Many of the recipes herein will be taken from our cook book, Persia in Peckham. Just thought we'd mention it, like.

(Keep checking back, we'll be adding more regularly)

Ghormeh Sabzi (herb and bean casserole with lamb)
Bogoli Pulao (broad bean rice with dill, served with chicken or lamb)
Persian smoothies
NEW: Reshteh Pulao ba Ab Gusht - Noodley Rice with 'Meat Water'(well, sauce)

Ghormeh Sabzi - herb and bean casserole with lamb

(Iran's favourite national dish. To feed 6 hearty/8 modest eaters)

There is a sort of unwritten agreement amongst Iranian housewives that this dish should be served in every household at least once a week. As far as I know it isn't actually written into the statute books, but I sometimes wonder.

When it's blowing a gale around Persepolis we like nothing better than to tuck ourselves up around a roaring log fire and recount epic tales of the Persian heroes of old (although a video may be nearer the mark): and that's the sort of evening when we just have to have ghormeh sabzi, one of the world's ultimate comfort foods.

The dish is quite stunning - if you have made it correctly, it should in fact be a rich green in colour, and the aroma wafting from it should be enough to get them queuing down the street

Ingredients:

• shoulder of lamb, trimmed of as much fat as possible (the sheep is a very badly designed animal and it is impossible to remove all the fat), and cut on the bone into 3cm chunks (a nice butcher will do this for you)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 8-9 dried limes, washed and pricked in several places
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 400g kidney beans soaked and cooked (or 2 cans of the same)
• 1 bunch each of fresh coriander, parsley, chives, spinach and fenugreek, washed, drained and chopped
• salt and pepper

Place the lamb, onion and dried limes into a pan of water, sprinkle the turmeric on top, bring it to the boil and set it to simmer. After an hour, stir your casserole a bit, and then fry off the herbs in a little oil, stirring constantly so that they cook through thoroughly (5-7 minutes should do the trick); if they are not properly fried they will clump once you add them to the main dish. Add the herbs, stir the 'khoresht' well, and add some seasoning. Set to simmer again, keeping an eye on the liquid level. Twenty minutes before you wish to dish up, stir in the kidney beans.

Altogether we like our stew to bubble away for a couple of hours, but it will be edible after about one and a half. The finished dish should have a thick, rich green sauce and the meat should be falling off the bone.

Serve with plain white basmati rice (sacrilege to contemplate anything else, I am told), and wedges of onion, raw garlic and a pot of thick plain yoghurt.

Cheat's Guide...

Now washing and sorting all those herbs is a pretty time-consuming business and even the most dutiful Iranian housewife is not above the occasional short cut. So you can use dried herbs if you wish - just soak them first and then fry them, or if you are lucky enough to have an Iranian store near you look out for frozen pre-chopped herbs, frozen chopped and fried herbs or even the whole sauce thing in cans. Not that we are endorsing such scheming in the kitchen, you understand...

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Bogoli Pulao (broad bean rice with dill, served with chicken or lamb)

(serves 6)

This is such a scrumdiddlyumptious recipe that I would be quite happy to have it two or three times a week. But I don't because that would be both sad and greedy. And I suppose you can have enough of a good thing - well that's what they keep telling me anyway. Apart from cuddles and lollypops that is - there definitely aren't enough of either in the world.

Anyway, I will point out the obvious which is that a liking for this dish entirely depends on your standpoint on broad beans, and some people are unaccountably less than fond of them - so unless you are having a solo broad bean feast, do check with your guests first. But then that applies to anything really and they should jolly have what they are given and like it.

As with so many Persian dishes, the chicken is just a garnish and can easily be substituted for a moist vegetarian concoction.

Ingredients:

• 2 bags 400g frozen broad beans, defrosted (or about 2-3kg fresh)
• 6 cups basmati rice
• butter or ghee
• 1 cup dried dill
• saffron, ground and steeped in water
• 1 chicken, skinned and washed
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 level teaspoons turmeric
• salt and pepper
• 6 dried limes
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled
• 1 can chick peas, drained

Firstly, shuck your broad beans. Wash the rice and bring it to the boil in a pan of water. Drain, and then melt a little butter/ghee in the pan: mix the rice with the dill and then layer it back into the pan alternating with the broad beans. Poke a few fumeroles down through the mixture to the bottom using the handle of a wooden spoon, and then wrap the lid in a tea towel and set the 'pulao' to cook on a low heat. If you are using a rice cooker, just add the beans in with the rice at the beginning and then stir the dill through just before serving.

Pop the chicken into a saucepan together with the onion, cover with water, sprinkle in the turmeric and a little salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Rinse and prick the dried limes and drop these in too. Set the pan to simmer. After twenty minutes or so cut the potatoes into quarters and lower them into the chicken stock followed by the chick peas; cook the chicken through for another twenty minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Turn off the rice and allow it to sit for a few moments (you can do the same if you wish), before turning it out on to a serving plate. Crack the 'tahdik' or crust which will have formed, and trickle the steeped saffron over the rice mixing it lightly with a spoon. Dish the chicken and potatoes on to a plate and ladle the citrussy, beany stock into a separate bowl. Serve with raw onion, yoghurt and fresh herbs, and most importantly torshi – this dish really needs pickles as an accompaniment.

NB: Another popular dish in Iran is 'Sib Pulao' - potato rice. It is made in just the same way as the bogoli rice, but substituting tiny cubes of potato for the broad beans

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Persian smoothies

No - we're not talking about our male shop staff. Best summer coolers ever, that's what. The West might just have discovered the marketable power of the smoothie, but Iranians have been making the things since forever. These recipes were both featured in our Summer newsletter this year.

Watermelon:

You will need...

• some chunks of watermelon (rather obviously)
• handful of fresh mint
• a handful of raspberries
• a dessertspoon of honey

Whack it all in the blender with some ice, pour, reposition your deck chair, enjoy..

Melon Melon:

You will need...

• a cup of melon cubes or balls per person (honeydew or canatloupe)
• a sloosh of rosewater
• a scoop of strawberry ice cream

Blend with ice, add a straw, wiggle toes with pleasure

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Reshteh Pulao ba Ab Gusht - Noodley Rice with 'Meat Water' (well, sauce)

This is one of the most popular and traditional dishes to be eaten at Nowrooz, but it is so scrummy (not to mention v.v.easy to make) that we at Persepolis Towers enjoy it on and off throughout the year.

Whilst we would of course prefer that you do all your shopping at Persepolis, we would point out that you can at a pinch substitute fine Chinese noodles for the reshteh (we’re helpful like that). And you can use chicken instead of lamb - just cook it a whole lot less.

You will need (for 7-8 people):

for the ‘ab gusht’:

• 1 shoulder lamb, cut on the bone into 3cm chunks
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 8-9 dried limes*
• 2 level teaspoons turmeric*
• 200g chana dall (split peas)*
• 1 tin chickpeas*
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and halved S & P*

for the rice:

• 7 cups brown (or white) basmati*
• butter or ghee* S & P*
• 2 level teaspoons ground cardamom*
• 1 level teaspoon cinnamon*
• 250g ‘rice’ noodles (reshteh pulao)*
• 1/2 level teaspoon ground saffron steeped in boiling water*
• 250g raisins (soaked in cold water for 20 mins)*

*= available at Persepolis

Apron on? Right, so let’s do the lamb first - it takes a couple of hours to achieve its melt-in-the-mouth target. Rinse the meat, and then place it in a pan with the onion: prick the limes and lob these in too. Fill the pan with water so that it sits at 4-5cm above the level of the meat, add the turmeric and the dall, and bring to the boil. Set to simmer while you go off and hoover or something.

After an hour and a quarter or thereabouts, it is time to start playing with the rice. We recommend brown for this recipe as it is so tasty and good for you, but white is actually more authentic: if using the former, soak it for an hour prior to cooking. Rinse and then cook it in boiling salted water for 7-8 minutes before draining. Next melt a little ghee in a pan, and then layer the rice back in, poke a few holes down to the bottom, and finally wrap the lid of the pan in a tea towel so it fits tightly. Set to steam on a very low heat for around 30 mins.

Once the rice is on, you should add the potatoes and chick peas to the lamb, and season it to taste.

Just before you want to serve, stir the cardamom, cinnamon and noodles gently through the rice (break the noodles roughly into 3cmish lengths). After a further 5 minutes, take it off the heat, and set the bottom of the pan in a few centimetres of cold water in the sink (this causes the rice to contract, making it eaier to turn out). Drain the raisins, and fry them in a little butter, and then mix in the saffron. Invert a platter over the top of the rice pan, and turn the pan over so that the rice settles on to the platter - it should have a glorious, sticky, golden crust. Crack the crust, and stripe the saffrony raisins across the top.

Serve the meat and the meat stock separately, with plenty of fresh herbs, pickles and yoghurt alongside.

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