Cooking Persian Stew, Rice & 'Frittata'

Stepping outside my comfort zone to play with herbs and eggplant

Persian eggplant stew with sour grapes (khoresh bademjan ba ghooreh) and dried limes.

In summer, we think about easy living and cooking—nothing heavy, including the dishes we make to fill our bellies. Grilled corn and chicken, salads you can throw together in a flash, fruit pies to top it all off. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

Well, being the contrarian I am, and inspired after my last post about a visit to two Persian-owned kosher groceries in Los Angeles, I made a few dishes last week that were a bit labor intensive and, at least in the case of the beef and eggplant stew, perhaps more suitable for a chilly winter day than a lazy August afternoon.

My first kuku sabzi from a Samin Nosrat recipe. It’s actually quite a light dish, but it took me 2 hours to chop up the herbs!

I needed a culinary challenge, or maybe just a challenge of any kind, something a little outside my comfort zone, using ingredients that I seldom use—like those I found at the kosher markets. So I made the dishes I talked about in that piece. One of these is kuku sabzi, which Samin Nosrat, (whose recipe I used and whose wonderful book, Salt Fat Acid Heat is an inspiration), describes as “a sort of frittata … so densely packed with finely chopped sautéed herbs that the ingredient list reads like a practical joke.”

Herb scissors ease prep work for kuku sabzi, but it still takes time.

No kidding! It took me almost two hours to clean and chop the pile of herbs and vegetables—including a pound each of parsley and cilantro, plus a bunch of fresh dill and two fat leeks! A five-bladed herb scissors I received as a gift helped with the task, though, honestly, I don’t really mind chopping veggies—it can be a meditative activity (though less so if you happen to slice off a bit of finger!).

The other main dish I attempted was khoresh bademjan ba ghooreh, an eggplant stew made with unripe grapes, tomatoes, beef¹ and dried limes (or limoo Amani in Farsi). If you can’t find some of the ingredients—especially the sour notes provided by the limes and sour grapes that give the dish its distinct character— the author suggests substitutes.

Mast-o Khiar, Persian cucumber and herb yogurt, a Samin Nosrat recipe.

Then, since I had already dived into the unfamiliar culinary waters, I felt compelled to attempt some of the side dishes. These included another one from Samin Nosrat, whose list of 10 Essential Persian Recipes I heartily recommend. Mast-o kiar is similar to an Indian raita or tzatziki, with yogurt (or labneh, which is what I used), cucumbers, fresh herbs and dry (including mint and dill), toasted walnuts, raisins, garlic, and optional rose petals. It was a perfect tart and creamy complement to the kuku sabzi,² along with, a salad, flat bread, and some Bulgarian feta.

My second attempt at kuku sabzi with parsley, cilantro, green onion, red bell pepper, spinach, feta and eggs. After cooking on the stove for a few minutes, I finished it in a 350 F oven, then served it right from the pan.

Is all that chopping to make that kuku worth it? For me the answer is yes (but then I’m a little cuckoo myself!). It makes a wonderfully crusty vegetarian dish that’s actually quite pretty with its deep green interior. It also lasts for days and is delicious served hot or cold with salty, sweet and tart accompaniments. I wrapped it in some flatbread with some of the mast-o kiar and some feta and spinach for a snack, then chopped it into an omelet for breakfast the next day.

As for the eggplant stew I made, Nosrat’s polo ba tahdig (Persian rice with bread crust) would make a fine accompaniment to that, but I opted to make another version with a potato crust from Family Spice. The post includes an excellent video that I should have watched before attempting the dish, which involves arranging partially cooked rice over a layer of sliced potatoes and steaming it until the potatoes are fried and the rice is done.

Beef and eggplant stew with basmati rice with a potato crust, my tasty though imperfect experiment in Persian cuisine.

My creation looked nowhere near as pretty as the author’s, with some slightly burned potatoes on the bottom and a large uneven bed of rice that seemed to scatter everywhere but on the too-small plate when I attempted to flip the whole thing over before serving.

Watching the video after making the dish, I learned what to do next time around! It’s called 20-20 hindsight and obviously works for cooking as it does for so much else in life! But the bottom line is the dish was delicious, with an unusual tang from the several sour ingredients. As with most stews, it tastes even better the next day.

Have you tried cooking outside your comfort zone? If so, what did you make and how did it turn out? I would love to hear from you!

The ultimate comfort food

Now for something that’s very much in my comfort zone. One of my favorite food bloggers, Jolene Handy of Time Travel Kitchen, wrote a terrific piece about a beloved blueberry muffin recipe. Of course I had to give it a try. Despite a half cup of mashed blueberries, the muffins did not take on an azure hue, though I was convinced they would. I’m sure there’s a scientific paper in there somewhere! Meanwhile, the muffins were delicious and quite a bit easier to make than Persian stew (though I’d suggest you make them both)!

My Favorite Blueberry Muffins

Thanks for reading this edition of Ruth Talks Food. I’m grateful to all of you, but in particular to my subscribers, new and old. It’s a great vote of confidence and pushes me to keep searching for stories and recipes I hope will be of interest.

See you next time!

1. In the recipe I used, the author suggests using beef or lamb but says chicken thighs can be substituted for those who don't eat red meat. For vegetarians, the yellow split peas in the recipe can be increased. My thought is the stew is so tasty that you could just add more vegetables that you like—maybe mushrooms, spinach or zucchini—and be quite happy with the result.

2. In her book Salt Fat Acid Heat, Samin Nosrat includes green chard in her recipe for kuku sabzi and suggests you can vary the ingredients depending on the season (for instance, cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta and basil for summer) and even flip the ratio of greens to eggs to make the more familiar frittata. (Above, you can see my summer version.)