Iranian Kitchen Project

Damask roses are the rose of choice for this task. According to my book (Batmanglij's Food of Life, of course), I'll need a small copper distilling column. A quick google search reveals that these are also used to make moonshine, the first website using the name Hillbilly Stills. Well, we are in the country, or the dahat as my grandmother likes to say.

It's hot and bright and there was half a melon in the freezer. So I made a melon faludeh. I am also a little in love with rose water, so this gave me an excuse to use some.

It's Sunday, 2pm. I hadn't eaten lunch and I was hungry. I don't care that it's considered an appetizer/side dish, the recipe for Lubia pokhteh (mashallah musho) appealed to me. It's a red kidney bean dip and one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. I have a feeling I'll be saying that a lot on this blog.

It was fun and quick and a large part of the pleasure lay in the smelling of fragrances as released--cumin with the mortar and pestle, sauteeing onion slices, chopping dill, and opening the packet of angelica powder, a member of the parsley family with which I was completely unfamiliar. I used canned beans because I was in a hurry. I eyeballed a lot of the amounts. (Recipe from Najmieh Batmanglij's Food of Life)

Ingredients:

1 can kidney beans 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup olive oil 2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I'm trying to make my supply of onions last through the week, so I only used 1 onions) 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 2 teaspoons angelica power (gol-par) Juice of 1 lime and 1 orange (substitute for juice of 2 bitter oranges) 1 teaspoon grape molasses (or brown sugar) 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

1. Heat oil in wide skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until golden brown. Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, angelica powder. Saute for 2 minutes. Add beans.

2. Add grape molasses, orange and lime juices. Mash the beans a little with the flat part of wooden spoon (Batmanglij uses a handheld mixer, but I don't have one here, and besides I liked it super chunky). Cook for another 10 minutes. Keep warm until read to serve, adjust seasoning to taste (I didn't need to adjust. It was perfect as is).