Spice up your Salads

A Persian meal is always served with some fresh vegetables be it in a salad or a dish of sabzi khordan or both. Fresh vegetables are essential for vitamins and minerals which help prevent illness and have many other benefits such as an aid to our digestive system, skin, hair and bones but salad’s can become a little boring unless you spice them up. A perfect way to add flavour is through the use of herbs.

One of my favorite herbs is mint and it makes for a perfect salad dressing.  Mint is easy to grow and you can grow it all year around and it’s easily sourced in a dry form from any supermarket.  This recipe below is one I use regularly and completely transforms even the most basic of salads into some something delicious.

• 4 desert spoons of olive oil
• 1 desert spoon of grape vinegar or apple vinegar ( these are gluten-free. Malt vinegar contains gluten)
• A teaspoon of fresh or dried mint finely chopped
• A teaspoon of fresh flat leaved parsley finely chopped
• salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Take your basic salad ingredients and cut into mouth size pieces.

2. Your dressing ingredients: Olive oil, Apple vinegar, salt and pepper, mint and parsley.

3. Chop the ingredients

4. Add the chopped parsley and mint to the basic salad ingredients

5.Take the olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper and whisk with a fork and then pour over the salad.

Nothing could be easier and you have yourself a tasty, zingy salad.

Nooshi joonet . Enjoy

kotlets or Persian meat Patties

Kotlet are similar to meat patties. Kotlet are not hard to make they are only time consuming, and messy to  prepare  but  so well worth the effort.  If you have a food mixer whiz the ingredients, but they are equally as well made mixing by hand.  Only the consistency will be slightly different. I personally prefer them mixed by hand.

I usually make a large batch and freeze some as they come in handy when you need something to eat quickly. Kotlets are delicious hot or cold and make a perfect buffet or picnic dish. Everyone loves them, especially kids. They are completely gluten free using this recipe. If you want to replace the flour with bread crumbs use a gluten free bread crumb.

If you follow this recipe you will manage to make around 24 kotlets.

Ingredients:

• 500 gm’s minced beef or lamb
• 1 large onion
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 500 gm’s of potatoes ( approx)
• 1/2 teaspoon advieh (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• a little oil
• a bowl of gram flour or nokhod chi ( for gluten-free) or use wheat flour or bread crumbs

Preparation:

• Peel, cook and mash the potatoes
• Finely chop the onion I usually whiz these.
• Beat the eggs
• You will need a large frying pan
• a bowl of water to rinse your hands
• some greaseproof paper if you are going to freeze some

Hot tips:

• When you add the eggs the mix will become quite sloppy but don’t worry about that. They will bind better in the cooking process and are more likely to retain their oval shape and remain whole.
• Try not to handle them too much and once they are cooking in the pan, only turn once to cook each side. It’s tempting to keep looking but try to refrain yourself!
• Cook one to start with and be sure you’re happy with the taste. You may want to add more salt or  turmeric.

Method:

1. Take the meat and add the turmeric, advieh, salt and pepper and mix well
2. Add the beaten eggs and mix well
3. Add the mashed potato and mix well until all the ingredients have combined well
4. Take some gram flour or nokhod chi to cover a  kitchen work surface or chopping board
5. Place a little oil in a large frying pan and heat
6. Take a small handful (or a desert spoon worth) of the mixture and cover in your flour of choice. Mould into a Pattie shape, usually oval and flat. Dont make it too thick or you will need to increase the cooking time. You will need to rinse your hands in the bowl of water from time to time as your hands will become sticky.
7. Cook the kotlet in the frying pan with a little oil on a medium heat until golden. You can cook several at a time but remember to turn each one over once. It usually takes around 4-5   minutes each side.
8. When golden remove from the heat onto a dish lined with kitchen paper to cool and absorb any excess oil.
9. If you want to freeze some of the kotlet, when cool place a layer of greaseproof paper between each kotlet before you stack them and place them in the freezer.

Kotlet can be served hot or cold with Sabzi Polou, Mast o Khiar, Salad Shirazi, Salad Olivieh, Mast o Musir, Sabzi Khordan or in some naan or bread as a sandwich.

Nooshi joonet. Enjoy

Salad Shirazi

Salad Shirazi

A delicious summer side dish with a real zing , easy to prepare and an excellent palate cleanser. All the ingredients can be easily sourced wherever you live.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Iranian cucumbers or 1 large european cucumber diced.
• 3-4 tomatoes
• 1 red or white onion
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of lime juice (or as an alternative you can use cider vinegar)
• salt and pepper
• a handful of mint chopped

Method:

1. wash all your ingredients thoroughly
2. dice the cucumber, tomatoes and onion and place in a dish
3. combine the olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper and whisk with a fork
4. Pour over the salad ingredients and then sprinkle on the mint.
5. Gently mix