A trip to Persia (Iran)

OK, not literally but a lot of my cooking involves Persian food. Growing up in California I was introduced to Persian cuisine by a close friend Shariar Reza Homayoun (Sam), at Darya (The Sea) in Orange, Ca. Up until this time I was not what you would call an adventurous eater. Trying new American foods was a rare occasion let alone trying an entirely foreign cuisine.

My first love of Persian food was Tahdig. Tahdig is a golden delicisouly crunchy crust that forms on the bottom of the pot when Polow is made properly. You can eat Tahdig alone or commonly in my experience it is best topped with a nice Khoresht. This is typically an appetizer.

Next we had salad shirazi. A cucumber, tomato, and mint salad with citrus as the "dressing". the vegetables are all cut in a small uniform dice. Never being a fan of Ranch dressing. I found the crisp clean citrus squeezed over the ingredients very refreshing.

My main course was Kabob Barg. Persian kabobs are slightly different than Americans are used to. They are indeed grilled on skewers but the skewers are more like swords than the thin skewers we use. The kabob is also removed from the skewer when plated. Barg is tenderloin (traditionally my understanding it is lamb tenderloin, although most Persian restaurants I have visited use tenderloin of beef). The spices/marinade used were something I had never experienced, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This began my obsession with Persian food. To my dismay after living in Michigan a few months I began to discover the lack of variety in cuisine that I found in California. Most disturbing was there was NO Persian restaurant closer than Chicago. During my work as a Network Administrator I had occasion to travel to Toronto, On in Canada. This is where I found a great Persian restaurant called Patog. Unfortunately this was a 7 hour drive from my home in Michigan.

After an 8 year semi drought of Persian cuisine my family and I were en route to a Polish festival and I happened to look to my left and see a restaurant had popped up, and it boasted Persian food! Now I had trepidation after finding most "Middle Eastern" restaurants in Michigan were basically Lebanese restaurants. Not to say Lebanese food is not great but, it most certainly is not Persian. After leaving the Polish festival and having ate plenty there, I forced my wife to stop at the restaurant we saw. The restaurant is called Pars and I try to make it there weekly, it is most assuredly Persian food and I hope it never goes away.



One site I found recently that I love, because of the sheer passion for the food is:

http://persiankitchen.wordpress.com/about/

Today I will post my recent preparation of Polow (standard Iranian rice served with most dishes), Khoresht Karafs, and Mast O Khiar (Mast is plain yogurt thicker and more tart then its American counterpart). Khoresht simply means stew and Karafs are celery. The recipes I use are from The Chef at Persian Kitchen with exception of the Mast O Khiar which I no longer recall where I picked up the recipe.