The distinctive nature of Persian food could be characterized as salty and sour. "Torshe tareh" is a vegetarian sour dish from the north Iranian Caspian region, where the famous varieties of caviar come from. It is a great vegetarian option and is usually served with rice, horseradish and salted fish. Here I present the traditional version as well as a version with modern twists! Make and enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 head of garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons of broken rice (or any high starch rice)
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
14.1 Oz (~400 gr) spinach, roughly chopped
14.1 Oz (~400 gr) herbs (3.52 Oz ~100 gr of each Chinese chives, mint, dill and parsley), finely chopped
3 sour oranges, juiced (Substitute with 2/3 cup Verjuice if out of season, or the same amount od lemon juice)
1 cup of water
4 eggs
2 cups Jasmine rice
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Saute the onion and garlic (set two cloves of garlic aside for later). When the onion is translucent, add the spices and then the rice. Heat till the rice is toasted and spices are fragrant.
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| Add the herb mixture and cook and dry all the moisture out. |
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Juice the sour oranges. Use a strainer as they tend to have plenty of seeds.
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Add the sour orange juice and water, lower the heat, stew with the lid on for 30~40 minutes or till the rice is dissolved and starchy and the stew is thick.
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The stew is traditionally served with rice. I cooked some rice with twice as much as water (volume 1 to 2) , smoked salt and knobs of butter. When the rice was cooked half-way-through and all the moisture was evaporated, I transferred the rice to a baking dish and baked for 20 minutes.To trap the steam, the baking dish should be tightly covered with aluminum foil.
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Traditionally eggs are fried with the remaining garlic and added to the stew in the end.
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Something like this to be more precise!. But I gave the dish a modern twist with:
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Wilting some spinach with garlic and...
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| Poaching the eggs! |
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