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My cookbook: "Tehran to New York"

On the Norouz day of 2020 spring, I finally published my book. The manuscript is titled: "Tehran to New York: A culinary bridge between Persian and Western cultures" and aims at presenting a unique blend of classic and contemporary Persian recipes, as well as samples of Western-style cuisine, offered in a Persian context. It is important to build bridges between cultures, and not walls. This book aims at constructing a bridge between the Persian and Western cultures. The book may be ordered here: https://www.amazon.com/Tehran-New-York-culinary-cultures-ebook/dp/B0861H47GS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tehran+to+new+york&qid=1584810930&sr=8-1  

Persian style garlic scape and dill pilaf


A heritage of loving herbs and a vast country of diverse botanical spices have left the Persian cuisine with many dishes which involve a herb, or most likely an assortment of several herbs. Herbs could very well be the omnipresent ingredient in many stews, soups, frittata style bites (i.e. Kuku), and pilaf dishes. More so, an assortment of raw herbs (i.e. Sabzi-khordan) is customarily served on the Persian table, taking the role of the salad from Western table.
Speaking of rice pilaf dishes, Sabzi-polow is a herb pilaf, usually served with fried fish. Baghali-polow, a pilaf of dill and Fava beans, is usually served with lamb shanks. Presented here is a Persian inspired dill pilaf which contains garlic scape. Although green garlic is a popular herb in Iran, particularly in the Caspian region of north, garlic scape is completely unknown to the folks. The dish is indeed nontraditional, only inspired by the Persian flavors and techniques.     

Ingredients:
2 cups Basmati, Jasmine or long grain rice
2.64 Oz (~75 gr) dill, chopped
4.4 Oz (~125 gr) garlic scape, finely chopped
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP vegetable oil
3 garlic scape stems (for optional Tahdig)
Pinch of saffron









Parboil and drain the rice, following these instructions. In the meantime, sauté the garlic scape in butter until translucent. If you choose to make crispy garlic scape on the bottom (i.e. Tahdig), arrange three stems on the bottom of a 2~3 Q.t. saucepan. Pour the TBSP of oil on the bottom as well as 2 TBSP of water. Season the garlic scape with salt.
Spread half of the drained rice on the bottom of the saucepan. Mix the dill with the garlic scape mixture and spread on the rice. Cover the herb mixture with the rest of the rice. Sprinkle with saffron. Cook, covered with the cloth wrapped lid, for 30 minutes over low heat. During the first five minutes the heat should be high to generate the steam. Do not uncover the pot during the cooking process, or you will lose the crucial steam.

Fluff up and mix before serving.
The garlic scape Tahdig was the star. The author suspects, though has not tried yet for himself, that this rice matches well with seafood.

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