Venturing to Southwest Asia by novel, I picked up Together Tea by Marjan Kamali.
On the Page
Together Tea by Marjan Kamali is a story about identity, love, immigration, and family. After a dodging a disastrous attempt at matchmaking, Mina and her mother, Darya, return to Iran to visit the country they fled years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the glimpses of Iranian life, both pre-revolution and current. I have a friend that I met in Berkeley who also fled Iran. This was illuminating to read.
There was plenty of Iranian food on the pages.
"Delicate rows of saffron-soaked rice adorned their plates at lunch. The ghormeh sabzi khoresh was a perfect blend of lamb and red kidney beans mixed with the sabzi of parsley, coriander, scallions, and fenugreek. Mina bit on a dried Persian lime and a rush of tartness filled her mouth" (pg. 22).
"The guests heaped their plates with rice and ghormeh sabzi, rice and barberries, and poured Darya’s walnut and pomegranate sauce on top of their saffron rice. ...Soghra arrange the baklava into tiny diamonds on Darya’s wedding china and made sure the rose-flavored ice cream was topped with threads of saffron. She poured dark chai into small hourglass-shaped glasses. Mina rested her head on her hands at the dining table, inhaling steam from the tea" (pp. 133-134).
"A large flat sangak bread with the blessing “Mobarak Bad” spelled out with cinnamon seeds, garnished on the side with feta cheese and green herbs. A bowl of colored eggs to symbolize fertility. Bowls of sweets and small Persian pastries prepared by Darya—sugar-coated almonds, rice cookies, chickpea cookies, almond cookies, and baklava. A bowl of honey to ensure the sweetness of their future" (pg. 311).
There were mentions of American foods that were misunderstood or straight out forbidden.
"Mina had to stop Darya from marinating the hot dogs. 'But it’s absurd to grill meat without marinating it first!' ;I don’t think that’s how it’s done here.' Mina held her mother’s hand back. 'Olive oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, sliced onions, and dissolved saffron. For about six hours. It would taste so much better.' 'No, Maman.' Mina hid the saffron. Darya tended to overuse it lately. And this was, after all, a Fourth of July barbecue" (pg. 182).
"Mina only knew pork from going out with friends. Darya never served it. She made the kids order sweet-and-sour chicken in Chinese restaurants, never pork. Bologna sandwiches, if they ever had them at all, were beef bologna. The Jewish brands were Darya’s favorites because 'they are the closest to who we are.' The Persians and the Jews go way back" (pg. 224).
On the Plate
But the passage that inspired me was this...it reminded me that heritage and culture is passed down through family recipes and processes.
"...[there was] a certain distinctive taste to the cooking of the Daneshjoo women that Mina loved. Spices and recipes and secrets that Aunt Nikki and Darya now continued. Mina wondered if one day her stews would carry the same balance of turmeric and allspice. Would she be able to sauté her onions till they were perfectly translucent? Would she cut meat in the shape of diamonds, using the knife in that quick expert way? Mina watched as Mamani sprinkled cumin into the aush. ..."
She suddenly realized that her brothers wouldn’t necessarily be folding dolmeh. She’d have to learn to carry on the works of art from her palette of spices just like the women before her (pg. 111).
Dolmeh
These are not traditional. I wanted to add in touches of California and added in some roasted apricots I had picked on a farm. And as far as my palette of spices, I love fennel pollen which is culinary fairy dust in my estimation. I also added in the warming spices of ras el hanout, a spice mix with cumin, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, and chef's choice!
Ingredients
grape leaves (I finally got my hands on a jar though I want to make this with fresh leaves soon)
2 cup cooked rice
1 pound ground beef, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup caramelized shallots
1/3 cup roasted apricots, slightly smashed
1 teaspoon ras el hanout
1/2 teaspoon fennel pollen
freshly ground salt and pepper
handful of fresh parsley, roughly-chopped
2 to 3 organic lemon, thinly sliced (I used Meyer lemons)
2 Tablespoons liquid (use wine, veggie broth, or water - I used Liquore Strega, an Italian saffron-herb liqueur)
Procedure
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl, combine the rice, beef, caramelized shallots, and apricots. Season with ras el hanout, fennel pollen, salt, and pepper. Stir in the roasted apricots and fresh parsley.
Place a tablespoon of your filling in the center of a grape leaf. Keeping constant pressure, roll the grape leaf into a packet. Because my grape leaves were so small, I used two for each roll.
Arrange the rolls in a baking dish. Lay slices of lemon over the top.
Fill your pan with water so that the water comes to the top of the rolls. Add a splash of olive oil and your wine or liqueur. Lay grape leaves over the top.
Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes, until the liquid is completely absorbed and the rolls are soft. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
I am adding this to the July #FoodieReads link-up.
I love stuffed grape leaves. The best I have ever had were made by my son in law's mother and I was lucky enough that she shared the recipe. I'm anxious to try this beef version