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Coconut Burfi (Photo by Vijaya Vedantham)

Burfi is a confection that is extremely popular throughout India. Made from a wide variety of ingredients burfi are rich, dense mildly sweet two-bite sized cut into the shapes of quadrilateral polyg<khoya) made from boiled until thickened condensed milk, boiled down cream or sometimes dried milk powder, and flavored and colored with mango, chocolate, saffron, rose water, coconut figs and carrot. Burfi are often topped with various ingredients such as slivered almonds, chocolate or an edible metallic foil. Sometimes burfi are made in layers. Often the shape of the burfi is an indication of its ingredients; saffron burfi are often flattened rounds, cashew or pistachio burfi are typically diamond-shaped and coconut flavored cham cham are pink and round (or obloid). Burfi are great as a snack or as a finale to delicious Indian meal. The best place to buy burfi here in San Diego is at the restaurant/snack shop Surati Farsan in Little India off of Black Mountain Road in Mira Mesa. Make 'em and take 'em to a potluck and not only will they be the talk of the party, but they will all disappear! The two burfi recipes were submitted by our fabulous "Calendar Master," Vijaya Vedantham, who hails from Mumbai. Ingredients are readily available in local Indian food markets.

Coconut Burfi

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup grated fresh coconut
• ¼ cup cashew nut powder (Optional, if not used substitute 1 cup finely grated fresh coconut)
• 1 tablespoon butter/ghee
• 1 teaspoon green cardamom powder

Preparation:

1. Mix all the ingredients together
2. Add mixture to a dry pan and heat on medium mixing continuously
3. Continue cooking and mixing until it thickens
4. Mix in ghee or butter
5. Stir the mixture until it no longer sticks to the pan. It takes a long time and if you stop mixing it will burn!
6. Grease a pie can (or better yet a small square pan) with butter
7. Spread mixture in the bottom of the buttered pan and let cool
8. Slice Coconut Burfi into 1 ½ inch squares

Badam (Almond) Burfi

Ingredients:

• ½ cup whole un-roasted almonds
• ½ cup un-roasted cashew nuts
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon green cardamom power
• 1 teaspoon ghee or unsalted butter

Preparation:

1. Soak almonds for 1 hour in warm water and then drain
2. Soak cashews in warm water for ½ hour and then drain
3. Peel off the almond skins
4. Grind both nuts together in the blender without adding water until you have a paste
5. In a deep pt add sugar and some water and heat on medium flame. Amount of water should be just enough to soak the sugar. Do not add too much water.
6. Heat till sugar melts and the syrup begins boil and thicken
7. After the syrup thickens add the nut paste & cardamom powder and keep mixing. Continue mixing without stopping until the mixture thickens
8. Add ghee/butter once the mixture thickens
9. Continue mixing until the mixture no longer sticks to the pan
10. Grease a pie can (or better yet a small square pan) with butter
11. Spread mixture in the bottom of the buttered pan and let cool
12. Slice Almond Burfi into 1 ½ inch squares

Recipe and photo by Vijaya Vedantham

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Originating in Northern Africa—specifically Morocco—tagine (sometimes mispronounced tangine) is a stew made of meats and vegetables and traditionally cooked in a conical clay pot for which the cuisine is named after. The tagine pot's shape is meant to allow steam to rise, condense and drip back down into the stew. Tagines are traditionally prepared on top of a portable clay majmar under which people put hot coals. Practically anything can be turned into a tagine: meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and some even make it with meat and fruits. Every part of the country has its regional tagine dish and different ways of preparing it. Because this meal takes a long time to prepare, the woman of the house starts preparing the lunch tagine as soon as breakfast is over.

Moroccan cuisine is filled with intense flavors and unique combinations. While other African food is defined by its spiciness, Moroccan food is characterized by its fusion of sweet and savory tastes. Specialties vary regionally, but certain foods are widespread such as khoobz (pita bread), kefta (minced lamb or beef with spices) and mechoui (roasted stuffed lamb). Generally, Moroccan dinners usually include mezze (different small salads), couscous, a variety of tajine and bastilla (similar to a meat pie). Popular desserts include sfaa (couscous with cinnamon, dried fruit, nuts and cream) and various almond-based indulgences. Mint tea is one of the most common beverages, as is coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

You can buy simple tagine pots from World Market, or more elaborate tagine pots from Williams-Sonoma.

Ingredients:

• ½ Chicken, in pieces
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cored (if core is bitter) and sliced in half lengthwise
• 1 large peeled potato, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 1 large green bell pepper, cut in chunks
• 1 medium red onion, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut in 1/2 inch thick rounds
• Handful of pitted green olives
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• ½ cube or 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
• Dash of yellow food colorant powder, or a few strands crushed saffron
• 1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
• 6-8 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of water

Preparation:

1. Splash 4 tbsp of oil on the bottom of the tagine
2. Layer your ingredients evenly in the tagine in this order: carrots, chicken, potatoes, bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, garlic, ginger*
3. When you get to the spices and salt, sprinkle them evenly over the vegetables
4. Spread your olives on top
5. Drizzle the olive oil all over everything
6. If water is needed, add it now
7. Close your tagine and cook until your vegetables are tender, on a very low heat, this may take up to one hour**
8. Once it's cooked, turn off the heat and you can drizzle olive oil on top if preferred
9. Let the tagine rest for about 10 minutes to cool off, and enjoy!

* The carrots must be on the bottom, and the chicken pieces should be on top of the carrots, not touching the bottom of the tagine. When the carrots start to burn they add delicious flavor and protect the rest of the ingredients, but if anything else burns that's not going to taste very good.

** Make sure you have liquid in the tagine or it will burn. Watch out for too much liquid, or it will bubble over.

Recipe by Ian Williams

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Chicken Long Rice is a dish that is popular at Hawaiian luaus but its origins are from Chinese cuisine that was brought over with Chinese immigrants working on sugar plantations in the mid 1800s. Chinese men who worked on the sugar plantations intermarried with Hawaiian women and the Chinese dish evolved into the uniquely Hawaiian Chicken long rice enjoyed today. Chicken long rice consists of a soupy mixture of chicken, a noodle-like ingredient made from mung beans called long rice (although it goes by many different names including bean noodles, glass noodles, or cellophane noodles), ginger and onions, all in a flavorful chicken stock. It is a simple dish that is very popular at Hawaiian luaus.

The luau is a tradition that started around 1819 with King Kamehameha II when he abolished the practice of separation of genders and classes during celebrational feasts. Before the tradition of luaus, Hawaiian people were separated by class and gender when having feasts known as 'aha'aina to celebrate life milestones. Because of Kamehameha II, the luau replaced the 'aha'aina tradition. The word luau is the Hawaiian name for the taro leaf which is eaten at such feasts. Taro was highly regarded by Hawaiians because it was one of their main staple foods and essential to their survival. So important was taro that it was considered in their religious mythology as the elder sibling to the Hawaiian people. Traditional luaus were a major event and usually included hundreds, and sometimes possibly even thousands, of people. Today people still practice luaus but on much smaller scales; usually friends and family come together to celebrate special events.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds of chicken thighs
• 3 quarts of water
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced ginger root
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 5 chicken bouillon cubes
• 8 ounces of long rice
• 3 green onions, chopped

Preparation:

1. Put the chicken into a 5 quart saucepan
2. Add 2 quarts of the water, the salt and ginger
3. Bring to a boil, skim, lower heat, and simmer for forty minutes
4. Remove from heat and drain, while saving the broth
5. Remove meat from chicken, while discarding the bones
6. Shred the meat and set aside
7. Put broth, onion, bouillon cubes and the remaining 1 quart of water into saucepan
8. Bring the broth to a boil
9. Add the long rice, then lower the heat and cook, covered for 5 minutes
10. Turn off heat and let stand about 30 minutes
11. With kitchen shears, cut the long rice into approximately 3 or 4 inch lengths
12. Stir in the chicken and heat briefly before serving
13. Sprinkle with green onions
14. Add soy sauce to taste if desired

* This recipe uses traditional ingredients. Many people now add additional vegetables such as what one might add to a stir fry.

Recipe submitted by Ian Williams

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In many cultures, the first day of Spring (aka the vernal equinox) is celebrated as the first day of the New Year. In Iran and some neighboring cultures, these observances are known as Nowruz (Romanized spellings differ) which means "New Day" or "New Light." The precise origins of Nowruz—believed to be a Zoroastrian observance—are shrouded in the mists of history, but it is certainly ancient.

In Iran the present day celebrations last 13 days. It is a time to quite literally "clean house" (something nearly all Iranians partake in), buy new clothes for the new year, exchange gifts (on the exact moment of the start of spring) and visit friends, family, and neighbors. There are, in fact, a delightfully extravagant number of rituals and customs observed for Nowruz. Enjoying the great outdoors, picnicking, and visiting parks and the countryside are highly favored Nowruz activities.

The word "Sabzi" in the recipe below means "green herbs." On the night before the first day of Nowruz, many if not most Iranians will enjoy Sabzi Polo Mahi, a dish consisting of rice cooked with green herbs served alongside smoked and fried fish. Unsure of the local availability of the right kind of smoked fish (although people do improvise with other sorts of fish when the need arises) the recipe of the month describes a different way of cooking with Sabzi.

Although not a dish specific to Nowruz, Ghormeh Sabzi is an exceedingly popular dish in Iran. Iranian food often employs a great deal of herbs such as mint, dill, parsley, basil, fenugreek leaves, chives, etc. Persian cuisine goes back a long way.

The oldest surviving cookbook is the Kar-nameh dar bab-e tabbakhi va sanat-e an ("Manual on cooking and its craft") written in 927 A.D. As Iran is a vast country with many different regions, there is a great deal of variation in the cooking found there.

Rice is a staple of Iranian cooking and over the centuries Persian cooks have devised many ingenious (and somewhat complicated) methods of cooking and preparing it. Celo rice is rice that is browned and made crispy (the crust is known as Tah Dig employing clarified butter and/or yogurt). Iranian and Afghani rice cookers differ from East Asian ones in that the former can create the desired tah dig crust.

Another popular method of cooking rice in Iran is called polo (variously spelled, similar to rice pilaf which is a derivative) which is rice either mixed or cooked with herbs and other ingredients. And there is keteh rice which is plain white rice cooked by the absorption method. There are also regional varieties of rice in Iran, most resembling Indian or Pakistani basmati rice.

Many Iranian cooked dishes contain fruits (or fruit juice) such as apricots, cherries, plums, pomegranates, prunes, and raisins. Dried limes (limoo amani) are often used in stews to add a bit of piquant bite.

Ingredients:

• 1 - 1 1/2 pounds of stew beef or lamb diced into 1 inch cubes
• 1 can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed¹
• 4-5 dried limes (limoo amani) perforated (depending on size)
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1 large onion chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves chopped fine
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped Spinach
• 1/2 cup of finely chopped flat leaf Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup finely chopped chives or scallion (green onion)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fenugreek leaves (shanbalileh)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of water
• Hi-temp cooking oil (Ghee, Grape seed, Safflower, Peanut, Light (not virgin!) Olive Oil)
• Optional ingredients for this recipe are potatoes and leeks.

¹ Note regarding beans. You may prefer to use dry beans for this recipe. If so, use the equivalent of half as much as canned beans. Soak the beans for 5 hours or more (overnight is best). Drain the soaking water and then vigorously boil the beans for 10 minutes. Add the beans at the beginning of the simmering process (at step 11 below), not the middle.

Preparation:

1. Sauté the onions in a tablespoon or two of oil on medium heat, in large flat-bottomed pot or iron casserole.
2. About 2 minutes later, add the garlic.
3. Stir unions and garlic frequently until the onions are fully translucent.
4. Add turmeric powder and continue heating for an additional 2 minutes.
5. Fully dry the beef or lamb with paper towels or a clean cloth (this helps browning significantly).
6. Turn the heat up to medium high and add meat to the casserole and brown on all sides.
7. Remove casserole from burner.
8. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a new deep frying pan and heat to medium high.
9. Sauté the spinach, parsley, cilantro, chives (or scallion tops) and fenugreek leaves in the oil until they darken and just start to brown. Don't burn them or they will turn very bitter!
10. Add the sautéed greens and water to the casserole, turn on the heat and bring to a simmer.
11. Cover the casserole and simmer for 45 minutes.
12. Poke a couple of holes in each of the dried limes, being careful not to poke any holes in your hands. I use the point of a knife sharpening steel. It works like a charm.
13. Add the perforated dried limes, lemon juice and beans to the casserole and stir.
14. Add pepper and salt to taste.
15. Cook for an additional 45 minutes or longer testing the tenderness of the meat (which should be quite tender).
16. Add more water if necessary; this dish should be the consistency of stew, not soup.
17. Optionally remove the dried limes before serving. They are very sour and quite an adventure to bite into.
18. Serve over the Kateh rice. A side dish of plain Greek style yogurt or tzaziki is a nice complement.

Kateh Rice Preparation:

Kateh is the easiest Iranian rice to cook, but it is nevertheless greatly savored. Ghormeh Sabzi is commonly served over Kateh rice. Basmati rice, now commonly available in the United States, is similar to Iranian forms of rice and in fact is widely available in Iran. Many cooks and recipes call for rinsing basmati rice until the water is clear. As we have discussed about Japanese rice, this step is optional. In our experience, rice sold in the U.S. is very clean and basmati rice is not overly starchy. Rinsing the starch that is present is not too good for the environment. However, Basmati rice does improve in taste and texture if it is pre-soaked. Pre-soaked rice also cooks faster. Older aged rice needs more water to cook than recently harvested rice. But I had good success with the following method. Measure out the amount of rice you desire (cooked rice is about 3 times the volume as uncooked) into a medium sized saucepan. For this recipe 2 - 3 cups would work out fine. Add water in proportion to 1 1/2 cup to each cup of rice. Let the rice soak for 20 minutes or more. Salt the water (to your taste, you can also add some ghee or butter at this point) and then put the rice on the stove and bring to a boil on high heat. As soon as the water begins to boil, cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Some Iranian cooks wrap the pot lid with a clean cloth (like a dish towel) before covering the pot to get a good seal. My mother actually employed this method (and she was not Persian) and it works fine. The rice should take about 20 minutes to fully cook. After serving rice, the best thing to do is to store the excess in your freezer.

Recipe by T. Johnston-O'Neill
Photo by Shari K. Johnston-O'Neill

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