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Drinks

Yalda – Cranberry Orange Rose Sharbat – Fierce and Unrelenting

Dear friends, we had the pleasure of sharing our Yalda celebration in the December issue of Sunset Magazine. Thank you to everyone involved for making it such a bright and joyous evening.

This Yalda I leave you with some of the images from our Sunset shoot and a bright, refreshing Cranberry Orange Rose Sharbat.

MUSIC WE’RE COOKING TO

Honey, the color of a California sunset.

Fierce and unrelenting.
Cinnamon and cardamom, for warmth.

To cut through the bitter bite of Jack Frost and all his generals.
Weavers of long tales. Casting shadows, fear, and hate.

From the silk road to the New World.

Rose water, for love.
Spun of silk and truth.

Fierce and unrelenting.

Oranges, a lantern to light the path.

All the way from the silk road to the New World.

Eviscerating the shadows, the dark and lonesome night.

Crimson cranberries, for Yalda.

For a new dawn.

For peace.

From the silk road to the New World.

Fierce and unrelenting.

Wishing you a happy Yalda night.

CRANBERRY ORANGE ROSE SHARBAT

Serves 8

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup mild honey, such as clover
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cranberry juice, divided
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 cardamom pods, cracked open
  • 1 cinnamon stick (3 in.)
  • 1 to 3 teaspoon rose water
  • 1/2 orange, cut into half moons
  • 1/4 cup firm fresh or frozen cranberries

Put honey and 1/2 cup water in a small pot over medium-high heat and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in orange juice, 1/4 cup cranberry juice, the lemon juice, cardamom, and cinnamon. Simmer 20 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Strain into a small bowl and let cool.

  1. In a pitcher, combine syrup, remaining 1/2 cup cranberry juice, and the rose water (start with 1 teaspoon rosewater, add more to taste) with 4 1/2 cups cold water. Add orange slices and cranberries; stir. Chill at least 3 hours before serving.
  2. To serve, add a couple of ice cubes to each glass and pour in sharbat.

 

All photos in this post courtesy of Amy Dickerson. Copyright 2016.

by Naz
Drinks

Strawberry, Rose, and Mint Kombucha – Husband’s Brew

♪  Music husband is brewing to ♪

Please join me and fellow Persian food bloggers as we celebrate the Iranian midsummer festival Tirgan with a virtual picnic. I am also thrilled to have Drew, aka Mr. Husband take the reins on this post. Because a summer picnic is never complete without a bottle of Husband’s Kombucha.

Kombucha – Fun With Bacteria

Three years ago a good friend of mine pulled me aside with a proposition. “Have you heard about kombucha? I think you’d like brewing it.” Now, this sounded like an odd endeavor. I knew this was some sort of fermented drink, most likely with floating parts to it. But to make my own? Brewing my own beer was more up my alley. Still, I heard her out, all with yelling children in the background, demanding our attention. I say this because the process was so simple to understand and implement, I could even process it while my attention was divided! I said yes, and next thing I knew I was on my way home with a SCOBY, floating in a sweet tea mixture. Thus began a 3-year odyssey of kombucha home-brewing.

I think the best part of this hobby, apart from the delicious, naturally effervescent and healthy beverage I make for the family each week, is the bragging rights that I actually do it. This is a strange and fascinating concept to so many. Kombucha is a relatively new product in western grocery stores. Many have seen the store-bought bottles and wondered to themselves what it was about. Or perhaps they have tried it, loved it, and are now shelling out up to $8 a bottle for it. Everyone I’ve spoken to about this wants to know the process, and strongly considers taking it on themselves. In fact, as my SCOBY has grown, I’ve been able to hand off sections of it to others for their own brewing.

You might be wondering, what is this SCOBY he keeps talking about? SCOBY is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. It can also be called “The Mother” as all the good stuff comes from it. The SCOBY will take the shape of its container, usually a jar. It will be round and disc-like, and as it grows it will form multiple discs, almost like floating pancakes. Eventually it will become too large, and you will need to separate some of these pancakes for giving away, or composting. I’m proud to say my SCOBY has many children now. I’ve given away extras to many friends for their own home brew, and have even auctioned off “kombucha starter kits” for our kids’ school!

Getting a SCOBY might have been the hardest part of getting started a few years back. You would need to know someone one who had one, or search the back-back pages of the classifieds. But nowadays they are all over the internet, and even big companies like Amazon and Williams-Sonoma are getting into the game. A simple search online for “buying a SCOBY” will yield many results, if you don’t have a personal connection.

As you read through this recipe, you will notice that 1 cup of sugar is used in the process. This may make one assume you’ll be consuming copious amounts of sugar. Not so! The sugar, when mixed with tea, serves as a food or fuel for the SCOBY, and the result is kombucha. By the time you drink it there is very little sugar left. Alcohol is another by-product of the brewing process. But again, no more than trace amounts.

Another wonderful part of kombucha-making is the ability to customize. After your first fermentation process, you can add a couple more days with fruit (lemon and ginger is a great combination) or juice fermentation (pomegranate juice is always great), which will greatly increase the flavor and enjoyment. One of my favorite flavors, and the one I share with you today, was inspired by the ever present bottle of rose water during Nowruz – Persian New Year. Strawberries, rose water and mint. Huge hit in our house.

Once you are up and running, the process only takes about 20 minutes per week. I like to set reminders on my phone so I know when it’s time to boil water, when to transfer the kombucha, and when to refrigerate my bottles.

I can’t emphasize enough the rewards of this home brew: my kids love it, my wife really loves it (she drinks most of it usually!), and everyone who comes to the house loves it too. It’s refreshing, pairs well with any meal (particularly Persian stews with rice, like my all-time favorite Loobia Polo), and it helps to contribute to a healthy amount of good bacteria in the gut. In this day and age of antibiotics being prescribed for just about any ailment, the importance of good bacteria cannot be over stressed.

Fermenting from here? Naz has been after me to start a sourdough starter. In fact, she would like me to be the Resident Baker in our house. {editor’s interjection: Naz loves to delegate baking duties} And I’d certainly like to do that. Time is always an issue, of course. I’m very proud of Naz and her homemade batches of yogurt! But kombucha has proven to me that a very simple and enjoyable process can be slipped into an otherwise very busy lifestyle, and the benefits are tremendous.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Mr. Husband

STRAWBERRY, ROSE, AND MINT KOMBUCHA

What you need:

  • 1 gallon glass jar (pickle jars with a wide mouth are great for this)
  • Breathable Cloth to cover top, with rubber band to hold it in place
  • 1 SCOBY (an acronym for Symbiotic Culture OF Bacteria and Yeast)
  • 1 cup organic sugar (for your starter batch plus more to continue process)
  • 4 organic black tea bags (for your first batch plus more to continue process)
  •  3 sealable glass bottles
  • Funnel (to pour liquids into the sealable glass bottles)
  • Strainer (to separate any solids from your kombucha before drinking, although some people drink these too!)
  • 6 large strawberries
  • 2-4 fresh mint leaves
  • 1 teaspoon rose water
  • Organic juice of your choice, if you’re not using the strawberry, rose water, mint mix (or fresh fruits, or anything else you want to ferment with (ginger, lemon, etc))

Step 1:

  • Boil 12 cups of water in a large pot.
  • Add 1 cup of organic sugar. Stir until dissolved, about 1 minute. Turn the heat off.
  • Add 4 tea bags of organic black tea
  • Let the tea mixture cool to room temperature. Doing this in the evening before you go to bed is a good time, as you can then do step 2 in the morning.
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: this sweet tea mixture is the food for your next batch of kombucha. Once you complete Step 2 below, you will use this mixture.

Step 2:

  • With clean hands or with the help of a clean kitchen spoon, pull out your SCOBY from the tea mixture (now kombucha) and set aside in a separate bowl.  Add a ½ cup of the kombucha to that bowl.
  • Using 3 sealable glass bottles, add a finger’s width of your favorite organic juice (or fresh fruit of your choice) to each bottle.  Use a funnel so you don’t spill. LESS IS MORE HERE! Stick to a finger’s width at the bottom of each jar, whether using juice or solids.
  • For our strawberry/rose water/mint flavor, in a mortar and pestle muddle 6  strawberries, 2-4 mint leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon of rose water per glass bottle. Vary this depending on taste.
  • Add the kombucha to each glass bottle, making it even between the three bottles.  Store these away to ferment.  Don’t put them in the fridge yet.  They should sit out for 2 ½ days.
  • Rinse out your now-empty kombucha jar with cold water. No soap, just a good rinse.
  • Add your room-temperature sweet tea (from Step 1!) to the kombucha jar.
  • Put your scoby and its ½ cup of kombucha back into the kombucha jar.  Give it a gentle stir.
  • Cover the jar with cloth and rubber band to hold it in place, and store in the dark for 7-10 days.

Step 3:

  • After 2 ½ days, put your 3 bottles of kombucha juice in the fridge to stop the fermenting process and to chill it for drinking.

Step 4:

  • Your kombucha juice is nicely chilled and ready for drinking!  You can use a strainer when pouring your kombucha in case you don’t want any of the floating bits of scoby in there.
  • The natural effervescence (bubbles) can vary from batch to batch; don’t be too concerned if one batch is a little more flat than another. It will come back! Some juices or fruit encourage this carbonation; some don’t.

Step 5:

  • Step 5 is actually Step 1! Start the process over again once your kombucha brew has sat in the dark for at least 7 days.

Some other helpful points:

  • If you’re going on vacation, don’t worry! Just brew your kombucha in the dark as you normally would. I’ve found that if it brews more than 14 days the taste is a little too vinegar-y for me. You can just start up the process again, as that scoby is pretty indestructible!
  • Always keep the scoby in a glass container. Metal and plastic don’t work well. Real glass, nothing with lead in it.
  • You will find that your scoby will increase in size, and separate! Once this happens you can either give an extra one to someone else, or compost it, or just throw it out. Some even eat it.
  • Please share any new and exciting flavor combinations!

by Naz
Drinks

THE POETRY OF SUMMER – A HONEY AND VINEGAR SYRUP DRINK – SHARBATEH SEKANJEBIN


We had a deep, cushy, cream–colored loveseat in our living room.  Back in Iran.  That’s how I remember it.     

I was six years old.  Luna’s age.  And I was notorious for giving my parents a hard time with going to bed.  So – many late nights were spent curled up on that love seat, eyelids heavy with sleep – desperately trying to keep awake – not to miss a moment – and inevitably lulled into a sweet slumber by the entrancing sounds of the santur, tar, and violin – and the magical rhymes and rhythms of poetry.  Always poetry.  My childhood lullaby.

My mother is a poet and lyricist.  Not of the “remember when we thought we were so cool, so bohemian, so hip, writing poetry and wearing all black” variety.  But as in this was and still is her vocation – well, as close as being a poet can be considered a vocation.  Of course for me and my brother she was and is, maman, who happens to be a poet.  Who walked around the house (and still does) murmuring to herself.  Filling notebooks with dreamlike verse.  Staying up until the sun starts to show its face to finish that one hook, that lone melody, that last stanza. And so it was very much the norm to have our house filled with musicians, singers, fellow poets, and lovers of all of the above.  There is a deep-seated love and respect for poetry and music amongst Persians.  Very formal dinner parties would inevitably end up with everyone sitting in the round.  Something of a jam session.  See where inspiration would take them.  Instruments tuned and voices warmed by the sweet, tangy honey and vinegar sharbat –  syrup –  sekanjebin.



Sekanjebin literally means vinegar and honey.  It is the ultimate summer drink.  The Persian version of lemonade.  The refreshing combination of sweet and sour.  It is a centuries old concoction – considered medicinal in its combination of honey, vinegar, mint and cucumber to hydrate, restore balance in the body, and aid with digestion.  If it’s summer – there’s sekanjebin.  It will cool your soul.  It will sweeten your tongue and quench your thirst.  It will bring you back to life.  Yes – this will cure you whispers abound. Like all sharbat – a concentrated syrup is prepared and then diluted with water to taste.  Sekanjebin can also be prepared with sugar but I much prefer the use of honey – as it was originally intended to be.  I recommend using the best quality honey and a good quality white wine vinegar.  Traditionally sekanjebin is served with grated cucumber.  But you can also use sliced cucumber.  Feel free to try out other refreshing summer fruits –  such as lemon or lime slices, watermelon pieces, cut strawberries – as a garnish as well.   In the summertime it is also very popular and refreshing to put out a bowl of the syrup and dip crisp Romaine leaves in it.  We recently hosted a Father’s Day brunch with a few dear friends where I served a pitcher of sekanjebin. It was an absolute hit with adults and children alike.

When we left Iran for Rome – our home away from home – with the future unknown – unaware that we would never set eyes on that land again – never get to say proper goodbyes to so many loved ones – unaware that very soon we would also bid adieu to our beloved Rome – we found comfort in the company of fellow expats.  Each family with their own story of loss and an unknown future.  Different and yet the same. I missed the familiar comfort of that big cream–colored loveseat.  Yet even in those most trying of days – laughter, togetherness and poetry still filled the air.  As everyone would inevitably end up gathering on the balconies.  Cushions and rugs spread on the floor.  Instruments pulled  out of their cases and tuned.  The haunting melodies of the santoor yearningly bouncing off the rooftops of the eternal city.  The Roman summer night in its full splendor.  And once again voices warmed and bodies cooled by sekanjebin.  And of course, there was poetry.  Always poetry.  That’s how I remember it.

Happy Summer.

VINEGAR AND HONEY SYRUP – SHARBATEH SEKANJEBIN

Ingredients:

Makes 1 cup syrup concentrate 

1 cup water, plus more to dilute and serve
1 cup honey, really good–quality 
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon good-quality white wine vinegar
2 sprigs mint, plus more for garnish
sliced cucumber for garnish

1- Bring honey and water to a boil in a medium saucepan to make a simple syrup.  Stir to dissolve. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

2- Add vinegar and bring back to boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes.  

3- Remove from the heat, add mint sprigs and transfer to a glass bowl.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Cover bowl and let mixture steep overnight in the refrigerator.

4- Remove mint sprigs.  You can keep the syrup concentrate in a glass container in the refrigerator for up to a week.    

To serve mix 1 part syrup concentrate to 3 parts water.  For an individual glass serving I mixed 1/4 cup syrup with 3/4 cups water.  Adjust to taste.  Serve over ice and garnish with sliced cucumber and mint. 

 

by Naz
Drinks

A Spring Fling – A Campari and Vodka Cocktail

What can I get you?

He leans across the bar.  Kindly looking into my bewildered eyes.  A simple question he has asked numerous times this evening.  He expects a simple and quick reply.

It’s 6:30pm on a week night and the place is already buzzing with after-work imbibing.  Hipsters and the like winding down the day – or maybe just getting started for the night.  It’s loud, the energy of the place palpable.  It’s a familiar scene from what feels like a distant past.  Before set routines, before children.  A time when meeting up for drinks at 6:30 pm didn’t require extensive planning.

Can I get you something to drink?

I look back at him, stunned.  I’ve lost the ability to order a drink for myself.  The vibrant energy of the place doesn’t match my scattered focus.  I can’t settle in.  I’ve spent the day picking up, dropping off, deciding what to make for lunch and breakfast and then making lunch and breakfast simultaneously, driving the lengths of Los Angeles freeways, cursing said freeways, worrying about being late for pick ups and drop offs,  deciding what’s for dinner for the six and under crowd, barely making it here…  I’m at a loss for words as to what I could possibly want to drink.  I cannot make another decision.

She’ll have a Campari and soda.

That’s it.  That’s what I want.  He knows.  This man with the warm and reassuring voice seated next to me.  He knows exactly what I want.

But why don’t we change it up a little.  Do you have any suggestions for a Campari cocktail?

And so they begin to conspire. These two men.  One a complete stranger – the bartender.  The other – my husband. They discuss my likes and dislikes, and they come up with a drink that would both satisfy and surprise my taste buds.  No decision-making on my part. Finally.

We were on our way to join some friends at an event.  On a whim we decided to meet up just the two of us for a quick drink beforehand.  We hardly do anything on a whim anymore.  It felt adventurous, secretive.  A stolen moment.

I’m not much of a drinker.  These days my preferred beverage of choice is often something that will energize, refresh, and see me through the day.  (A smoothie, my green tea, my black tea, simple and oh so enjoyable water, perhaps a spot of my husband’s lastest project of the month, kombucha.)  Alcohol often has the exact opposite effect on me.  But I do enjoy that one glass of something every now and then. Anything over one glass, and fatigue, headache and general irritability quickly set in.  So that one glass has to be a drink I thoroughly enjoy.  The glass of red wine – dry, aged and  full-bodied – to accompany dinner, that first and unmatched thirst quenching glass of beer enjoyed on a hot summer’s day,  the perfect martini – dirty with extra olives please – shared with friends; and my all time beloved aperitif – campari. I like my cocktails sour, a little bitter with a slight hint of sweet.  And this campari cocktail satisfies all these requirements.

He carefully places the pink concoction in front of me.  It’s the color of those LA sunsets we marvel at every now and again.  Other-worldly, surreal, a magical light I can only associate to this expansive city of ours.

I feel both mens’ gazes intensely watching me as I take my first sip.  Conspirators – the stranger and my life partner.

It’s perfect.  I say.  Great, enjoy, says the bartender, and he casually moves on to tend to the needs (anxieties?) of others.  I turn to Drew and just like that I feel myself giving in.  My body shifts, I lean one arm on the bar, chin resting on hand,  the weight of the day is transformed and absorbed by the cool marble bar top.  I settle into the gaze of my husband, our conversation (mostly about the girls), this stolen moment, our little spring fling.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Spring Fling – Campari and Vodka

Ingredients

Serves 1

1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Vodka
1 ounce fresh squeezed orange or blood orange
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice or lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup (optional)*

* I don’t like to add any syrup to my drink but go ahead and add if you like.

1- Fill your martini shaker halfway with crushed ice.  Add all ingredients and shake away.

Serve in a chilled martini glass or glass of choice.  Sit back and enjoy.

 

by Naz
Drinks

Pomegranate Juice – Abeh Anar

This pomegranate brought me back to life!

So said my 6 year old daughter Luna when she got through the very last drop of her abeh anar – pomegranate juice.  Next came the search for any surviving seeds that didn’t have their juice sucked right out of them.  Dainty, stained fingers ripped though the ravaged piece of fruit in hopes of one more little morsel, one more blood-red seed, one more crunch.

My childhood in Iran during the autumn months meant the arrival of pomegranates, and with it the cold winter months.  The pomegranates would be quartered for us, and we’d pick through them for seeds. An after-school snack, dessert, something to keep us occupied and out of the way of the adults for a while.  But what I loved most was sucking the juice right out of the pomegranate.  No juicers, no special equipment.  Just a strong yet careful pair of hands to do the squeezing.

Juicing a pomegranate

1 pomegranate, rinsed (organic if possible)

I highly recommend doing this over the kitchen sink at first until you get the hang of it.  And it is also advisable to not wear your favorite freshly laundered and pressed white men’s button-down.  So go ahead and put on an apron.
It should also be pointed out that my husband is the official pomegranate squeezer in our house.  Like I said – strong yet careful hands.

Gently but firmly squeeze the pomegranate with both hands to release the juice inside the seeds.

You will start to feel the seeds crunch and the fruit soften.
Work your way through the entire fruit.
You want the  pomegranate to soften but don’t over do it or the fruit will burst.
Take care not to  break through the skin.
If you do – don’t panic – try to recover as much of the juice as possible.  It might involve sticking your head right under the pomegranate with your tongue dashing about madly trying to catch every antioxidant-filled drop of delicious life-altering goodness.  This will not look pretty.  But it will be oh so delicious.
If you have been successful and have not been afflicted by the above-mentioned calamity, take a sharp pointed tool like the tip of a knife and make a small incision in the skin somewhere in the middle of the pomegranate.  BE READY.


The juice is going to come gushing through.  So have a mouth ready to start sucking the heck out of that fruit.  Gently squeeze as you suck.
Or you can squeeze the juice right in a glass.
On most days my girls want the juice right away and don’t want to work for it, so we squeeze it in a glass.  They drink up that juice in one straight shot.

Luna, take a breath in between sips.

But Mama, it’s so good.  I can’t stop.

It’s mid-winter and we won’t be enjoying pomegranates for much longer.  But for now, while we still can, we’ll keep on squeezing, and relishing this ethereal nectar from this fruit that seems to carry with it stories from far away lands, from times long, long ago.  Or maybe it’s just a reminder of a time not so long ago.  A reminder of a childhood in a land that was once home.  A reminder of children walking around sucking on pomegranates.

Get yourself a pomegranate and let those seeds and juices bring you back to life.

Thank you for joining me on this food journey!  And tell me, how did the pomegranate squeezing go for you?

UPDATE: My mom just checked out my inaugural post and she called right away with some advice.  As she is apt to do.  From Maman:  When looking for the juiciest pomegranate choose one with a bumpy surface.  Not a smooth surface.  Those bumps are the juicy seeds bulging out.

Good to know!

by Naz

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