Friday, February 24, 2006

Persian recipes

So everybody's all heated up again. Seriously, if you have time read that New Yorker article that I linked in the last post. Hopefully those kind of housing programs will become the norm in big cities in the future. Cosmo at the News and Review (see, a REAL journalist) is trying to investigate this incident. On the off chance that ANY direct witness would like to talk, anonymously or otherwise, you can email him at cosmog@newsreview.com

Someone has got to be willing to talk on the record.

I made a tasty Persian meal last night and I'd like to give you a couple of recipes. I made a version of gormeh sabzii, which as I understand it is a pretty standard Persian stew, and the origin of the word "gourmet". This recipe turned out great, although I couldn't get any fresh fenugreek (does anyone know of a place that sells this?) and I broke my food processor. The hints at the end are really cute, including this one:

If your stew ends up having a bitter taste, you more than likely burned the vegetables. If it smells like hannA (henna), you added too much spinach. You can't recover from these two mishaps. If the vegetables swim to one side and the meat goes the opposite way, you've undercooked it. Put in back on medium heat and let some of the excess water evaporate.

You serve this over rice. I also made a rice dish for dessert. It's really simple, you just mix some cooked rice with sugar, rose water, crushed almonds and/or pistachios, a bit of hot oil if you want, and some saffron and bake it until warm. I think raisins would be great in it, but a lot of people don't like raisins. I am a sucker for anything with rose water in it, which is why I like Persian desserts the best.

13 comments:

Uneasy Rhetoric said...

What New Yorker article? What link? What post? Did I miss something?

beckler said...

In the comments

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060213fa_fact

And on the New Yorker tip there's a kerazy article on the Navy head legal counsel (last name Mora) who tried to stop Cheney from torturing a few years back. He tried and tried and was not able to convince anyone that it was not the right or legal thing to do. They mention the brutal torturing of the "20th hijacker". And then in a coincidence, while I was waiting in the Doctor's office this morning, I read an old Time magazine from last summer that printed some of the military's records on this guys interrogation. One thing that really struck me was an incident where, after months of physical and mental torture, they related how they continually stressed to him that no one loved him or cared about him and he had no freedom and was nothing. Then they take him outside to where there's a family of rats, maybe some pups and a mom or something and tell him that these rats have more love and freedom and integrity than he does and he starts to cry. Now before squirty tip starts to holler about 9/11 and terrorists, I'm not saying that this is a wonderful person, but that story really struck me. He sounds pretty young and naive. After they mentally broke him he would confide in his captors about how he wished to be married someday, despite the fact that he had been stopped from going on a suicide mission, and he asks them if the sun revolves around the earth and didn't know about the existence of dinosaurs until they explained it to him. I hope I get to see a day when Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld are prosecuted for war crimes. Here's the link to that article

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060227fa_fact

p.s.-as far as I know, they never got any useful information out of this guy. I don't think he even knew all the details of the suicide mission.

Anonymous said...

That was Foster's old Time magazine.

miller

beckler said...

If you have time to come up with jokes like that you had better answer my email soon.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, to answer your email, I totally agree - all your readers are SO stupid! It's hilarious how they hang on your every word yet you have nothing but disdain for them. Also, I won't tell anyone that you're really Squirty Tip.

miller

beckler said...

Now I do. That's actually why I was at the doctor this morning. I tried to get some penicillin to clear it up. Hopefully it won't come back.

Anonymous said...

fenugreek is so cheap online that you'll probably end up paying more in postage than in spice.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle_cluster?q=fenugreek&pid=2208212011767095965&oid=5367627632563306514&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=&addr=&scoring=mrd&hl=en

beckler said...

But the recipe called for fresh fenugreek. I'm confused. Is there no such thing as fresh? Or people don't eat it? The Red Sea Market where I got the other spices had both ground fenugreek and dried seeds. I bought the dried seeds to use in my new mortar and pestle but they were hard as rocks! Now I see online that I could have roasted them and then ground them. I have a lot to learn about spices. That's why I have enrolled at Spice University.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, there's fresh fenugreek, it's a green. And it's good! We've had it in Tahir's mom's cooking, so you might look for it at an Indian or Pakistani grocery.

-m

beckler said...

Hi Michele!!!!

I'm just on my way out the door for the weekend. I've had a crazy busy week and tonight we're going to SF and then to Big Sur. I KNEW that Tahir made us fresh fenugreek, but I was doubting myself. I will try to find and Indian grocery, the Red Sea doesn't have much fresh produce, unfortunately. Grace was just talking about that meal last night and how next time she visits she will beg Tahir to cook for her.

Anonymous said...

Have fun! That's rad you are going to Big Sur! My little bro just got back from living there for like 8 months and he loved it!

-michele

Anonymous said...

Beckler-
try East West Foods on 47th, it's pretty neat.

Have fun!!! We will be flying into Sac in a few hours! Sorry to miss you.

Ella

Anonymous said...

Bring some of that Belgian brew for me, dog!!

miller