“If summer had one defining scent, it’d definitely be the smell of barbecue”
— Katie Lee
Persians and kabab (kabob) are basically synonymous. Show me a Persian and I’ll show you a kabab fanatic.
Back in Iran, most Friday جمعه feasts included a variation of kabob, and when firing up the grill wasn’t possible, the pan kabob was most housewife’s go-to plan, which incidentally, is a great place to become acquainted with cooking Persian food.
To keep things authentic make sure you replace all your “W”s with “V” and say things like “Vow!” or “vhy, don’t you visit often?”. Wear ALL your gold jewelry and keep the kettle running all day for chai (tea), in case a guest drops by. People used to do that back in the day, and without the existence of cell phones, they were always on standby, anticipating the possibility of a friend dropping by.
For today’s Mersian (Montana-Persian) recipe, you will only need a few basic ingredients you are already familiar with and a few unconventional ones like dried rose petals, which may be found in tea or herbal stores, dried Middle Eastern mint that may not be replaced with fresh mint and is sold under the name of Egyptian mint, and of course, real saffron, not its cheaper impersonator the “Spanish saffron” that is more of a food coloring.
I grew up Persian, and have been living in Montana for over 15 yrs now, so it was only a matter of time before I personalized and Persianized some of my cooking with Montana’s own bison meat, which essentially tastes a lot like beef, only a bit milder and sweeter. As a matter of fact, replacing bison meat in any recipe requiring beef works wonderfully.
