Taco salad

Ingredients

1. Tortilla 1 piece

2. Iceberg lettuce (chopped) 2 cups

3. Tomato (chopped) 1 cup

4. bell pepper (chopped) ½ cup

5. cucumber (chopped) 1/2 cup

6. Ground turkey (you may replace with chicken or beef) 3 oz

7. Fried onion 1 Tbsp

8. Tomato paste 1 tsp

9. Olive oil

10. Hot chili pepper (powder or liquid)

11. Fresh lemon or lime 1

12. Salt

Directions

Fry ground meat in 1-2 Tbsp of oil and mix it with fried onion, tomato paste and some salt set aside.

Brush both side of the tortilla with olive oil and put them in preheated oven for about 10 min. or until get a little crispy let them cool down and put in a plate.

Cover the tortilla with lettuce then cover the lettuce with tomato, bell pepper and cucumber at the end spread the fried ground meat over them.

For dressing mix juice of one lime or lemon with 2 Tbsp of olive oil some salt and some hot chili pepper.

Add the dressing right before serving! (You may add some chopped avocado and/or sour cream if you like) 

Enjoy!

Spring rolls

Ingredients


1. Rice wrapper sheet 10
2. Rice vermicelli 3 oz
3. Shrimp 20 medium size
4. Leek 1 bunches
5. Parsley 1 bunch
6. Basil and/or mint 1 bunch
7. Sweet chili sauce
8. Lemon juice

Directions

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until get soft and drain.

Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the center, place 2 shrimps, a handful of vermicelli, leek, basil, mint, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, and then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Cut the rolls into half and serve with sweet chili sauce or lemon juice with salt or even peanut sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken kabob (joojeh kabob)

Ingredients



1. Chicken breast, wing, wing drum stick (1 whole chicken breast, 10 wings and 10 wing drumsticks)
2. Lime/lemon juice ¾ cup
3. Large onion 1
4. Roma tomato 10 small or 6 large
5. Whole Garlic 5
6. Hot pepper/ bell pepper (optional)
7. Saffron
8. Olive oil
9. Salt
You will need metal skewers, grill, charcoal and aluminum foil as well.

Directions


Usually chicken breast then wings and wing drumsticks are used for this kabob but if you like thigh more you may use it as well. Remove breast and thigh skin and cut the meats in pieces, leave skin on wings and wing drum sticks.

Mix lemon/lime juice with 4 Tbsp of olive oil, add grated onion and some salt to them. Marinade meat in the mixture for hours or over night in a covered container in your fridge. Add ¼ cup hot water to ¼ tsp saffron set aside

Take the meat out of marinade and  pu them on skewers (6 pieces for big ones and more for small ones) , brush both side using saffron witch already has prepared. Meanwhile prepare your grill; the fire shouldn’t be too sharp when putting your skewers on it. Put tomatoes on skewer, whole if are small or half them vertically if are large! Wash garlic and put them one by one in piece of foil, pour 1tsp olive oil over it and cover with foil, put then directly over the charcoals. If use hot pepper skewer them but if use bell pepper cut them to four, seed them and then put on skewer! Put the skewers on the grill and let them cook in all sides watch them closely, practically tomatoes are ready sooner also chicken breast cook earlier than other parts, before take them out of the skewer check a piece, if center is red and looks raw lets stay more on fire.

If you think the fire is going to die while kabob is cooking blew on it with a piece of card board.

After you are sure the kabob are fully cooked pull the skewers out and serve kabob in a dish on flat bread! Check the garlic when remove their skin they should be soft as butter! Serve the food with bread or rice.

Enjoy!!!

Abgousht (deezi)

Ingredients


1. Lamb shoulder or leg shank 1 piece (you may use any other part such as lamb ribs or neck but
in any case you should use bone in meat. You also may use goat meat instead).
2. Garbanzo bean (chickpea) 1 cup
3. Dry white bean 1 cup
4. Onion 1 large
5. Potatoes 3 medium
6. Turmeric 1 Tsp
7. Black pepper ½ tsp
8. Tomato 2 medium size
9. Tomato paste 1 Tbsp
10. Salt to taste
11. Small whole dried lime 2-3 (before use make some hole on them using a knife tip)

Directions

Wash meat put in a pot. Wash beans and add to the meat. Chop onion and tomatoes in cubes and add to the pot (you also may add 2-3 small whole dried lime). Pour water over them until all ingredients are covered by water.
Bring to boil cover the pot and let cook in medium low heat for about one hour and half or until beans and meat are cooked.
Add turmeric, pepper, tomato paste, some salt and potatoes (regularly potatoes use unpeeled but sometimes I preferred to peel them depends on potatoes. Add water if needed.
Cover the pot again potatoes will be cooked in about 15 minutes.

Pour the broth in a small bowls. Peel the potatoes and mash beans and potatoes well. And serve with meat in a plate.
If you have flat breads available cut them in bite size pieces (every body will do it for him/herself)
And mix in broth then eat:)

You then will eat meat and mashed ingredient because of these some people call abgusht as a double joy (2 zogheh) food!

Enjoy!!!

Tarkhineh soup (Ash tarkhineh dough)

This soup is one of  very delicious soup originally from my hometown (Arak).


First you have to prepare the tarkhineh itself.

Tarkhineh Ingredients


1. Bulghur or burghul wheat (cracked wheat # 2) 3 cups
2. Yogurt (whole fat and sour is preferred) 2 pounds
3. Turmeric 1 Tbsp
4. Dry aromatic herbs 1 Tbsp (optional)
5. Salt to taste

Tarkhineh making direction:

Soak bulghur in 2 cups warm water for 4-6 hours or over the night.

Put the presoaked bulghur in an appropriate, mix yogurt with ½ liter water and stir then add the mixture to the bulghur pot, stir well bring to boil then reduce heat and let bulghur cook in yogurt for a couple hours, stir occasionally and add turmeric and dry herbs while stirring also add some water if needs, continue cooking until you have a homogeneous mixture. 1/3 of that is enough for your soup place the rest in to freezer safe containers and put in the freezer for next times!

Now is time to make soup!

Ingredients

1. Tarkhineh 1/3 of what you have made as tarkhineh dough
2. Spinach 1 pond
3. Parsley and Cilantro 1-2 cups chopped
4. Beans 2 cups (you may use chickpea, white bean, pinto bean, black eye pea, lentil and mung bean use them all or mix of some of them I usually use pinto bean and lentil and some black eye pea or white beans!)
5. Onion 1 medium
6. Dry mint 2 Tbsp
7. Turmeric 1tsp
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil ¼ cup

Directions

Cook the beans; add tarkhineh in halfway when beans are cooking add some salt too. Chop the onion and sauté in some oil; add half of the onion to the soup set half of that aside.
When the beans cooked add fresh green veggies to the soup and let cook for 15 minutes add water if needs! Add dry mint and turmeric to the sauté onion which you had sat aside and fry them a little bit. Serve the soup in a bowl and garnish with fried onion and dry mint.


Enjoy!!!

Cold yogurt soup (Ash mast)

My sister taught me how to make this soup. She also learned it from a very dear friend of hers and me. Our friend is from Sabzevar, one city close to Mashhad so the soup is.

This delicious cold soup is very nice for hot summer days and is too easy to make

Ingredients
1. Spinach 1 kg
2. Leek 1 bunch
3. Noodle about 200 g
4. Yogurt 2 cup
5. Dried mint 1Tbsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Dried red pepper to garnish

Directions

Wash the spinach and leek separately and let get dry a little bit. Cut the spinach in not very small pieces, pour them in a pot and add 4 cups of tab water and bring to boil. Turn the heat to medium let cook for 5 min. then break the noodles in pieces (about 10 cm) and add them to the boiling spinach. Always have some hot water in another pot when making soup if needs some add it. stir occasionally! When the noodles cooked (after about 10 min.) turns off the heat set aside and let it get cold.

Cut the leeks in pieces, and then you should mash them. I used a food processor and in the end my leeks were like a thick green liquid which seemed great for my soup!

In a large bowl beat the yogurt a little and add mashed or so leek and mix well add salt and dried mint to.

Add the cooked material to the yogurt mix (be sure it is almost at room temperature)

Mix them thoroughly. Put in the fridge for 1-2 hour. That is ready to serve. Garnish with some dried red pepper powder or crushed. (It can wait more at fridge, until you are ready to eat)

Enjoy!!!

Fish stew (ghaliyeh mahi)

Ingredients



1.Fish fillet 12 pieces stew size (I used tilapia you may use salmon, cat fish or flounder)
2.Parsley 2 bunches
3.Cilantro 1 bunch
4.Dried fenugreek 1 Tbsp
5.Garlic 8 cloves
6.Tamarind paste ½- 1 cup (seeded and a little diluted)
7.Hot red pepper
8.Oil
9.Salt to taste

Directions

Peel garlic and cut them in small pieces, sauté on 4 Tbsp of canola oil.

Take the parsley and cilantro leaves from their stems, wash them and let get dry then cut them in small pieces. Add the greens and fenugreek to the garlic and fry for 7-10 minutes. With adding 1 cup of water and ½ cup of tamarind paste let them cook in low heat. You may need more water or if you like more sour taste add more tamarind!

In a nonstick skillet pan fried fish pieces in both sides.

When the stew boils for 15 minutes add salt and pepper then fish and let cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve on rice

Enjoy!

Mushroom soup

Ingredients


1. Mushroom 3 cups (chopped in small pieces)
2. Chicken broth 2 cups+ more if needed
3. Milk ½ cup
4. Sour cream ½ cup
5. Flour 2Tbsp
6. Garlic 5 cloves
7. Onion 1 small to medium
8. Parsley ¼ cup (finely chopped)
9. Oil for frying
10. Salt to taste
11. Cumin ½ tsp

12. Lime or lemon juice (optional)

Directions

Heat about 2-3 Tbsp oil in a pot and add chopped onion. When onion start to turning gold add chopped garlic stir for a few minutes. Add cumin and some salt. Add mushrooms and stir occasionally for about 5-7 minutes. Add flour and stir for a few more minutes.

Pour the broths, stir, and bring to boil then cover the pot and let cook in a lower heat for 15 minutes or until liquid get thicker. Add chopped parsley. Mix milk and the sour cream and pour in the soup, bring to boil and turn the heat off after a couple minutes!
Use sour cream and parsley leaves as garnish.
You may have the soup with lemon/lime juice if you like sour taste!

Enjoy!!!

Cake 1

Ingredients


1. All purpose flour 2 cups
2. Butter (unsalted) 50 gram
3. Milk 1 cup
4. Oil ¼ cup
5. Sugar 1 cup
6. Egg 3 medium size
7. Baking powder 2tsp
8. Baking soda ¼ tsp
9. Vanilla extracts 1tsp
10. Cocoa powder 1 Tbsp

Directions


Separate egg whites from the egg yolks. Pour them in a separate bowls.
Beat egg whites thoroughly until turn white and stiff. Beat egg yolks as well and while you are beating add sugar to the yolks and mix until their color turn lighter and look creamy.

Add milk, melted butter oil and vanilla to the yolks and sugar and mix. Fold beaten egg whites on the other ingredients and mix. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and baking soda, (I preferred to sift flour before adding to the cake)

Add sifted flour to the cake, mix well. Get 1 cup of the batter and mix with cocoa powder.
Pour the batter in a floured 9” round cake pan (you may also use loaf pan)

After that you pour the chocolate color batter over it in any shape that you like you may like round or cross line or etc.

Bake in preheated oven on 300 F degree for 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Semi stuffed open side eggplants (Shekampareh)

Although I love this food I don’t make it so much at home, because I am the only one at home who likes it. In this post the photo belongs to last time I was at my mom’s place so this is my mom's kitchen and the food which my dear mommy was cooking for us!


Ingredients

1. Eggplant 4-5 (long and thin ones are preferred)
2. Ground beef or turkey 8 oz
3. Tomato 1 large
4. Green bell pepper 1
5. Onion 1 small size
6. Tomato past 1 Tbsp
7. Turmeric 1 tsp
8. Oil to fry
9. Salt to taste
You may also use some hot pepper or cumin or any other spices that you like with eggplant.

Directions

Wash the eggplants, cut the stem but leave some part which is attached to top of eggplant (according to picture) using a sharp knife make a shallow cut along the length of each eggplant. Fry all sides of eggplants until they get soft a little bit, set aside.
Sauté onions in 2 Tbsp of oil, when they turned golden brown add ground meat stir frequently, add turmeric, salt and other spices if you are using any. When all the meat juice absorbed stir for a few minutes more and add half of tomato paste and stir for a few more minutes (add oil if needed).

Now slightly open the eggplants in the cut place and fill them with the meat mix as much as you can and arrange them in a shallow skillet pan with lid.

Cut the bell pepper and the tomato in slices and put all over the filled eggplants.

Mix the rest of tomato paste with 1 cup of water, 2 Tbsp of oil and some salt and pour to the pan slowly (never pour the watery mixture over eggplants)

Turn the heat on bring to boil and turn to low cover the pan and let the dish cook for about half an hour or until eggplants are cooked. at the end not so much water should remain in the pan (you may add more or less water depending on how you like)

Serve with rice or bread.

Enjoy!!!

Spinach and prune stew ( khoreshte aloo sfenag)

Ingredients:


1. Meat 10 oz (chopped beef or chicken)
2. Spinach 1.5 pound
3. Dried yellow or red Prunes 10-15
4. Onion 1 medium size
5. Turmeric ½ tsp
6. Oil 5 Tbsp
7. Salt to taste

Directions:

Chop onion and sauté in 2 Tbsp of oil until turn golden brown add meat and stir fry for about 10 minutes or until all juice absorbed.

Wash spinach and chop them then fry them in rest of oil separately, set aside.

A few hours earlier soak prunes in warm water and set aside.

Add turmeric and salt to meat and stir for a couple more minutes add 1 cup of water cover the dish and let cook for half an hour then add prunes with their soaked water cover and let cook for another half an hour then add fried spinach and cook for 10 minutes.

(Depend on what kind of meat you are using, timing should be different)

Serve on rice.

Enjoy!!!