120g firm tofu, roughly chopped
10 stuffed green olives, roughly chopped
1 tsp black sesames, toasted
1 clove garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Lee Kum Kee garlic chilli sauce
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 sprig spring onions - shredded for garnish

Method
Blend all coarsely, garnish, and serve with rice crackers

I remember the year when I was 11, and Mum went overseas for a month and Dad had to cook for us. On the first night he made this big pot of soup where he chucked in everything he could find in the fridge & boiled it up. It was so huge that we couldn't finish it. The next night he found more stuff to chuck into the left over soup and added more water. And so on and so on. It was still the same pot of soup when mum got back. This is like that, except much better.

The Most Kick-arse-est Mushroom Risotto in the World

This is dedicated to Herr Peter Wenzel - friend, flatmate, artist, mushroom scientist and six foot two worth of inspiration.

You will need:
Home made chicken stock* x 2 cups per serve
Aborio rice x 1/2 cup per serve
Porcini mushrooms (dried) 25g per serve
Button mushrooms x 2/3 cup per serve - sliced
Oyster mushrooms x a handful - roughly chopped
Black or yellow fungus x a handful - roughly chopped
Another selection or two of field/flat/straw/wild/shitake variety of mushrooms fresh if poss - sliced if its a big mushroom, roughly chopped if its a little mushroom.
Cheap bottle of white (but be reasonable)
onion - 1/2 per serve, diced
garlic - 3 clobes, crushed
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp
butter - 1 Tbsp
Italian (continental parsley) - shopped- 1/4 cup per serve
Parmesan or pecorino cheese - shredded - 1/4 per serve plus garnish

Method

1. Soak porcinis in 1 cup of boiling water. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat up stock in a seperate sauce pan adjacent to the main cooking stove, keep on medium heat.
3. In a sturdy hard based pan, saute oil, garlic and oninos with a dash of salt in med-high heat till just clear
4. Remove porcinis from water, squeeze all moist back into the liquid, save the liquid while adding porcinis into onions. Turn heat to medium-low. Add all the other mushrooms and saute lightly before turning heat to low.
   
5. Add aborio rice, stirring quickly to coat it all in oil. Only allow this to be in the pan for less than one minute before adding a ladel of stock. Quickly stirr stock evenly into the rice.
   
6. When the first ladel of stock is almost evaporated - but not quite - otherwise it will burn and that is NO GOOD - add a splash of white wine. Stirr this again till just it almost evaporates. Then add another ladel of stock.
7. Repeat this alternatively with stock and wine, stirring constantly to allow even absorption and protect from burning or the rice sticking at the bottom. Ensure the heat remains low.
   
8. By now the contents should be expanding quite well - switch off the heat just as rice is beginning to 'melt into each other'. Remove from heat and stand (you may choose to give it a cover) for 5-7 minuites.
   
9. Stirr in evenly firstly the butter, then the parmesan, then the parsley.
   
10. Serve immediately and garnish liberally with more parsley and parmesan.

*Home made stock: Boil two chicken bones (very cheap from the supermarkets) in water with a couple of tablespoons of salt and two onions roughly chopped. Simmer in low heat for around two hour before disgarding solid content.

Homemade pasta

Love and admiration from your friends are completely worth the time and labour over this frivolously tiresome recipe. Durum flour is the secret to the fine silky smoothness of the pasta and organic eggs ensures a full nutty whole flavour.

Ingredience
Organic eggs (1 medium size per serve)
Durum flour (approx 1.5 cups per serve)
Fresh or frozen spinach (80g per serve) - only if you are doing green pasta

Method
1) Clean out bench top with fresh paper towels and without use of any chemical detergents - lemon juice or vinegar are always good natural anticeptics. Clean your hands too - remove shit like jewellery, crusty nails and flaky skin from yourself.
2) Measure out around 2 cups of flour on the bench top or a bowl, build a mountain top then make a puddle whole. Break egg(s) into puddle whole.
3) Knead eggs into flour with fingers and palms, using your own judgement (don't drink too much before you do this) till you feel that the dough has just started to form into ONE big lump, but moist and soft enough to not gather firmly.
4) keep kneading without adding too much extra flour.
5) divide dough into manageable balls for going through the pasta machine, probably two balls per serve.
6) This is the labour intensive bit. Pass the dough throug the flat bit of the machine as many times as necessary till it is in a flat, smooth, bubbleless and lumpless flat sheet. It could take you as many as 25 or 30 goes per sheet. Part of life mate.
7) Chop into the width you desire either with knife or the thin settings on the machine
8) Sprinkle with extra flour to keep it from sticking together, cover with glad wrap to refrain from drying
9) Boil water with dash of salt and oil. Add pasta just at boiling point, cook till al dente and serve immediately

If you are doing the spinach bit:
Lightly blanch the spinach in boiling water ensuring not to over cook it. Drain and squeeze as much water out of it as possible (use a paper towel after the sift) , chop finely and add to dough just before its ready to go into the machine. The pressing/flatting process will further refine the leaves and make the pasta green.

NB1: This does not keep well raw so it needs to be cooked on the same day

NB2: As this is fresh, expensive and labour intensive pasta, I suggest that this is served with a fairly simple/non-heavy sauce so that the pasta speaks for itself. Suggestions a) classic olive oil with parmesan & dash of garlic b) Wild mushroms seared in butter and dash of parsley c) baby tomatoes lightly grilled plus fresh basil & boccochini. d) Wine match will complete this.

WaWa's Melbourne Cup Spread

It would be unAustralian to not go into the office sweepstake when asked politely, nor to bring a dip for 3 o'clock. But its ok if you don't wear spray-on fake tan or call yourself Sheila.

Cornchips and Salsa

Ingredience:
2 just ripe avocados
1/4 red onion
Juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 lime
1 ripe tomato
Handful of coriander
Half a red or green capsicum
Half a cucumber
1 tsp brown sugar if you choose
1 packet of cornships from the shops - Rositas has brought out a new range which is completely bright red.

Method:
1) Dice finely red onions, capsicums and cucumber - they should be about 2mm by 2mm.
2) Soak red onions with lemon for around 20 minutes to take off sharpness
3) Roughly chop tomato, avocado and coriander. Cover avocado with lemon juice straight away to stop from browning.
4) Mix all & chill till ready to serve with cornchips

Tahiniless Hummus
- when you don't have tahini on hand, sour cream is the next best thing

Ingredience:
400 g chickpeas - canned or freshly cooked (soak for 4 hrs then boil for 20 mins)
Juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbs sour cream
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Salt & pepper

Method:
1) Blend all in blender - less if you like a coarser texture, more if you are into smoother taste
2) Garnish with Italian parsley or coriander. Keeps for 4-5 days in fridge in airtight container.

Marinated Fetta

Ingredience:
150g Fetta - Danish or greek both fine
1/4 cup olive oil
2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed & head bit removed
1 tsp whole peper corns
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
4 - 5 sprigs of fresh oregano and or thyme

Method:
1) Break fetta into smaller chunks & marinate everything well mixed in a jar for around 20 hours before serving. Fab with Italian bread!!

Crazy Kiwi Dip
- seems to have appeared in every party I've been to in New Zealand. You'll love the onion bits tenderised in the cream.

Ingredience:
1 packet onion or french onion soup mix
200g can reduced cream (nz) or reduced fat cream (oz)
1 packet of chips

Method:
1) Mix in soup mix and reduced cream - by hand or majic stick, your choice
2) Chill for 1 hr before serving

Other suggestions for another time:
Sushi, broad bean & pecarino paste, pesto - coriander, basil or watercress, homemade lebanese garlic bread

Chocolate Martini

Slip into a little black dress, tune into a bit of bassa nova, swing your hips lightly and sip it with your pinkies up. Let out that little orgasmic "ahh-"...

Ingredience:
2 parts vodka
1 part kahlua
1 part Baileys creme
1 part chocolate or coffee syrup (any flavour)
5-6 ice cubes
1 - 2 scoops rich vanilla or chocolate icecream
1 cup milk or soy milk
1 packet chocolate pokka sticks
2 -3 cubes of eating chocolate (marble or dark/white blend to be fancy), grated finely

Method:
1) Blend everything except pokka sticks and eating chocolate together till ice is well pulsed.
2) Sprinkle half of grated cholate on a plate & spread. Wet rim of martini glasses, dip and coat the rims with choc dust
3) Pour in martini and garnish top with rest of chocolate & pop in the pokka stick as stirrer.

Variations: Add extra hot chocolate or milo powder for extra choc strength, or add a shot of exxpresso coffee for a moccamartini.