Modern persian cuisine case 3: Dark cherry stew

 Traditionally, this stew is made with sour cherries and without buzz. As a result, it has a vivid red velvety color and the flavor of balanced sour and the sweet; acquired by added sugar. My main issue with the old stew is loss of cherry goodness and overpowering of acidity from sour cherries. This new stew however, has a much more sophisticated flavor profile acquired from the buzz, spices and mainly cherries. To balance with the sweetness of cherries, I add barberries with their unique sharp tart sourness; I gave some detail for barberries in a previous post. I never tried this but I feel that barberries could be replaced by dried cranberries in case they are not accessible. And finally, I used Shiraz in my new recipe cause nothing is more Persian than that!. Shiraz a city in central Iran and is capital of a state called Persia!. The seeds of this particular grape was taken to other countries and being cultivated. Here is what you will need:



 Ingredients:                                           

250 gram beef shoulder, diced
salt, pepper, garlic powder
1 pod of star anise
5 whole allspice grains
1 TSP flour
1 cup mirepoix vegetables finely chopped
2 TBSP Dark Cherry and barberries each
1 cup Shiraz
1 cup beef stock
1 TBSP Kirsch(optional)
1 cup of dark cherries, seeded
1/2 cup of barberries
2 TBSP rich saffron solution
To garnish
Cherry, pistachio and almond flakes


Brown the beef in a heavy pan or skillet.

 Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder

 Add the spices:

Sift the flower into the pan and make kind of a roux:

Add the mirepoix:

To infuse flavors, add some Cherries and barberries according to the recipe:

Add the Shiraz, stock and kirsch(If you wisely chose to use):

Cover and cook for an hour over low heat: Mean while, add cherries and berries to a second pan and bring to a boil cook for 20 minutes:

Blend the cherry mixture:

And strain:

Add the saffron to the sauce and simmer to make sure that the sauce is not cold:

Pull the star anise and allspice grains of the beef pot and add the sauce to the beef and simmer for five minutes:

If you fancy fruitiness, lightly saute some cherries, pistachio nuts and almonds in a pan and use as the garnish.