Persian Meal Planning

08/18/21 • 18 min

In Episode #46, co-hosts Bita and Beata provide strategies and tips to help with meal planning and prepping in anticipation of cooking during busy weeknights. Fall means back to school for many, back to work for some, and back to routines and getting more organized for most. Traditionally, cooking Persian food is a time and labor-intensive process taking hours and sometimes days. With today’s modern life-styles, we need to be able to put a well-balanced, healthy meal on the table in an hour or less.

Planning tools

A weekly meal planner or calendar
Daily notes
Grocery list

Batch cooking - cooking a larger portion of a food category with the intent to use it in multiples ways and meals, spanning across a few days and up to a week

Batch cooking meats
Roasting vegetables
Cleaning and trimming fresh herbs

Batch cooking around a well-balanced meal

Lean proteins
Ancient grains (in Persian cuisine it’s mainly rice!)
Fruits and vegetables

Batch cooking with Persian recipes in mind

Boiling eggs for Persian potato salad | Salad Olivier
Cooking chicken
Chopping vegetables
Making koo koo
Cooking eggplant
Persian stews and khoresh
Soups such as lentil soup, ab ghosht, ash reshteh

Ask the Beats!

The Beats ask each other, what is your biggest challenge around cooking Persian food on a busy week night?

Finding the time
Having all of the components of the meal ready at the same time and serving them still warm
Chopping vegetables

Beats Cheats!

What are some additional shortcuts for putting together a Persian meal on a busy night?

Using canned beans
Buying pre-cooked beets
Ordering Persian food take out for part of the meal, for example order kabab and make the rice

Resources and recipes from this episode:

All Modern Persian Food episodes can be found at: https://modernpersianfood.com/episodes/

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: https://beatseats.com

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: https://ovenhug.com

Link to episode with “Ask the Beats” about meal planning. Episode 33: Persian Cucumbers

Link to Episode 30: Tahchin

Persian Meal Planning Tips blog post

How to Make Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot

Video for Roasting Whole Eggplant

Bita’s recipe for Koo Koo Sabzi

Beata’s recipe for Persian Frittata Koo Koo Sabzi

Bita’s recipe for Salad Olivier

Bita’s recipe for Tah Cheen

Bita’s recipe for Tahchin Bites

Beata’s recipe for Persian Jeweled Tahchin

Podcast Production by Alvarez Audio

Planning tools

A weekly meal planner or calendar
Daily notes
Grocery list

Batch cooking - cooking a larger portion of a food category with the intent to use it in multiples ways and meals, spanning across a few days and up to a week

Batch cooking meats
Roasting vegetables
Cleaning and trimming fresh herbs

Batch cooking around a well-balanced meal

Lean proteins
Ancient grains (in Persian cuisine it’s mainly rice!)
Fruits and vegetables

Batch cooking with Persian recipes in mind

Boiling eggs for Persian potato salad | Salad Olivier
Cooking chicken
Chopping vegetables
Making koo koo
Cooking eggplant
Persian stews and khoresh
Soups such as lentil soup, ab ghosht, ash reshteh

Ask the Beats!

The Beats ask each other, what is your biggest challenge around cooking Persian food on a busy week night?

Finding the time
Having all of the components of the meal ready at the same time and serving them still warm
Chopping vegetables

Beats Cheats!

What are some additional shortcuts for putting together a Persian meal on a busy night?

Using canned beans
Buying pre-cooked beets
Ordering Persian food take out for part of the meal, for example order kabab and make the rice

Resources and recipes from this episode:

All Modern Persian Food episodes can be found at: https://modernpersianfood.com/episodes/

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: https://beatseats.com

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: https://ovenhug.com

Link to episode with “Ask the Beats” about meal planning. Episode 33: Persian Cucumbers

Link to Episode 30: Tahchin

Persian Meal Planning Tips blog post

How to Make Boiled Eggs in an Instant Pot

Video for Roasting Whole Eggplant

Bita’s recipe for Koo Koo Sabzi

Beata’s recipe for Persian Frittata Koo Koo Sabzi

Bita’s recipe for Salad Olivier

Bita’s recipe for Tah Cheen

Bita’s recipe for Tahchin Bites

Beata’s recipe for Persian Jeweled Tahchin

Podcast Production by Alvarez Audio

Previous Episode

Eggplant

In Episode #45, co-hosts Beata and Bita talk about a single ingredient in Persian cuisine, eggplant. Eggplant is translated as “bademjoon” in Farsi. It is also sometimes referred to as “bademjan”.

Persian dishes with eggplant

Smoky eggplant dips or spreads such as Kashk Bademjoon/bademjan (kashk is a yogurt derivative or whey with a salty umami flavor), Mirza Ghassemi, and Meleh Ghormeh (a regional specialty discussed in episode #31 with special guest Omid, The Caspian Chef)
Khoresh (Persian stew) Khoresh Bademjoon/Bademjan (has beef or lamb traditionally and the tart unripe grapes called “ghoreh” in Farsi) and Ghemeh Bademjoon/Bademjan (with small cuts of meat); both served over rice
Koo koo bademjoon/bademjan

Strategies for cooking eggplant for Persian dishes

Oven baking or broiling - in pieces or whole (whole baking works well with smaller varieties of eggplant such as the Japanese eggplant)
Sliced and sauteed
Importance of cooking all the way through - eggplant texture should be very wrinkly and the eggplant should fall or drop which shows its been cooked through

Ask the Beats!

Alexandra from Menlo Park asks the Beats, “How did the two of you meet?”

The Beats love this question as they are very grateful to have made a connection and found partnership originally through Instagram. The Beats share the same name spelled differently (Beata vs Bita). They quickly discovered many shared passion, they were both foodies, interested in preserving Persian culture through food and realistic, modern strategies for incorporating it into everyday busy lifestyles - the Beats started the podcast at the start of the pandemic.

The Beats grew up in different backgrounds and with different exposures and experiences with Persian food and are currently at different life stages with children at very different ages and stages. This difference brings insight and unique perspectives to the topics of preparing Persian food.

Resources and recipes from this episode:

Bita’s recipe for: Kashk Bademjan | Persian Eggplant Dip

Beata’s recipe for: Persian Vegetarian Eggplant Stew | Khoreshteh Bademjan

Bita’s video Roasting Whole Eggplant

Modern Persian Food podcast Episode 31: Cultural Spotlight: Caspian Sea Regional Foods with Special Guest The Caspian Chef

All Modern Persian Food episodes can be found at: https://modernpersianfood.com/episodes/

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: https://beatseats.com

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: https://ovenhug.com

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Next Episode

Cultural Spotlight Iranian Jewish Food with Tannaz Sassooni

In Episode #47, co-hosts Bita and Beata learn about Iranian Jewish food and some of the traditional foods and customs shared on Rosh Hashanah by special guest, Tannaz Sassooni. Tannaz works in animation technology by day while writing, teaching, and sharing about Iranian Jewish foods as her passion project.

An example of a classic Friday night Jewish Iranian meal might consist of “Chelo Abgoosht eh Ghondi” (also spelled gondi) - a chicken broth based soup with poultry and chickpea flour meatball dumplings.

Another example of a one pot Jewish Iranian recipe is “Ghondi/Gondi Kashi” - rice dish cooked with ground meat, herbs, beets, and fava beans - takes on a pinkish hue in some areas and sometimes forms a beautiful tahdig!

Rosh Hashanah traditions - as contrasting to simple apples and honey, in the Iranian Jewish custom, a whole seder is served for Rosh Hashana

Beef tongue
Black eyed peas
Squash, fried zucchini or pumpkin
Dates
Apples and honey

Two main holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

Custom of the start of the fast/ the eve of the fast include eating a Quince, Pomegranate Stew | Khoresht eh Beh, super sweet and sour
Custom of breaking the fast - break the fast with the following 3 things:
- Chai | hot tea
- Soft boiled egg
- Grated apple with rose water and sugar served over ice | Faloodeh Seeb - gives a boost of energy and an uplifting aroma. Bita’s daughters refer to it as “apple Randy”.

A tip, also known as “Beats Cheats” - Tannaz’s favorite thing:

Sharbat eh Golab which is simply water, sugar, & rose water over ice

Ask the Beats!

Tannaz asks the Beats - what are some regional specialties in the areas your families are from Bita and Beata?

Bita’s folks and extended family come from Tabriz and the Azerbaijan region of Iran.
- Ab-ghosht and Dizi
- Kofteh Tabrizi
- Dolmeh
Beata’s family is from Kermanshah
- Roghan eh Kermanshahee - a rich, delicious animal butter from the region
- Khormah Maloos - fried eggs with caramelized dates