Irani Eats

In the below photograph is a sample of the type of meal (lunch in this case) that the Howza students receive everyday. It is given in a Styrofoam box with another plastic container of fresh herbs (looks like mint, NANAW in Farsi). My husband brought his home so I took it out and plated it to look prettier. So there’s eggplant, chicken (MORGH), rice (CHELOW), tomatoes, and yellow spilt peas (LAPEH). I’m guessing it’s a type of BADEMJAN (eggplant) SABZI (HERBS) dish, but not sure which one in particular. Not bad for a school lunch, yum! Other types of meals include fish and beef, but always with sabzi that are usually meant to be eaten raw, no dressing! By the way, this is all information I’ve gathered online, not by true experience. #NotTrying2beIranian

I’m in no way a food snob in the sense that I don’t proclaim to be an expert or even “very good,” at any cuisine, and if I don’t have the correct ingredient for a recipe, I don’t sweat it much. But I do want to learn the specifics of some basic Iranian dishes so that hopefully, inshaaAllah, when I’m an old grandmother living back in the West, my kids will tell their friends, “Come to my house for Sunday dinner, my MODAR (mother) makes Iranian style food!” Yes, these are my dreams.

So I had some chicken and potatoes so I searched for an Iranian recipe that included those ingredients, which led me to the Persian potato salad called Salad Olivieh as it's known in Iran (apparently originating in Russia by Lucien Olivier). Now, it’s not just a potato salad, or a chicken salad, or an egg salad—it’s a combo of all 3!

But first! I’m going to prove my #NoFoodSnob, #NotTrying2BeIranian status. Had some pancakes but no syrup, the kids didn’t want to eat them, so I made a pancake cake for my husband using grape jam and walnuts and pistachios as garnish. Yummy to me. Look how cute it turned out:

So, anyway, back to the salad olivieh. I used the 2 recipes found here to make my salad:

http://www.mypersiankitchen.com/salad-olivieh/

http://persianmama.com/salad-olivieh-persian-chicken-salad/

I didn't have the traditional carrots, so I used diced tomatoes. Those are pickled cucumbers, known in Iran as KHIAR SHOOR. The ones I got were sour with a softer texture than American crisp pickles.

Ingredients for my Persian Salad, Salad Olivieh

Oops! Don't forget the boiled eggs! 

Mixed up and seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, and turmeric.

Slather the entire thing with some MAYO!

Make it look PRETTY PRETTY!

Or serve it up in some vegetables.

Scoop it up.

SO, there you have it. So far you know you'll be having ZERESHK POLOW with MORGH and TAHDIG as shown in my previous post, Tahdig: Tragedy and Triumph, and SALAD OLIVIEH when you come over to my house one day in 20 years for my Sunday dinner inshaaAllah.