Farsi Chole

Persian Chickpeas | Farsi Chole

This recipe has been created by Niloufer's Kitchen for the occasion of Yalda. Yalda is a festivity of the winter solstice when family and friends gather around the hearth of the home to join in prayers of gratitude and to share a table laden with food, enjoying the longest night of the year together as a family.

Farsi for "nokhod" Chickpeas are a nutritious food. They can be found cooked in cans, dried in bags (like lentils), or pre-seasoned and ready to eat in the deli area of many supermarkets. This relatively inexpensive protein is used liberally in many salads and dips. Hummus is the most well-known of the chickpea-based dips that are available worldwide. Garbanzo beans and grammes are other names for them.

Most Indian restaurants around the world provide a version on classic chola that the people of the subcontinent continue to appreciate. This recipe was inspired by the subtle flavour of Persian cuisine. It goes well with crisp mini-savoury puris as an accompaniment or dip.

Serves 12 as a dip
-

1 tbsp oil

350ml / 12 oz chickpeas, drained and washed from a can

1/2 cup crushed onion

1 cup crushed fresh tomatoes

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp advieh spices – see tips

4 crushed garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

2 cups roasted chopped eggplant, can be from a bottle or deli

2 tbsp fresh mixed herbs, finely chopped

1 tsp dried mint

In a pan heat the oil and sauté the crushed garlic and onion until it gets a slight pinkish hue. Add the chickpeas. Now toss in the advieh, salt, tomatoes and eggplant. Mix well. Cover and lower the heat. Cook for 30 minutes or until all the liquid has almost evaporated. It should be moist. Add the fresh herbs. Mix and serve. Sprinkle with crushed dried mint and serve.

Tips

Add 1 tbsp zereshk berries for colour.

Use your favourite fresh herb, coriander, oregano, thyme, basil or mint.

 To roast the eggplant, wash and halve into two. Apply a little oil and a sprinkle of salt. Leave the cut side downward and roast in a

180 °C | 350 °F hot oven for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave to cool for another 30 minutes or until soft. Scoop it out and roughly chop. 

 Optionally, serve nice crisp puris.

Nooshe-Jaan! 

 Advieh is a blend of spices.

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is an award-winning book. It was self-published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking: Reviving an Ancient Cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through Amazon Book Depot, Book Depository, and from the publishers.

For more Persian recipes click on

Niloufer's Kitchen: Persian Fusion from read.amazon.com

Shirini Panir

Shirini Panir | Sweet Cottage Cheese

This dessert was specially created for the Fezana Journal to mark the Persian festivity of Yalda. The Persians celebrate the winter solstice on the 20th of December each year. An age-old custom where families gather around the fireplace to sing songs, recite prayers, and celebrate with a feast. It was one way of spending the darkest and longest night of the year with happiness, sharing, and caring.

Fresh figs and nectarines over the scrumptious saffron and cheese.

         Fresh tangerines, mandarins, blood oranges and kiwi

Serves 6

500 g/ 1.1 lb panir-farmers' cottage cheese or ricotta recipe on page xxxx
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp crushed saffron threads
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 cup ground almond
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chopped or slivered pistachios

Fresh fruit selection: one peach, one nectarine, and six figs

 

Combine in a food processor and whizz everything together. You can use your arm and a large metal spoon instead.  Panir, along with sugar, saffron, lemon juice, almonds, and salt. They should be placed in a bowl and set aside for a couple of hours. As the saffron begins to bloom, continue to combine until the dessert is evenly coloured. 

Once it is done, place it in a flatter serving dish and top with sliced fresh fruit of your choice. Serve topped with pistachios.

Tips

It is best to start with warm panir. If it is chilled from the fridge, bring it to room temperature. This will help in the smoothness of the dessert. 

If you don't want to wait for the saffron to bloom, you can prepare it in the following way. 

On a low flame, dry heat the saffron. It can burn very easily. Remove it from the heat and set it aside for a minute to dry. Using the back of a spoon, crush it. Add 2 tbsp of water and bring it to a boil. Now add the whole thing with the water into the running food processor, and the warm saffron will infuse and combine faster.

For more recipes click on
Niloufer's Kitchen : Persian Fusion


To read about an ancient cuisine you can purchase my cookbooks called The World of Parsi Cooking; Food Across Borders and The Art of Parsi Cooking; reviving an ancient cuisine.  

Persian Chickpeas

Persian Chickpeas|Farsi Chole

This recipe has been created by Niloufer's Kitchen for the occasion of Yalda. Yalda is a festivity of the winter solstice when family and friends gather around the hearth of the home to join in prayers of gratitude and to share a table laden with food, enjoying the longest night of the year together as a family.

Farsi for "nokhod" Chickpeas are a nutritious food. They can be found cooked in cans, dried in bags (like lentils), or pre-seasoned and ready to eat in the deli area of many supermarkets. This relatively inexpensive protein is used liberally in many salads and dips. Hummus is the most well-known of the chickpea-based dips that are available worldwide. Garbanzo beans and grammes are other names for them.

Most Indian restaurants around the world provide a version on classic chola that the people of the subcontinent continue to appreciate. This recipe was inspired by the subtle flavour of Persian cuisine. It goes well with crisp mini-savoury puris as an accompaniment or dip.

                                                                                                 

with Zereshk

Without Zereshk

Serves 12 as a dip
-

1 tbsp oil

350ml / 12 oz chickpeas, drained and washed from a can

1/2 cup crushed onion

1 cup crushed fresh tomatoes

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp advieh spices – see tips

4 crushed garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

2 cups roasted chopped eggplant, can be from a bottle or deli

2 tbsp fresh mixed herbs, finely chopped

1 tsp dried mint

 

In a pan heat the oil and sauté the crushed garlic and onion until it gets a slight pinkish hue. Add the chickpeas. Now toss in the advieh, salt, tomatoes and eggplant. Mix well. Cover and lower the heat. Cook for 30 minutes or until all the liquid has almost evaporated. It should be moist. Add the fresh herbs. Mix and serve. Sprinkle with crushed dried mint and serve.

 

Tips

Add 1 tbsp zereshk berries for colour.

Use your favourite fresh herb, coriander, oregano, thyme, basil or mint.

 To roast the eggplant, wash and halve into two. Apply a little oil and a sprinkle of salt. Leave the cut side downward and roast in a

180 °C | 350 °F hot oven for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave to cool for another 30 minutes or until soft. Scoop it out and roughly chop. 

 Optionally, serve nice crisp puris.

Nooshe-Jaan! 

 Advieh is a blend of spices. 

My published cookbooks are available for sale through myself and on Amazon.

The World of Parsi Cooking: Food Across Borders is an award-winning book. It was self-published in July 2019 and will be going into its second print in 2022. 

The Art of Parsi Cooking: Reviving an Ancient Cuisine was published in 2016 by Austin Macauley and continues to be available through Amazon Book Depot, Book Depository, and from the publishers.

For more recipes download

Niloufer's Kitchen: Persian Fusion

Advieh, Spice Mix

Advieh or Adwiya is a spice blend used in  Persian Cuisine.

Basic Advieh blended powder

It is a blend of their many aromatic spices from Saffron, cinammon, ginger powder, cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, mace and pepper. Different Advieh blends are used in their meats, chickens, fish and rice. It is available in most Middle Eastern Stores and many super markets in the UK. 
It may perhaps be best to make your own basic blend and then add more ingredients as and when necessary.

Make your own Basic Advieh

4 tbsp rose petal, dried

4 tbsp freshly ground cinnamon

4 tbsp freshly ground cardamom seeds

2 tbsp freshly ground cumin

Mix and keep in an airtight jar for a year. Store in a cool dry place.

Optionally add in 2 tbsp  each of black pepper and clove.  Just 1 tbsp nutmeg - to make it the 7 spice advieh 

Pickled Lemons

 Pickled Lemons

Pickling Lemons is a time age process that many cultures embrace as their own. While Parsi Food does not include it in its cooking itself, it is a favourite as an accompaniment. Its trick to success is choosing the fresh young lemon with no blemishes and a thin skin. This ensures it is soft and supple, and avoids any bitterness. 
They are called limbu/limoo in Hindi and Urdu.The Persians tend to pickle their limu whole and use it crushed in their cooking. While the Moroccans Cuisine use pieces of pickled lemons in their Tagine. The Arabic word being Laymoon. 

Fresh small round lemons make the best pickle, check for the thinnest skin possible.

The smallest round thin skinned lemons are best for pickling. 

Makes approximately 1 kg /2.2 lb  

1 kg fresh small lemons
4 tsp sea salt
2 sterilised 500 gm/ 1 lb jars

Wash, pat dry and cut the lemons in equal size. Add a tsp of the salt in each jar. Drop in the cut pieces of lemon filling the jar to the top. Add another tsp of sea salt in each jar. Screw the lid on tightly. Giving it a shake daily leave to mature in the sun on the kitchen sill. It will take 4 to 7 days to ''cook''. Do not open the bottle during the maturing process. The liquid will magically appear. The salt crystals will disappear and you will be left with a ready to use pickled lemon!  This can last for up to 1 year when refrigerated.

It is very popular to have "limu pani" ( lemon water)or freshly squeezed lemon juice mixed with sugar and cold water  as a refreshing drink during the hot summer months in India, Iran and the region. Some like to add fresh leaves of mint while others will add some salt to this drink.

Health practitioners are recommending a glass of warm water and freshly squeezed lemon juice on waking up each morning; it has good detox qualities that are hard to match. If you have a cut in the kitchen, rubbing it with lemon will prevent it from getting infected; Be prepared for the slight sting of this natural antiseptic! 

As far as cleaning is concerned; Use the remains of your squeezed lemon to
1.Heat it in the micro for 30 seconds to refresh it of all smells
2. Crush it in your garbage disposal unit to keep it sanitized
3. Rub it on your nails and hands to remove all the cooking odours

Tips
Do not use a dirty or wet spoon while removing the pieces of pickle.
Discard it immediately if any fungus has grown over it.
Keep it tightly closed at all times.
Using organic lemons for pickling is well worth the extra as the skins are being eaten.
Lemons are versatile; Cooking and cleaning they are useful to have in your home at all times.
The smallest of lemons with a very thin skinned can be pickled whole as well. Simply pierce a fork in it prior to pickling.
Look for unblemished lemons.