This past weekend, I got the chance to eat dinner at my mother’s house, with the company of my brother and my girlfriend. At first, we couldn’t decide what we wanted to eat. Everytime I come home for dinner, I enjoy learning to cook. I asked my mom for suggestions, but it seemed like everything she was suggesting, we had already made. Then, my girlfriend suggested rice and kabob. My mother, brother, and I felt so silly for not even thinking of this idea.
We began by adding salt and water to the rice, and letting it soak there for a few hours as we played cards. Then, we boiled water and added the rice to it, added oil and let it cook. The making of the kabobs were not as simple, since we had to grate onions, add a variety of spices (including saffron of course), spread the meat, let both sides cook, and finally cut it.
Cooking is already something that generally takes some time, especially to someone who doesn’t usually cook like me, but this experience was a humble reminder that there’s a reason Persian food is so good, and often expensive. I enjoyed spending time with my family, and specifically hearing my mom reference her parents’ recipes as I questioned why we were adding certain spices. The biggest challenge was staying patient throughout the process. I consider myself a master on the grill during the summer, but I was no master with cooking the kabobs. Overall, I’m really glad that I got to add another Persian dish to my belt, and I really hope I remember this for the next time we host our extended family.
-Richard Ghohestani
