Dried Things Store

Dried Things Store

One of traditional stores in Iran is Ajil and Khoshkbar Stores that sells different things.  You can see this kinds of stores everywhere in the cities specially in traditional Bazaars. As I have explained before, Iranians love to eat dried nuts and fruits in family gatherings and celebrations specially during Nowruz which is New Year’s Day at the beginning of spring. I love to buy dried plums and apricot because it has a yummy sour and sweet taste and we have different kinds of plums in my country for example we have dried red big plums that is sour and small yellow plums that are sweet and so yummy.  Of course we use these plums in cooking different foods like Khuresht Alu, Khuresht Alu Esfenaj and Morgh Alu.

You can see dried nuts that I explained it as Ajil, dried fruits, dried walnut, berries and Lavashak that is boiled and dried mixture of different summer fruits.

Yalda night

Yalda Night

Yalda Night is one of Iranians' celebrations at the begining of winter season because we have the longest night of the year in this night. During this night, Iranians gather in their parents house and celebrate Yalda with family members like brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles. People usually sing together and dance, read poems of Hafez, Iranian poet and poems and stories of Ferdowsi, the Iranian poet who wrote historical and heroic poems.  Dont forget speciall foods.  Every family has a family traditional food for this night, some cook Ash Reshte, Adas Polo or Sabzi Polo.  This night set a unique table.  On this table you can see: baked beetroot, turnip and pumpkin, some nuts, dried fruits and plums, persimmon, watermelon and the special guest is pommegranate which is so lovely and dear for Iranians.  Nowadays people like to cook some cookies and cakes with pommegranate on Yalda too.  You can see Iranian sweets like Baslugh on this table that I have explained them before.  I usually like to bake a pommeganate cheesecake with a leyer of  natural pommegranate jelly that vanishes quickly.

Every family choose some of the above mentioned foods on it's table not all of them but the symbol of Yalda is watermelon and pommegranate because people believe that if you eat the symbols of summer and winter during Yalda, you have more blesses in your table during the year.

The most important fact is family gatherings and being happy so Iranians like Yalda as one of their national celebrations.

If you had stomach ache after eating all of these foods, you can drink mint water drink that I have learned it before.

Tarkhine Soup

Tarkhine soup

Tarkhine is wheat seeds marinated in Dugh drink and dried with some local vegetables.

Ingredients

1 litre Dugh drink

1 tsp salt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp red and black pepper

3 big onion

oil

1 litre water

3 Tarkhine

1 cup green lentile

First pour water in a pot. Add salt, pepper and green lentile and let it boil meanwhile peel onions, cut it in half then cut onion horizontally in very narrow cuts that we call it Khelal.  Fry onions in a little oil until it becomes golden like then add it to the pot.

Now add Dugh to the pot and let it boil for another hour until it has enough water, not too watery not too thick.

Stir the soup sometimes because Tarkhine may comes to the bottom of the pot and burns.

ادامه نوشته

Basil Seeds Drink or Sharbat Aragh Naana va Tokhm sharbati

Basil Seeds Drink

1/2 cup basil seeds

1 cup mint water

water

1 cup suger

1 cup ice cubes

First stir a little warm water with suger, when suger dissolved, add the rest of ingredients and stir it for a minute.

Basil seeds are going to the bottom of jar fast therefore you must stir it with a spoon before drinking.

You can make this drink with rose water, wild willow water, chicory water and orange blossom water.  Eventough these drinks has a same apearance but every kind of these drinks has a uique taste.  You can replace basil seeds with chia seeds too.

Nushe jan.

Dezful Suger Kluche or Dezful City Sweet

Dezful Suger Kluche or Sweet

Kluche is a kind of Iranian sweet that differs in every city and serves by tea.  It has different kinds in Dezful city.  I explain now it's suger kluche.

Ingredients

11 cup full flour or flour with wheat bran

4 cup suger

3 tblsp yeast

a pinch of salt

2 cups water

3 cup oil

1/2 cup cumin

2 tblsp ghee

2 cups warm water

First mix yeast with a little water.  Mix suger with two cups of warm water then mix all of ingredients together and knead it with your hands as if you want to make bread for about 30 minutes as you could  roll it easily like a ball, put it into a bowl and cover it by a cloth.  Let the dough rest for 2 hours.

.  Now make a 1-2 cm high as a big circle  by a rolling pin after that cut the dough by a knife as some 5 cm columns then cut it like a diamond or square.  Now press a device on it that makes so many holes in Kluche then press two small cuts on every Kluche by a knife too.

Let kluche rest for another 30 minutes.

It's ready to bake for 15 minutes in a 175 C degrees oven.  Nushe Jan

AbTalebi or Cantaloupe drink

Ingredients

2 cups ice

1 glass water

1 cup rose water

1 cup sugar

1 average cantaloupe

First take away cantaloupe's skin then cut it in pieces.  Pour suger, ice, water, rose water in a blender and blend it for some minutes as it becomes like a drinks.  Water that used in this drink depends on your cantaloupe.  If it had enough water, it doesn't need water.  Suger is also depends on sweetness of the cantaloupe.  You can use more or less sugar upon your favorite taste.  Try to use cantaloupes that has a good smell in this drink.

Date Ball

Date Ball

Date Ball

500 Gram date

1 cup sesame

1/2 cup rose petals

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup coconut powder

If dates are soft, you can smash it by a spoon or by your hands but if dates are tough, you can pour one tblsp oil in a pan, add dates then stir and smash it as dates becomes hot.  It takes some minutes as dates becomes hot so dont overheat dates.  Now wash your hands then make some small date balls with your hand.

 Grind rose petals in a mortar then pour it in a plate.  Pour cocoa powder, coconut powder and sesame in separate plates too.  Roll date balls in these plate and we have tasty balls at last.

Sharbat Aragh Naana or Mint Water Drink

Mint Water Drink

Mint Water drink is one of cold Iranian drinks.  Iranians use to drink Sharbat during hot days that is combination of water, sugar and water or disstillation of diffrent vegetables or flowers like mint, willow and etc.  These Sharbats or drinks are non-alkoholic and have lots of benefits for body.

Ingredients

2 cups ice

1and 1/2 cup suger

7 cups water

1 and 1/3 cup Mint water

First stir and mix two cups of warm water with suger.  When sugar disapears, add 5 cups of cold water, mint water and ice the stir all together.

You can serve it with a little mint and some more ice in a glass. 

 

Zulbia and Bamie

Zulbia and Bamie

Zulbia and Bamie are two kinds of Iranian sweets that are fried and soak in a super syrup called Sharbat.  It is really delicious specially when it is made by saffron.

Some of sweet shops even mix Zulbia with kinds of vegetables that is really tasty too.  These two kinds of sweets are mostly serve during Ramazan month, fasting month, in Iran.

You can see Gushe Fil sweet too in the picture.

Khuresht Bamie Bademjan or Eggplant and Okra Stew

Khuresht Jamie Bademjan or Eggplant and Okra Stew

This is one of traditional Iranian foods that people love it in my hometown, Dezful because there is sweet delicious eggplant and okra.  The recipe is like Eggplant stew that I have explained it before but at the end you take away head of okra and let it boil in the pot for about 30 minutes as it cooked completely.  You can try Okra stew alone that is like this too.egg