Tah Chin – ته‌چین

2016/03/25

Tah Chin is one of the most popular Persian meals which can be described as a crispy rise/saffron cake. In addition to rice and saffron, it consists of chicken (fillets), eggs and yogurt. This is another recipe by mom, which is really exact and precise at everything, and if you follow the instructions carefully, you’ll make a great dish. Ingredients: One chicken breast One onion Rice 4 cups Two egg yolks Yogurt 1 cup (Greek style or any type that’s not too soft must bee used) Oil 4 tbsp Some dried barberries Saffron a generous amount Salt, pepper, cinnamon Instructions: Soak the rice in water for at least a couple of hours, adding some salt to it (don’t make it too salty). Boil the chicken breast with the diced onion and some salt and pepper to have it cooked well, and then let it cool down, and once it’s cooled down, cut the breast in smaller parts, removing...

Shol-e Zard – Saffron Rice Pudding

2015/09/23

This is a traditional Persian dessert, and it’s easy to make. Its name can be translated as “the yellow soft”! Ingredients: (Check the note below) Pudding rice: 1 full tbsp per person Sugar Saffron Water Optional Ingredients: Almond flakes Rosewater Cardamom Instructions: Soak the pudding rice in water over night. Then pour the rice and water in a pot and cook it on low (or at least not too high) heat until the rice is completely cooked and soft. Note that it shouldn’t get too solid, as it’ll get more solid after it cools down, and can make the pudding too hard. Brew some saffron by grinding it, and adding boiling water on it, keeping it in an air-tight jar for some minutes until the colors has turned orange/saffron! Add the brewed saffron, and sugar to the pot and stir well until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then add the almond flakes, rosewater,...

Quymaq

2014/12/03

This is a quick meal/dessert that’s made in Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Spain, and a few other places. The name “Kuymak” is the Turkish one which is used in Spanish as well. It can be served as a dessert since it’s sweet, but containing flour, sugar and butter, it’s got a lot of calories and will give you good energy even if server as a meal. In Iran this is given to the ladies in their postpartum period, but nothing wrong to make it without this excuse! The following measures are for five portions. Ingredients: Wheat (or rice) flour 5 tbsp Sugar/caster sugar/cane sugar 1 cup Butter or veg. oil 50gr Saffron 1, 2 glasses of cold water Cardamom (optional) Rosewater (optional) Instructions: Sift the flour (twice or more) and roast the flour in a pot on low/medium stove for a few minutes until the color changes from white to gold, and you feel the smell. Keep...

Is Siri Racist?!

2014/04/07

I was at a geocaching event today, and there was a 6~7 year old Irish boy with a strong Dublin accent playing with Siri on an iPhone. He was making friends with me and came to me asking me to ask Siri to sing a song or tell a joke. I obeyed by asking her to “sing a song.” She said she can’t! Then I asked her to “tell me a joke.” This is what I got: I didn’t realize that this was not what he was expecting based on his previous commands and the responses that he’d got until he pointed out very politely & cutely: “I think it’s because your accent is different.” He wasn’t impressed by Siri’s response to me, so he tried it himself once again: “[Siri!] Tell me a joke.” (Again with all those strong Irish/Dublin vowels!) This was what Siri told him: This is NOT a random answer by Siri. Every time I’ve...

Potato Cutlets

2014/01/09

Potatoes are very popular in the West. The Irish and English consume a lot of them everyday, and they’re indeed very tasty! كوكوي سيب زميني, “kookooye sib zamini” is one of the Iranian foods that could be called Potato Cutlet in English. It’s reasonable easy to cook and pretty delicious. Here’s the recipe: Ingredients: 1. Potatoes 4, 5 average size 2. 2 eggs 3. Salt 4. Pepper 5. Frying oil Optional ingredients: 6. Garlic powder or fine-chopped fresh garlics 7. Turmeric 8. Mint powder Instructions: Boil the potatoes in a pot. Once they’re boiled, peel and mash them. Add the eggs, salt, pepper, and the other spices if any. Mix them well for a while. Prepare the frying pan by adding some oil and heating it well. Once the oil is hot, make round pieces of the batter and fry both sides. You can serve it with pickles and ketchup or even mayonnaise if you...

More Children or Less?

2013/12/10

Just as many other peers of mine born on the 80s, I was born in the middle of Iran-Iraq war. A lot of people got killed during those miserable 8 years. So the government had already started encouraging families to have more children to balance the population. Some years passed, and I grew up. I went to the elementary school. I remember there were 48 of us in one single class room, and usually there was a challenge among the kids to *win* by proving there are more students in their classroom than the others! All schools were full of kids, and recovering from a war, the country didn’t have good facilities for that young population. I was growing up and it was time to enter the secondary school. Good schools had to be selective among all those kids and one had to be either smart or hardworking, or have some VIP relative in charge (including having a close family member killed in the...