These recipes are based off those in Silk Road Cooking: a Vegetarian Journey.
They are relatively easy to make, but you do need to plan them ahead of time - about 1.5 hours for the rice, and about an hour for the frittata. The last time I made these, I started the rice , and then prepared the frittata while the rice was cooking. Then, of course, I went on to make other things, but the point is, you can just sit on your rump (or chase after your children) for most of the cooking time.
Persian Saffron Rice with Golden Crust (Chelow)
This rice works well with many cuisines, and has become my favorite preparation. I mean, it's got butter and saffron - how can you go wrong?!
You can also line the bottom of the pan (at step 7) with thin pieces of lavosh or halved pita, and it makes this buttery, saffrony, waffley crust which is amazing.
3 cups long-grain white rice
8 cups cold water
2 tbsp salt
1/2 stick butter
a pinch of saffron threads (anywhere from a few threads to 1/2 tsp, depending on how strongly you desire)
a pinch of sugar
1. In a large nonstick pot, bring the water and salt to a boil.
2. While the water is heating, wash the rice.
3. When water boils, add rice to pot and boil until the texture is almost like cooked rice (slightly al dente - when rice is ready, it will rise to the top), about 6-10 minutes, stirring intermittently to get any grains off the bottom.
4. Drain rice in large, fine-mesh strainer (if unavailable, you could try cheesecloth over a larger-mesh strainer), and give it a quick rinse
5. Place butter in pan over medium-high heat.
6. While butter is melting, place saffron in mortar and pestle with sugar (the sugar helps grind up the saffron). Place into the butter when melted. Don't worry about getting it all out - that comes later..
7. Place enough rice in the bottom of the pot to cover it. Mix together with butter-saffron mixture. Mound the rest of the rice on top. Place some of the rice into the mortar to get the remaining saffron tastiness out - place that on top of the mounded rice.
8. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes on medium-high heat.
9. Vigorously mix 1/2 cup cold water with 2 tbsp oil (if you like your rice oilier, you can add another 2 tbsp to this mixture.) and place over rice. Cover pot with a tea towel, then place the lid back on. Pull the corners of the towel away from flame.
10. Reduce heat to low, cook for 45 minutes. This allows the rice to steam.
11. Remove pot from heat, and turn pot upside down over a large platter or serving bowl. Some of the rice may stick to the bottom - scrape it off and eat it first - that's the tastiest part!
Persian Cauliflower Kuku
6 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp flour or bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 onion (I used about 2/3 of a large yellow onion - the recipe actually called for a small red onion. whatever.), thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 head cauliflower or 1 lb frozen cauliflower florets, coarsely chopped
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne (or less, if you don't like spicy foods)
1 tbsp dry or 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Mix it all together, stick it in a 9-inch baking pan, bake at 400 for 45 minutes. Each oven is going to be a little different - if the eggs are not set at that point, reduce heat to 375 or 350 (depending on how done the top is), and check every 5 or 10 minutes (depending on how not done it is) until it's set.
That's it.
