Shiraz is a very famous and popular city among tourists who visit Iran because of its historical attractions and sometimes because of its famous delicious cuisine. Shiraz cuisine has a variety of rice dishes, pottages and desserts that we are now going to explore.

Shiraz Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup dry rice per person
1 medium onion
6 egg yolks
1 cup Greek yoghurt
700 grams chicken
250 grams vegetable oil
100 grams unsalted butter
2 tablespoons steamed saffron
5 medium eggplants
3 tablespoons dry barberries (you can purchase from Persian Grocery stores)
4 tablespoons slivered almonds and pistachios
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees centigrade (or 350 Fahrenheit).
2. Boil chicken in medium saucepan with salt, pepper and an onion cut in half. Cook completely then set aside to cool. Save the broth. While chicken is cooking, bring water to boil in a big saucepan and cook rice in boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain.
3. Wash dried barberries and mix with slivered almonds and pistachios. Peel eggplants and slice thinly then fry in vegetable oil until caramelized on both sides.
4. Beat eggs yolks, yoghurt and steamed saffron until smooth. Add melted butter and vegetable oil and stir well. Add rice and stir until incorporated. Grease an oven safe dish generously with butter and press half of the rice in the bottom of this dish. Top with bits of chicken and sliced eggplants. Season with salt and pepper and then top with the rest of the rice. The dish you pick must be big enough so that only ¾ of it is filled with rice and there’s enough room for steam.
5. Drizzle the broth evenly on top. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Make several little holes in the foil to let some steam escape (or your rice will be turn out too mushy). Bake in the preheated oven for 90 minutes.
6. To serve, transfer rice to a suitable serving dish same way you would a cake and garnish with slivered almonds, pistachios and barberries.

Carrot and Beef Rice

Ingredients:

1 kilogram carrots
I kilogram rice
200 grams granulated sugar
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
500 grams ground beef
1 tablespoon steamed saffron
1 medium onion
1 round piece pita bread or 1 medium potato
½ tablespoon cinnamon powder
Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. Soak rice in cold water for at least three hours or overnight.
2. Wash, peel and grate carrots. Sautee in a little vegetable oil over medium heat until tender but still holding their shape. Add sugar to a cup of water and stir until dissolved, add to the carrots along with the steamed saffron. Let it boil for 5 minutes to reduce the liquid.
3. Grate the onions, squeeze well to get rid of the excess liquid and add to the ground beef. Add salt and cinnamon and knead well using your hands. Then shape into small balls and fry in a bit of vegetable oil until brown. Add the meatballs to the carrots.
4. Bring water to a boil in a big pan. Add rice and cook for 4 minutes with a dash of salt then drain. Heat 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a big nonstick pan and cover with pita bread or thinly sliced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Working in installments fill the pot with rice and carrot/meat mixture. Mix ¼ vegetable oil and ¼ water and drizzle over the rice. Cover the pot with cloth and put the lid on. Make sure no steam escapes. Set on low heat for 45 minutes to an hour until rice is completely cooked. To check if the rice is done do not open the lid because all the steam would leave the pot! Instead slightly wet your finger with cold water and quickly touch the side of the hot pot with your finger. If you hear a sizzling sound your rice is ready.
5. To serve: transfer rice to a serving plate and garnish with slivered almonds and pistachios.

“Ranginak” Dessert

Ingredients:

500 grams all-purpose flour
300 grams vegetable oil
130 grams powdered sugar
500 grams date fruits
1 tablespoon ground pistachios
½ tablespoon cardamom powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
130 grams walnuts

How to:

1. In medium saucepan heat oil. Sift flour twice and add to the hot oil and mix well. Lower the heat and stir constantly until golden. Set aside to cool.
2. Once flour mixture has cooled down add powdered sugar, cardamom and cinnamon and mix well.
3. Wash dates and carefully remove pits. Dry using a kitchen towel. Put half a walnut inside each fruit.
4. Pour half of the sweet flour mixture in your serving plate and make the surface even and smooth using a spatula(use one about 2 inches deep) top with dates and sprinkle with cinnamon powder.
5. Top with the rest of the flour mixture and garnish with powdered pistachios. Let set for an hour. Cut into squares and serve.

Shiraz Green Pottage

Ingredients: (serves 4 to 6)

500 grams lamb
500 grams mixed pottage greens (finely chopped fresh chives, tarragon and dill)
100 grams dry chickpeas
100 grams dry lentils
100 grams dry red beans or black beans
100 grams dry rice
1 large onion
3 tablespoons crispy onions
3 tablespoons dry tarragon
Salt, pepper, turmeric and ground chili peppers to taste

How to:

1. Soak beans in cold water in separate containers overnight. Make sure to change the water several times. Then drain, add water twice the volume of the beans and cook together in a medium pot for 3 hours until completely done.
2. Boil meat in a separate pan with a liter of water and salt, pepper, turmeric powder and the onion cut in half.
3. Cook rice in 3 cups of water separately with the finely chopped greens. When beans are completely cooked add them the rice pot.
4. Ground the cooked meat a kitchen pestle and mortar and add it to the pot along with the broth. Add soaked tarragon powder and cook for one more hour until the pottage comes together and thickens. Enjoy!

Prune-filled Shiraz Balls

Ingredients: (24 meatballs)

500 grams high fat Greek yoghurt
50 grams melted unsalted butter
2 eggs
200 grams all-purpose flour
80 grams coarsely ground wheat kernels
24 prunes
24 sugar cubes
100 grams unsalted butter
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
40 grams poppy seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. Mix together melted butter, yoghurt and a dash of salt. Add flour and ground wheat and mix well to form dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Wash prunes and carefully remove pits and replace them with a sugar cube.
3. Bring water to a boil in a big pot with a dash of salt. Divide the refrigerated dough in 4 parts and roll on a floured surface and divide into 24 bits. Wrap each prune in one piece of dough. Boil 12 balls in boiling water for 10 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Repeat for the remaining 12 balls.
5. Caramelize butter and sugar in a small saucepan and add poppy seeds.
6. To serve: drain balls and transfer to serving plate, pour sauce over them and serve hot.

Eggplant Halim

Ingredients: (serves 8 to 10 people)

10 small eggplants
1 kilogram beef
500 grams white cannellini beans
1 medium onion
3 cups Kashk (reduced yoghurt, sold in Persian grocery stores)
350 grams vegetable oil
½ cup lentils
½ cup rice
Salt and pepper
Dried powdered mint leaves to garnish

How to:

1. Peel potatoes and sprinkle with salt.
2. In separate containers soak lentils and rice in cold water overnight.
3. Dice onions and sauté in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add meat along with salt, pepper and turmeric powder and coriander seeds. Add one cup of water and cook completely (about 2 hours).
4. Slice eggplants and fry in vegetable oil until caramelized. Transfer to kitchen towels to remove excess oil.
5. Add rice and lentils to the meat pot with another cup of water and cook for one more hour.
6. Add eggplants and diluted “kashk” to the pot and set on medium heat constantly stirring until all the excess liquid evaporates. Using a kitchen mortar and pestle beat down the mixture until smooth and sticky.
7. Heat dried mint powder in a bit of vegetable oil until darkened in color (be careful not to burn it!) use this along with more kashk, caramelized onions and walnuts to garnish the Halim. Enjoy!

Shiraz Almond Cookies (locally known as “Hajee- Badoom”)

Ingredients

1 kilogram crushed sugar cubes
500 blanched almonds
10 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

How to:

1. Using a mortar and pestle crush together the almonds and sugar cubes until well incorporated and some of the oil from the almonds seeps out.
2. Mix in the eggs one at a time and stir well to make a delicate dough.
3. On a floured surface form the dough into long strands almost ½ inch thick and cut in hazelnut sized pieces. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheets and bake in preheated oven set to 180 degrees C until golden.

Shiraz Yoghurt Pottage

Ingredients:

125 grams beef
125 grams red dal
200 grams rice
1 cup mix greens (fresh tarragon and dill, finely chopped)
500 grams Greek yoghurt
2 medium onions
Salt, pepper and turmeric powder to taste

How to:

1. Soak dal and rice in separate containers in cold water for at least 3 hours or overnight. Change the water a few times while soaking to ensure consistent cooking.
2. Cook meat with halved onions and salt, pepper and turmeric. Then using a kitchen mortar and pestle mush the meat until sticky. Cook dal in a separate saucepan.
3. Mix rice with 7 cups of water and cook on low heat until completely softened. Add chopped greens and continue cooking. Mix in the shredded meat and dal and stir occasionally. Cook for 2 hours. Make sure you have a very thick pottage.
4. Season yoghurt with salt and pepper. Once pottage has cooled slightly add yoghurt and stir well. Garnish with crispy onions and serve.

Shiraz Paloodah

Paloodah is a popular Persian dessert from Shiraz that resembles a lime sorbet with rice noodles and rosewater.

Ingredients:

300 grams granulated sugar
600 milliliters water
800 milliliters rosewater
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
500 grams superfine, transparent rice noodles

How to:

1. Dissolve sugar in water and set on low heat. Add lemon juice and boil until the syrup thickens. Add cardamom and remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Once cool transfer the syrup to a freezer proof container and freeze until firm. Then remove from container and crush well. Pour the crushed ice back in the container and return to freezer until serving time.
3. Soak noodles in cold water for one hour. Break down the noodles to roughly one inch thick pieces. Drain then mix with the crushed ice mixture and serve immediately. You could garnish with fruit syrups such as strawberry or serve with saffron and pistachio ice-cream.

Shiraz Sugar Rice

Ingredients:

1 kilogram rice
1 kilogram sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon saffron powder
Handful of pistachio nuts
Almonds
Dried orange peels cut into very small pieces

How to:

1. Soak rice in cold water for at least 3 hours or overnight. Change the water several times during this period. Drain, cover with cold water again and set on medium heat to boil. Add a dash of turmeric powder.
2. Dissolve sugar in two cups of water and boil to make syrup. Add saffron and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
3. Once almost all the liquid in the rice is evaporated drain, return to the pot and mix with the syrup, then continue cooking. Cover pot with cloth and set the lid on to make sure no steam escapes. Cook on low heat for 30 minutes. To check if rice is done, slightly wet your finger in cold water and quickly touch the side of the hot pot. If you hear a sizzling sound, your rice is ready. Be careful not to burn yourself!
4. To serve: transfer rice to a serving plate and garnish with orange peels and pistachios. Enjoy!

/J