My childhood memories of weekend lunches are vivid. I remember my dad lighting a fire while my mother prepared lamb and chicken and we would all have a barbecue together. Persian Kebab always reminds me of those sweet old days and the whole family spending the day together with all the love and dramas.
Rice is one of the main ingredients in Persian cuisine. In addition to being cooked mostly separately, it comes with a stew of meat and vegetables called Khoresh.
Iranian meals often include lamb, veal or chicken as an important ingredient. Some people do not even consider vegetarian dishes to be "proper food" for lunch, the main meal of the day, only for a light dinner. Dairy products are popular for breakfast and yogurt is considered a main side dish, usually combined with herbs and cucumber.
Different herbs, spices and nuts used in Persian cuisine add a unique flavor to each dish. Persian saffron, cinnamon, turmeric, parsley and dried lime are just to name a few. Rosewater made by steeping rose petals in water also gives a unique scent to some dishes including Sholezard, the famous saffron rice pudding which I’ll show how to cook later in the Persian week.
Cooking Rice and Khoresh separately is one way to cook, the other is to cook them together. While in the first way the stew is watery, in the second way it’s a dry combination. The rice is boiled in the hot water for 2-3 minutes and then they are combined and cooked together in a manner called Damkardan. The result is a super delicious well balanced mix called something-Polo based on the ingredient combined with the rice. There are many different Polos and you’ll learn how to cook Lubia Polo or bean-rice in the following week too.
In the traditional Persian setting, a big textile called Sofre is spread on the floor on a rug, the main dishes and the side dishes are in the middle, people would sit around the Sofre filling their plates with food and enjoy it together.
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