Ingredients:

2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
6 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1 (19 ounce) can cannelloni beans
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried mixture of cloves and cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil

Procedure:

In large pot sauté; the onions, garlic, and ginger in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the water, lentils, chick peas, white kidney beans, diced tomatoes, carrots, celery, clove, bits of cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper and cumin. Bring to a boil for a few minutes then simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or longer, until the lentils are soft. Puree half the soup in a food processor or blender. Return the pureed soup to the pot, stir and enjoy! This is a highly balanced food with protein, minerals, and fiber. Makes 6 servings.

Samanoo is usually made at the Iranian new year (or No-Rooz, starts on the first day of spring: 20 or 21 March).

Ingredients:

500 grams wheat
2 kg. wheat flour

Procedure:

Wash wheat with cold water, then rinse. Add cold water until there is 2-3 cm of water over the wheat. Leave for about two days, changing the water after the first day. The wheat should begin to germinate. Rinse thoroughly. Hold a thin piece of cloth under cold water until it is completely wet. Pour wheat inside and wrap the cloth around it. Place it in a bowl and leave the bowl in a warm place. Once or twice a day, sprinkle a bit of cold water over the cloth to make it wet but not soggy. When roots appear, spread wheat on a large plate, then spread the cloth over it and sprinkle with water. Continue sprinkling with water once or twice a day until silvery sprouts appear. Wheat should be used before the sprouts turn green. Grind the wheat, add two glasses of cold water, and mix well. Filter out the excess water. Press the wheat hard to squeeze out the extract. Add wheat extract to flour while mixing. The mix should become thin. Place the mix over medium heat, stirring frequently until the mix starts boiling and thickens. Continue heating until water disappears. Fry the mix without any oil or sugar for about 10-15 minutes. Gradually add 1-2 glasses of hot water and mix well. Allow to boil slowly, stirring occasionally until the mix slightly thickens. Place in the oven for about 30 minutes at low temperature. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

250 grams wheat flour
200 grams sugar
200 grams cooking oil
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1/2 cup rosewater
pistachio, crushed
almond, crushed

Procedure:

To prepare it, heat oil in a frying pan until it is hot. Add flour, reduce heat and stir frequently until the mix changes color to golden, thickens and becomes fragrant. Add sugar to one glass of water and bring to a boil. Add saffron and rosewater and stir. Let flour cool slightly, then add the mix and stir well. If the mix is not thick, heat for 1-2 minutes but not longer. Serve with crushed pistachio and almond sprinkled on top. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

500 grams ground lamb or beef
2 large onions, (grated)
one clove garlic, (crushed)
one large egg, (beaten)
4 medium tomatoes
salt
black pepper
one teaspoon turmeric, (optional)
sumac (optional)

Procedure:

Mix meat, onions, garlic, egg, salt, pepper and turmeric well and leave in the refrigerator overnight (or for several hours). Press the meat around long, thick metal skewers and shape evenly. Thread whole tomatoes on another skewer. Barbecue each side for about five minutes, turning frequently. (If skewers are not available or barbecuing is not possible, kabab-e koobideh can be shaped into long, thin portions on aluminum foil and grilled at high temperature in the oven. The oven should be pre-heated and kabab-e koobideh should be placed as high as possible near the source of the heat. Again, turn a few times.) Serve with hot basmati rice or on middle-eastern bread. If serving with rice, some sumac may be sprinkled on top. If kabab-e koobideh was made in an oven, the juice from the kabab can be poured on rice or bread. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

500 grams long-grain or basmati rice
one medium-size chicken
1 kg. black cherry (or cherry)
1 kg. sugar
2 medium onions
1/2 teaspoon saffron
cooking oil
salt
black pepper

Procedure:

Wash black cherries (or cherries) and remove the stones. Add sugar. If you are using cherries rather than black (sour) cherries, less sugar can be used. Bring to boil. Cook over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool down completely. Remove the extra syrup. Peel and thinly slice onions. Wash chicken. Add onions, salt, black pepper, and a glass of hot water, and cook over medium heat for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove bones. Filter the chicken juice and save for later use. Follow instructions for preparing Polow until rice is rinsed. Pour 2 spoonfuls of cooking oil and half a glass of hot water in a pot. Follow with half of the rinsed rice and the black cherries (or cherries), and mix well. Cover with half of remaining rice. Spread chicken over the rice, and cover with the remaining rice. Shape into a cone. Mix 2-3 spoonfuls of cooking oil with black cherry (or cherry) syrup and chicken juice. Pour the mix over rice. Cover the pot and cook in an oven or over low heat for about one hour. When cooked, remove some of the rice and mix with saffron dissolved in a bit of hot water. When serving, spread saffron-rice over Albaloo-Polow.

Ingredients:

500 grams basmati or long-grain rice
800 grams chicken
cooking oil
butter
4 tablespoons barberries (dried)
1 tablespoon sugar
two large onions
1/2 teaspoon saffron
salt
black pepper

Procedure:

Remove the skin from chicken pieces. Marinate chicken in grated onions, salt and pepper for 4-5 hours. Cook rice using the recipe given for polow or kateh. Wash barberries twice with cold water and drain the water. Add sugar and fry in butter over medium heat for about five minutes. Pour saffron in a small bowl. Pour in 2-3 spoons of hot water and mix. Fill the bowl with rice and mix well. Add saffron-rice and barberries to the rest of the rice and mix well. Cook chicken under grill for 15-20 minutes turning each piece a few times during cooking. Serve with barberry-rice.

Ingredients:

400 grams chicken
500 grams potatoes
2 medium onions
3 medium eggs
1/2 cup peas
one medium carrot
100 grams dill pickles (should not be sweet)
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
mayonnaise
cooking oil
salt
black pepper

Procedure:

Peel and thinly slice onions. Fry in oil until slightly golden. Add chicken and fry until colour changes. Wash and peel carrot. Chop into small pieces. Add to chicken with a bit of salt and one cup of hot water. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Remove bones and cut into small pieces. Wash potatoes well. Add hot water and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, then mash them well using the back of a fork. Cook peas over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Finely chop dill pickles. Boil eggs until hard. Remove shells and crush well using the back of a fork. Add potatoes, peas, pickles, salt, black pepper, mayonaise, eggs and lime juice to chicken (with a bit of juice) and mix well. Salad-e Olivieh should be served cold.

Optional: Pour the mix in a dish and flatten the surface with the back of a spoon. Place some mayonaise on top and spread over the surface with a knife. Slice one or two dill pickles length-wise and use the slices to decorate Salad-e Olivieh. Salad-e Olivieh is believed to have foreign origin but has been modified in Iran.

Ingredients:

100 grams basmati or long grain rice
500 grams ground beef or lamb
100 grams chick-pea flour
500 grams herbs (spring onion ends, parsley, common-dill, sweet-fennel, mint, tarragon)
3 eggs
100 grams split-peas
3-4 onions
1/2 cup of cooking oil
2-3 spoons of turmeric (or tomato paste)
salt
black pepper
100 grams barberries
100 grams walnuts

Procedure:

Koofteh-Berenji is a delicious ball of meat, rice and herbs with extra goodies inside. Cook rice in some water with a bit of salt until it softens, then filter out the water. Do the same to split-peas. Mix rice, split-peas, chick-pea flour, meat, eggs, salt and pepper very well. Cut the herbs very finely and mix in with the rest. Chop the onions and fry in oil until golden. Save some of the fried onions. Add 5-6 glasses of water to the rest of the onions with a bit of salt, pepper and turmeric (or tomato paste) and bring to boil. Make balls about the size of an orange from the mix, leaving a bit of barberries, walnuts and fried onions at the center. Place the balls in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes. Then continue cooking at low temperature until the koofteh is completely cooked. Make sure the container is not covered during cooking. Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

1 kg. chicken
500 grams basmati or long grain rice
300 grams yogurt
1/2 teaspoon saffron
2 large onions
3 eggs (yolks only)
cooking oil
salt
black pepper

Procedure:

Start by washing rice and soaking it in warm water (with added salt) for 2 hours. Then filter out the water. Chop onions into thin slices and fry in oil until slightly golden. Wash and cut chicken, remove skin, and fry in onions until color changes. Add some water and bring to boil. Turn heat down and let boil slowly until cooked, adding more water if needed. Remove the bones. While chicken is cooking, beat the yogurt until it is smooth. Dissolve saffron in half a cup of hot water. Add saffron, salt, pepper and egg-yolks to the yogurt and mix very well. Pour a few glasses of water in a large pot and bring to boil. Pour in rice and cook while stirring occasionally until rice grows longer and slightly softens (Take care not to overcook the rice. It should still be too hard for eating). Again filter out the water. Pour several spoons of oil and several spoons of the yogurt mix into a non-stick pot. Add a thin layer of rice and flatten using the back of a spoon. Add a layer of chicken on top followed by another layer of rice. Again flatten the rice. Spread several more spoons of the yogurt mix on the rice. Continue in this fashion until chicken, rice and the yogurt mix have been used up. Add some more oil on top. Put the lid on and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Place the pot in an oven (preheated to 250 F) and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours. Note that the longer Tah-Chin is cooked, the thicker the Tah-Dig (delicious crispy layer of rice at the bottom) will be. When cooked, remove the lid and let cool for a few minutes. Place an inverted large dish over the pot and turn it over. Tap the pot in order to loosen the contents inside. The contents should fall on the dish in one piece with the Tah-Dig on the outside. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup butter or oil
2 1/2-3 lbs chicken or duck (cut up, bone-in)
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cups walnuts, finely ground in a food processor
1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock or water
2/3 cup pomegranate syrup (see notes in description if using juice)
2-3 tablespoons sugar
kosher salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Procedure:

Sprinkle meat with lime juice and allow to marinate for 1-4 hours. Over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot heat an 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) of the butter or oil until shimmering. Add the chicken/duck pieces a few at a time and brown on all sides. Remove to a plate. Add onions (and eggplant if using - see notes in description) and sauté in remaining butter or oil until translucent. Stir in ground walnuts and saute for 1/2 a minute. Add stock or water and browned chicken/duck pieces. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes. Stir in the pomegranate juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Sauce should have a balanced sweet-sour flavor. See notes to adjust. Simmer another 15-20 minutes until the chicken/duck is tender, sauce is somewhat thickened and the walnuts begin to give off their oil. Serve with plain white rice. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Note: If using fresh pomegranate juice, use 1 1/2 to 2 cups and reduce the stock or water. Adding a 1/2 tsp ground cardamom or 1/2 tsp cinnamon when sautéing the onions will add a richer flavor. Add more sugar if the sauce is too tart, or lime or lemon juice if it is too sweet. A peeled and cubed eggplant is sometimes added. Sauté the eggplant along with the onions. You may need to add a little more liquid as it simmers.