Carrot Juice ice cream float, “abhavijbastani”, آب‌هویج بستنی, is a refreshing and savory drink for hot summer days. All you need is freshly juiced carrots and vanilla ice cream (the more creamery, the better)

Chill your glasses in freezer. Put 2-3 ice cream scoops in each glass, depending on the size of your glass, and pour carrot juice over the ice cream. You could top ice cream scoops with crushed pistachios for extra Persian effects!

Serve immediately and enjoy!

PS. I blog so infrequently now, I forgot to watermark the pic!! Please do not copy without indicating the source!

Ingredients

• 3-4 tbsp. oil
• 4 cups green cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1-2 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup V8 or thick tomato juice
• Salt and black powder pepper, as desired
• Lukewarm water
• 1 tbsp. dried dill
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup plant based yogurt, thickened

Method

Fry cabbage in hot oil over medium heat until it turns soft and changes color. Put aside.

In a medium pot, Sauté onion in 1 tbsp. hot oil till transparent. Add the garlic and sauté one more minute

Add fried cabbage to the pot and mix well. Add salt, pepper, tomatoes and V8 (or tomato juice) and mix. Now add enough water to cover your mixed ingredients.

Cook on low heat with closed lid for about an hour or until it is thoroughly cooked.

Ten minutes before serving, add lime juice and dill. Taste for adjustment.

Place 2 scoops of thick yogurt on each serving bowl. The Yogurt must be taken out of the fridge at least 1 hour in advance. Garnish with extra dills if you like.

Enjoy!

I have all the good intentions to be blogging regularly again but I’ll see if I can figure out all the features the WordPress has changed on me since last November lol. Missed you guys!   

1. Unripe grapes must be separated from branches and washed thoroughly before passed through fruit juicer.
2. You should add ½ tbsp. salt to each 750 ml bottle of verjuice before storing them.
3. And most important of all beware that the pulp of this fruit could cause skin allergy. Wear long plastic gloves to be safe just in case.

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In my old hometown, Shiraz, my family used to buy loads of fresh cherries each summer to make jams, drinks, fruit rolls, dried fruits and of course many meals of sour cherries mix rice. Here is how this delicious dish is made:

Ingredients (serves 4-5)

• 700 gr. Fresh sour cherries washed and pitted.
• 400 gr. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 200 gr. raw sugar
• 4 cups Basmati rice
• ¼ teaspoon saffron powder mixed with 2 tbsp. lukewarm water
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• Salt, black pepper, oil as required
• Silvered pistachio and almond, 1 tbsp. each (for garnish)

Method:

Wash the rice a few times and soak with 2 tbsp. salt for at least 4 hours

In a medium pot, mix pitted sour cherries with sugar. Place on medium heat till it comes to a soft boil. Turn the heat to minimum and cook for 3-4 minutes. Pass the contents through a colander. For the rice you would only need the cherries. But you could use the juice for Sharbat drink. (All you need to do is let the juice cool before bottling it and placing it in a fridge.  Then mix it with water and ice and enjoy on hot summer days)

Mix the grated onion with ground meat, turmeric, salt and pepper. Use your hand and fingers (not a blender) to massage and mix them very well and make it into a large bowl. Take small portions off the large ball and make small balls. In a frying pan heat 1 tbsp. oil and fry the small meat balls till brownish. Put the frying pan aside.

Bring about three liters of water to a rolling boil in a big pot. Pour off the slated water from the top of your rice bowl and add the rice to the boiling water. Let the rice boil till it is tender under the bite. Drain in a fine-meshed colander. Wash the starch off the pot and put it back on the stove. Once it is completely dry, add 2 tbsp. oil then place either slices of potatoes, pieces of flat bread or simply a layer of rice.  Add meatballs, cooked sour cherries, and white rice in layers, finishing with a layer of rice. With a spatula push the rice away from the sides of the pot scraping it up into a mound. Make three holes in the center of the mound.  Turn the heat to minimum, close the lid and wait a few minutes to make sure you have lots of steam inside the pot. Now cover the lid in a paper towel and steam-cook for 45 minutes.

To serve, transfer a few tbsp. of rice from the top of the pot to a plate and mix it with the saffron liquid. Using the tip of the spatula gently mix small portions of the pot’s content and transfer to the serving dish. Top with the saffron mixed rice and slivered pistachio and almonds.

Enjoy!

Ingredients – serves 2

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• 1 big bunch of fresh mint
• 2 slicing cucumbers, washed and grated (do not peel)
• 1 lemon, sliced
• Few ice cubes

For the syrup:

In a medium size pot, add sugar and water. Place over medium heat and stir till sugar is dissolved and the syrup comes to a soft boil. Add mints and vinegar and turn the heat to medium for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Now, pass the syrup through colander and let cool.

To prepare the drink:

Add ice cubes to the bottom of two glasses. Divide grated cucumbers into two and add on top of the ice cubes in glasses. Fill the glasses with syrup and garnish with lemon rims.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4-6 as a side dish)

•  350 gr. shrimps, peeled, deveined and briefly boiled
• 1 cup quinoa (white or mixed – your choice)
• ½ cup black beans, cooked with a pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
• 1tbsp. fresh chives or garlic greens, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 lime or lemon to be cut for garnish
• A few nasturtiums or any other edible flower you might have around your yard or balcony
• 2 tbsp. cooking oil
• Salt, black pepper, and fresh lemon or lime juice as required

Method:

Rinse quinoa in small pot. Add equal part (1 cup) water and a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp. cooking oil and cook over medium heat with closed lid until it is cooked through but not mashed.  Drain and transfer to a serving dish. Mix the cooked quinoa with chopped parsley.  

In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp. cooking oil and sauté the chopped onions.  Once translucent, add chopped garlic and fry for 1 more minutes.  Add shrimps and continue frying for a few minutes. Turn the heat off. Toss in black beans and mix well then transfer to the serving dish on top of the quinoa. Use a fork to gently stir and mix the content. It’s okay if the major bulk of quinoa stays underneath.  

Mix together salt, pepper and 1-2 tbsp. lime juice and season the dish. Finally garnish with lime cuts, chives and your freshly picked flower and share with loved ones!  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serving 3-4 for a salad or side)

• ½ of a medium size celery root, peeled, thinly sliced and cut Julienne style
• 1 medium green apple, thinly sliced and Julienne (do not peel just wash thoroughly)
• 1 tbsp. natural honey
• 1 medium lemon, squeezed
• 1 tbsp. coarsely ground pistachio
• A few Pansy from your garden, if you have some. If not, use other edible flowers or parsley, or dills.  This is just for garnish and for extra touch of summer look.

Method:

In a regular bowl, toss the celery root and apple with half the lemon juice right away to prevent them from going yellowish.

Now whisk together honey and the rest of the lemon juice and toss with the salad.

Transfer salad to the serving bowl.  Sprinkle with ground pistachio.

Decorate with your flower or herbs and serve immediately.

Enjoy!   

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder (make sure the baking powder fresh – six months is the maximum shelf age)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup raw cane sugar
• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. cup softened unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk
• I cup raisins & walnuts mix
• 1 tbsp. ground pistachio for topping (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line your baking pan so it hangs from two sides.

Sieve flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together. 

Mix butter and sugar in a separate bowl and beat in the eggs one at a time just for a couple of minutes. I use a fork not an electric mixer.

Gradually fold in the dry sieved ingredients and continue folding and mixing. Finally add walnuts and raisins and gently fold till everything is nicely mixed.

Your batter is going to be thick so use a scrapper to fully transform it in to the cake pan.  Bake for 70 minutes. But test at 60 min. to make sure you are on the right track.

At the end of the baking process, a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean.

Take the cake out, sprinkle ground pistachio on top while it is still hot. Transfer on a rack and let cool.

Cover after a few hours.

Enjoy!