New Youtube Video

It's been 13 years since I learn Farsi for the first time. I still remember vividly my boyfriend that time told me that I have to learn Farsi so I can converse with his mom. Understanding Farsi makes me easier to learn Persian culture and most importantly makes the gap between me and my husband smaller. There are people who told me that it's not fair for me because my husband didn't do the same (learning Malay). But it's not an issue for me. If he learns of course I'll be happy, but if not it doesn't matter. 

Anyway...my point of writing here today is to share my new video speaking Farsi. After some years I decided to upload a new video. This time I made a video of making pickled vegetables - Persian style. I have a passion for cooking..like I love to share recipes of the foods I made. In my Instagram (aroose_malayi), I share the foods that I cooked and lately I share recipes because some followers asked me to do so. Then I said why don't I record and share it on my Youtube channel. So here you go, my first cooking video. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVCL1QTNRlI&t=5s

Ta daafeye baad...khoda hafez...

Acar Timun & Lobak

Ingredients:

-cucumber and carrot cut into 3cm long

- 1 cinnamon stick

- 1 star anise

- 1 medium onion, cut 6

- 3 garlic cloves

- 1 inch ginger, thinly slice

- 3 tbsp vinegar

- 4 tbsp sugar

- 1 tsp turmeric powder

- salt

- cooking oil

- 1 medium onion*

- 4 garlic cloves*

- 2 dried red chillies*

Methods:

1. Grind all * ingredients in blender

2. Marinate cucumber with turmeric powder and salt

3. In a pan, heat some oil, fry ginger, cinnamon stick and star anise.

4. When the aroma arise, put in the blended ingredients. 

5. Fry until fragrant or 'pecah minyak'.

6. Add in vinegar and salt.

7. Add in onion, garlic and carrot. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the carrot tender.

8. Drain the cucumber, add in to the pan.

9. Cook for about 10 minutes. Done. 

Befarmaeed Sham: Nasi Goreng Ayam Kunyit

Nasi goreng ayam kunyit is one of bff's favorite Malay foods. From our first visit to malay restaurant 6 years back until now, this is the ultimate menu that he will order without fail. Even we order side dish like tomyam or bbq chicken or anything that best to eat with plain rice, he still wants nasi goreng ayam kunyit. Sometimes he eat two plates. I dont know is it very delicious? Coz I dont really like it coz I see there is no special with that. Simple nasi goreng with fried chicken pieces. B.O.R.I.N.G.

Nevertheless, I have to try to cook nasi goreng ayam kunyit. When I go to Iran later, where the heck  to find it in restaurant if bff's craving it? So the last time he was here, I got the chance to show my skills and he certified it. :)) 

Nasi goreng cina. For recipe. 

Stir fried kangkong. For recipe. 

Ingredients:

~ Chicken breasts. cut into cubes. marinate with some turmeric powder and salt.

~ 4 garlic cloves, minced

~ 1 onion, cut into rings

~ Carrot slices

~ Green beans cut 1 inch long

~ Chicken powder 1 tspn

~ Salt

~ Cooking oil

Methods:

1. Deep fry the chicken until tender. About 10-15 minutes coz I dont like it to be too crispy. Set aside.

2. In another pan, heat some oil. Saute garlic until golden.

3. Add the veges, chicken, chicken powder and salt.

4. When everything well blended and the vege a little bit cooked, turn off heat and serve.

5. Mind that you need to use high heat and cook it fast.

I served with nasi goreng cina and kangkung goreng.

:) thats all. recipe from kad banoo azreen ;P 

oh azizam cheghard miss kardam ghaza bepazam baratoon

Fried onion - Piaz Daagh

Piaz daagh, direct translation will be "hot onion" is very important in Persian cuisine. Even in Malay we also used piaz daagh many times to garnish our foods. For example in soto, mee sup, chicken soup or any kind of soup. In Persian foods, they used piaz daagh as a garnish in aash reshteh, maash polow, adas polow or any dishes as you wish to. 

Making piaz daagh for me is not an easy task. First you have to "cry while slicing the onion. Then, your house will smell onion the whole day. You need a bottle of febreez to get rid the smell :) It also need good techniques to get crispy golden piaz daagh.

So my trick to overcome these problems are:

1. Make a big amount of piaz daagh in one time so that you no need to challenge yourself very often. Keep in refrigerator to use when needed.

2. Buy chewing gums and eat it while slicing onion. Or bite a tooth pick to hinder sore eyes. Both thee methods work for me!

3. Open all windows and turn on your cooker hood to have good air circulation so that the smell does not stay in house.

4. Patience.

Ingredients:

Lots of onion and some garlics. 

Methods:

Make sure you slice the onion very finely. Heat oil. Make sure the oil is hot enough when you wanted to put in the onion or else your piaz daagh will not be crispy. Medium heat not high heat or else piaz daagh will burnt. Deep fry with lots of oil. Stir continuously. Once the color turn to yellow, beware because it will burn easily afterwards.

Fry onion and garlic separately. Place on kitchen towel to absorb the extra oil. Done!

 Movafagh bashid!!

Mirza Ghasemi

Mirza ghasemi. Sounds like a human's name right? I know a malay boy's name Mirza, while Ghasemi is a Persian family name. Hehe. But i havent know anybody with name mirza ghasemi yet. He/she might be delicious. :p 

Back to the dish, this is one if the pish ghaza (appetizer or side dish) that i really like. Previously i always ordered mirza ghasemi from a persian restaurant nearby, but unfortunately the taste of mirza ghasemi there is not as tasty as before. I also ate mirza ghasemi at naab restaurant at kl but the way they served it was different as they did not mix egg in the mixture but top it with fried egg. For me, i prefer the one that mix everything together. So yummy, with lots of garlics. Make sure if you make it at home, open your windows to let the air circulate well. If not, you'll smell like a garlic the whole day. :)

Lets check out the recipe!

Ingredients: 

2 medium eggplant, grilled, peel skin and chopped

7 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

1 tspn tomato paste

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1 tspn turmeric

Salt and pepper

Cooking oil

Methods:

1. Heat some oil, fry garlic, add some turmeric, add chopped eggplant, cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add chopped tomatoes and tomato paste

3. Cook and stir continuously for 10 minutes

4. Pour the egg, sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste, stir gradually

5. Cook for another 5 minutes, done.

6. Serve with noon lavash

Steam Seabass

Ingredients:
- 1 seabass
- "young" ginger, slice finely
- 4 garlic cloves, mince
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp crushed black pepper

Methods:
1. Mix everything and rub onto the fish
2. Steam for 20 minutes

I love to use young ginger because of the sweetness that you can eat just like that compared to old ginger which taste bitter.

Stir Fried Water Spinach with Shrimp Paste

Ingredients:
- Water spinach, cut into 1 inch long
- 1 medium onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 inch shrimp paste
- 1 tspn soy sauce
- salt to taste
- oil

Methods:
1. Pound onion, garlic and shrimp paste
2. Saute the pounded paste, when the aroma arise add in water spinach. Add in a little water if the bottom stick.
3. Taste with salt and dash of soy sauce

Tips for stir frying: Use high heat and cook fast to keep the freshness of vege. Dont pour too much water becoz vege will turn out mushy.

Persian Style Chicken

This is another bff's favourite food to eat with rice. And it is really easy to prepare.

You need:
- 4-6 Chicken drumsticks
- 1 large onion
- 1 large potato, cut into 4
- 2 tspn turmeric powder
- 1 tspn cinnamon powder
- Salt to taste
- Juice of 1 lime
- Hot water

Method:
1. Saute onion with oil until translucent, add turmeric and cinnamon.
2 .Add in chicken, saute for 5 minutes.
3. Add in hot water covering the chicken. Add in potato. Simmer with medium heat for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the water level must have been reduced to 1/4 makes the gravy thicker.
4. Add in lime juice and simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste with salt.

Khoresht Loobia Sabz (Green Bean with Meat Stew)

Ingredients:
500g meat - cut into 2cm cubes
green beans - remove ends and cut into 3cm pieces
1 large onion - small dice
4 garlic cloves - small dice
3 ripe tomatoes - boil, remove skin, dice
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
turmeric powder
blackpepper
salt
oil

Methods:
1. Saute onion and garlic, when translucent add turmeric powder.
2. Put in meat with some pepper. When meat has brown all sides, pour water covering the meat. Add tomatoes and tomato paste, mix well, cover and simmer in medium heat for one hour.
3. In other pan, saute green beans with some oil for about 3 minutes.
4. After an hour, mix the sauted green beans into the khoresht with lemon juice and salt. Simmer another one hour or until the meat is tender.
5. Serve with saffron rice.

Loobia Citi which taste like baked beans

Ingredients:
A handful of Loobia chiti (pinto beans) soaked overnight
Tomato paste 2 tbsp
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Salt to taste
1 tbsp olive oil

Methods:
1. Boil beans with 3 cups of water.simmer with low hear until tender. Approximately 1 half hour.
2. When tender, add tomato paste tomato ketchup olive oil n salt
3. Simmer until all mix well
4. Serve with salads

Fried Oyster Mushroom (Gharch Sorkh Karde)

Ingredients:
~ Oyster Mushrooms
~ 1 cup of plain flour
~ 1/2 cup of rice flour
~ 1 tsp chicken  powder
~ Salt & pepper
~ Egg, beat

Methods:
~ Mix flour, rice flour, chicken powder, salt & pepper
~ One by one, dip mushroom into egg mixture and then to the flour
~ Deep fry until golden
~ Done! Crispy fried mushrooms!

Samosa

I make samosa this afternoon for tea time. Bought a 50 pcs spring rolls pastry and managed to make 30 samosas which half I freeze for later consume. 

For filling

Ingredients:
~ 2 medium potatoes, diced
~ 1 chicken breast, chopped
~ 1 medium onion*
~ 2 garlic cloves*
~ 1/2 tsp black pepper*
~ 1 tbsp curry powder
~ salt to taste
~ 1 cup water
~ oil

Methods:
1. Heat some oil in pan, grind all * and fry until fragrant.
2. Add potatoes, chicken, curry powder.
3. Add water, close lid, until all water absorbed and potatoes soften.

4. Taste with salt, leave to cool.
5. Then, scoop some fillings to spring rolls pastry and make it triangle shape. I used my imagination to do this as I was too lazy to refer to internet :). It looks strange right? Glue the ends with mixture of flour and water.

6. Deep fry in really hot oil. If not, your samosa will be too oily.

Persian Chicken Schnitzel

Unlike me, bff prefers boneless chicken meat. But, its ok for me if the meat is not too thick. So, this recipe really suit both of our liking with crispy texture.

Ingredients:

~ 4 chicken breasts, halve 

~ 2 garlic clove, mince*

~ juice of 1 lime*

~ 1 tspn turmeric powder*

~ 1/2 tspn black pepper*

~ salt*

~ 1 egg

~ bread brumbs

Methods:

~ Mix * to marinate the chicken. Leave for 10-20 minutes.

~ To fry, deep the chicken breast into egg and follow with bread crumbs.

~ Fry until golden brown.

~ Serve with berenj or noon.

Simple and yummy!

Appetizer Torshi Vs Budu

Today I want to share 2 different so called appetizer because it make meals more delicious to eat with.

For Persian, I like home made torshi. 

Ingredients:

~ Coriander leaves

~ Tomato

~ Onion

~ Lime juice

~ Salt

~ Sugar

Method: Blend all together not too finely. 

Best to eat with kababs

For Malay, I like budu. Budu originates from Kelantan, east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. But, nowadays budu has been commercialized and it has become one of Malaysia's popular foods. Budu is a fish extract liquid. Mix it with slice onion, chilli and lime juice. Good enough to fill my empty stomach. Best serve with grilled or fried fish.

Stir Fry Lady's Finger a.k.a okra - Bamieh (Persian)

In Malay cuisine, most of the time, we stir fry vegetables, which is contra with Persian where they stew or deep fry mostly. Bff hates okra but I love it. When choosing okra, make sure it is the "young" one for a soft texture.

Ingredients:
~ Okra
~ Mince Garlic
~ Fried anchovies
~ 1 tbsp oyster sauce
~ oil

Methods:
~ Heat some oil, fry garlic until fragrant, add in okra, pour some water, add oyster sauce. Adjust salt to taste.
~ When okra soften, turn off heat, garnish with fried anchovies.
~ Done!

Mini Mackerel Quiche

Blog hopping searching ideas what to cook for Iftar yesterday. Found this recipe at *. I love to follow recipes from this blog because simple yet delicious. Thank you so much for the talented Mrs E (I call her Mrs E because in her blog she always mentioned her husband name as Mr E and her 3 children as 3Es). I don't know her name but all of her cookings salivate me :) This is the recipe with little alteration.

Ingredients:
~ 1 canned mackerel small size
~ 2 slices of cheddar
~ 1 tomato
~ 1 small onion diced
~ Puff pastry
~ Butter to grease
~ Oil
~ 1 egg slightly beat
~ Some coriander leaves
~ Salt

Methods:
1. Heat oil, stir onion. When translucent add tomato and mashed mackerel, salt to taste. Put aside.
2. Put puff pastry on small pan, spoon in some of mackerel mixture, then pour some egg, place cheddar on top and lastly sprinkle some coriander leaves.
3. Baked 150' C for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Simple, isn't it?

Mirza Ghasemi

Another vegetarian meal. If you like garlic, you will like this dish. This is my first attempt, turned out good but next time I think I have to put more eggplants and less eggs. Because I think like eating persian omelette, but still I want to share the recipe here.

Ingredients:
- 2 medium eggplants
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 medium tomatoes, remove skin, chop
- 7 cloves garlic - chop
- 2 tspn turmeric
- salt & pepper
- oil

Methods:
- Pierce eggplants with fork, bake for 40 minutes or until it soft and the skin crispy. Let it cool, remove the skin and chop it.
- Heat pan, fry garlic until golden, add turmeric salt and pepper
- Pour the beaten eggs, when it scrambled, add eggplants and tomatoes
- Cook over medium heat until the mixture thicken
- Serve with bread and fresh herbs

Persian Patties "Kotlet"

Today bff invited his Persian friend for lunch and asked me to make kotlet. Easy peasy!

It tastes nice as it same like malay dish called "bergedil", the difference is only the absence of malay spices in it. 

I also cooked "chelo berenj" which mean rice in Persian ways. Persians have different way to cook its rice and i can say their rice is the best in world. Later i will blog about how to cook Persian Rice ok!! For now, let me share how to cook "Persian Bergedil" :DD

Ingredients:

500 g ground meat

2 onions - grated

5 large potatoes - cooked and mash

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 cup of breadcrumbs

salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Mix meat, onion, potatoes, eggs, turmeric, salt & pepper in a bowl.

2. Take a handful of the mixture and flatten it into round shape or whatever shape you like buteasy to fry

 :))

3. Heat some oil and fry the patties until golden brown.

4. Serve with warm bread or rice.

I was very happy because all of the patties finished. Yeay!! I passed again. Looking forward for the next order sir..

Kaske Badenjoon V2

Last week again i cooked kashk-e-bademjoon but this time i used different type of eggplant which turned out with different taste. More bitter and not so my taste.

Normally i used the long one like this,

But this time i used this

The result.......

I bought 2 of this type eggplant. 1 still in fridge maybe i will cook chili eggplant. Taste better ha.

Kashk Bademjan

I will share my first persian dish. Kashk -e- Badamjan. Kashk is persian sour cream i can say, while bademjan is eggplant. This dish can be served as an appetizer with naan (bread) and fresh sabzi (vegetables). But for me it is heavy enough to eat as a main course. 

My experience with this dish -

I first ate this at Iranian restaurant in Langkawi. First taste, oh! what is this? I couldn't swallow, You know, my malay tongue always eat spicy, when it comes to sour + eggplant, euwww. Later my bff gave me a bottle of kashk from Iran and i just leave it on shelve until one day i asked him, "what u want me to do with the kashk? Kashk-e-bademjan doros kon (cook kashk-e-bademjan)". Ok i take the challenge. After several videos on youtube and recipe books, i cooked it and miracle! he said khoshmazas (delicious). Since then i cooked it at least 1 time in 2 weeks, depends on the kashk stock because it is hard to find it in my area. I managed to accept the taste. You want to know how? shhh...i put more onions in it. So that it wont taste too sour or too bademjan. haha.

Ok, now i share you the recipe:

Ingredients:

Bademjan (Eggplant)

Kashk (Can be found at persian mart)

Piaz (Onion)

Zardchubeh (Turmeric powder)

Felfel siyah (Black pepper)

Namak (Salt)

Roghan (Oil)

Nane (Dried Mint)

Aab (Water)

Methods:

1. Peel and fry the eggplants until golden brown. Put aside. I found out this way tastier rather than baked the eggplant in oven. But your dish will turn out oily. Normally when the dish is ready, i will spoon out the excess oil.

2. Saute onion until golden brown. Take out half of it for garnish. Put the eggplant on top of the onion, sprinkle with turmeric, black pepper and salt.

3. Pour in water until cover the eggplant, stir once, close lid, leave for 20 minutes until all the ingredients mix well. Then put in some kashk.

4. In other pan, put some oil and fry the dried mint until the aroma arise. Just for seconds.

5. Put in the eggplant mixture in a bowl or plate, decorate with kashk, dried mint and fried onion. Ready to be served with fresh vegetables and flat bread.

Khoda hafez!!