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Falling in Love with the mighty Cauliflower!
Jilah Bakhssayesh • 29 July 2021
I promise, you will want to eat the WHOLE Cauliflower when you prepare it like this!
Who remembers Cauliflower resistance from childhood? School Cauli, Grandma's over cooked soggy Cauli, perfectly cooked Cauliflower Cheese from your Mother but because of the school Cauli and grandma's squashy Cauli, Mother's carefully prepared Cauli didn't stand a chance?!! Well ... I am here to tell you that if you cast these previous traumas aside and start with a fresh open mind, this much maligned vegetable will become your most mighty favourite in no time!
This is a long blog, but if you are keen to cook Persian dishes that taste insanely good, then this blog is for you! I have broken down the stages required to create the authentic Iranian flavour that is created in dishes such as Gormeh Sabzi, Galieh Mahi and other delicious meals that involve the use of fresh herbs
With the late frosts in May, Jilah's Tiny Kitchen Garden has been late to produce, but the one vegetable that has pushed through earlier like a trooper is the humble courgette and after thinking up this way of preparing it I am looking forward to each and every one of them!
This recipe came about as a last minute thought for accompanying Spare Ribs. It started off as plain mashed potato but soon turned into a gourmet flavourful dish in its own right that had me tempted to eat spoon fulls of it whilst waiting for the Ribs to finish caramelising off ... Mashed Potato or if you like "crushed" will never be the same again!
I am ashamed to say that venturing into preparing spare ribs in my own kitchen has been a late development for me and consequently the joy of eating these succulent sticky yummy morsels has been a bit of an epiphany for me .... now that my taste buds have taken the hit ... there will be no going back for me! This is when I am glad of my half English heritage ... I may never have tried this dish otherwise, so taken up I naturally am with Persian Cuisine! I served this dish with my Mayo Mustard Dill Mashed Potato recipe which is available on the next blog after this one ..
Half Iranian Half English , I grew up in the UK and continue to live there now. I have always loved food and eating, and especially loved time spent with my Iranian Granny who was a fantastic cook. I loved to watch her cook, ask her questions and get involved myself. My Mother was a good cook too and she let me bake and cook at home so that once I went to Secondary School I was able to cook a meal and bake cakes myself un-attended. Cooking cheered me up, connected me with my sense of source and an important facet of myself. It gave me optimism, strength and energy again if I ever cooked at times when I was feeling low, serving as my joyous pick me up. I loved to make my own recipes up too and as well, took a pride in identifying with my taste buds what ingredients might be in a new dish that I had been served by my Granny (and later by my Iranian and Kurdish friends who sometimes cooked for me) then trying to recreate it myself .
Aubergine and Pomegranate Dip What do you do when you have random ingredients Chopped, Squeezed and purposefully burnt at the end of a photoshoot? ...... You turn them into a new dish, that’s what you do. During the photo-shoot I decided to cut open a Pomegranate, pick and chop my Garlic leaves, burn some Aubergine to make them Smokey and get out a variety of herbs, spices and sauces to show what kind of ingredients are used in Persian Cuisine. I then needed to do something with them after the shoot was over and my kids returned home from school hungry and ready to eat. So .... hot off the stove, I am including this recipe in my first ever blog for you all. You get the recipe pre the book that’s currently in the planning! (hahaaaaa!!) All I ask in return is that you give me feedback ... this recipe was great yesterday when I made it off the cuff but how does it work for others? Let me know .. tell me of your experience with it, send me photo’s! I would also be interested in whether any of you know of this dish having already been created in the North of Iran or Azerbaijan? As it might well be that I have accidentally happened across an existing dish due to using ingredients so common to North Iranian (Shomali) Cuisine .... Thankyou in advance for your feedback xx I based this dish on the North Iranian way of combining ingredients and kept it simple .. Charred Smokey Aubergine, Pomegranate and Garlic Chives (and also, as in my case, Garlic Leaves from my garden plot), are all key ingredients in North Iranian Cuisine. Add Turmeric which is used in every Persian dish and then an Azeri twist with Pul Biber and I had made the most delicious dip or side dish to eat on top of Rice Cakes, to have with Flat Bread or to have as a side dish with Rice and Smoked Fish, Olives and Sabzi Khordan. The key flavour in this dish is the smoked Aubergines and the key texture is created from the fresh Pomegranate Seeds which pop in your mouth and release their delicious juice and then leave you with their crunchy bits which give you more time to taste the accompanying deliciousness of the slightly sweet smoked aubergine that has been fried with Turmeric to which the added sour/sweet Pomegranate Syrup acts as a perfect compliment and balancing ingredient. Gentle Garlic flavour from the fresh leaves made a little more substantial with Garlic Powder adds dimension and the Azerbaijani influence with Pul Biber just clinches the flavour note that with the matching sweet smokiness of the Aubergine creates a dish that dances on your tongue! A little tip for the smoking of the Aubergines ... Unless you can burn them whole on a barbecue or open fire, you will be doing them in the kitchen on your stove top (provided you have a gas cooker! Otherwise I recommend that you burn them under the grill). In order to preserve the cleanliness of your stove top, you will need to cover the top with foil making holes to free the flames from the gas rings. If you have skewers that is idea for you to be able to lift, turn and remove whilst hot, the aubergine from the flame. The wide Koobideh Skewers that hold minced meat kebabs are ideal, but if you only have the thin ones they will be fine ... two skewers either side along the length of the Aubergine is ideal to help prevent it from sloppily collapsing onto the flame when it is cooked through enough, but one skewer is fine too. I have seen them charred on a gas flame however with no skewer at all so don’t worry if that is what you will need to do. There is a little extra info for you after the recipe where I identify the properties of Unani that this recipe reflects ...
