Modern Persian Food

The Beats break down the ins and outs of chickpeas also known as garbanzo beans (or nokhod in Farsi) in Persian food and beyond! Chickpeas are fabulous in soups & stews, salads, dips, and as snacks. Chickpea flour is used in an iconic cookie called Nokhodchi and is gluten free. The easiest way to work with garbanzo beans is to use the canned bean variety, although the duo go over how to cook them from scratch, and also some easy go-to recipes. Listen to how chickpeas when mixed into Ajeel trail mix and packaged in a special way can help solve your problems!

This week's "Ask the Beats" is close to co-host Beata's heart and covers one off on a crunchy fan favorite food!

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend!

References and recipes:

Podcast Episode 3: Rice

Podcast Episode 11 Tahdigh | Bottom of the Pot

Podcast Episode 40: Damkoni

Podcast Episode 70: Kateh Persian Rice

Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, Persian food Where the Kebob is Hot

Bita's Aash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup

Bita's Vegan Moroccan Stew

Bita's Instant Pot Okra Soup

Bita's Easy Homemade Hummus

Bita's Roasted Chickpeas

Bita's Ajeel | Persian Trail Mix

Beata's Ash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup – BeatsEats

Beata's Asheh Reshteh – Persian Noodle Soup – Original Recipe Post – BeatsEats

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Ideas and inspirations for a sweet and savory Persian brunch to enjoy on Mother's day, hanging out with friends and family, or just indulging on your own! Beata and Bita build off their Persian Breakfast episode #27 with some new ways to bring on the weekend and have a leisurely brunch with some Persian flair and flavor.

The "Ask the Beats" covers off on a fun brunch cocktail sure to get anyone closer to their "Gols"!

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend.

References:

Modern Persian Food podcast episode 27: Persian Breakfasts

Beata's recipe: Khormah Maloos | Persian Dates and Eggs – BeatsEats

For Bita's cakes, cookies, and sweets go to Persian Desserts, a special bundle of recipes

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Today's episode is a true podcasting collab. Co-hosts Beata and Bita are joined by Mikey and Rinne who are the hosts of another podcast, called Mikey and Rinne Eat In.

Mikey is a culinary innovation consultant and helps companies make all new delicious products nationwide. Bita and Mikey connected through an opportunity with Dinnerbell, a heat and eat food service company based out of Palo Alto, California. Bita and Beata, together with Mikey and Dinnerbell curated a limited time menu offering of Persian food just before the Persian new year Norooz/Nowruz. Video and pics are available on the Modern Persian Food instagram page if you'd like to check them out!

The team put together the following menu: Persian tahchin rice cups, a delicious cucumber yogurt dip, skewered chicken, grilled vegetables, pickled veggies, and amazing, aromatic, yummy buttercream Yazdi cupcakes!

Chef Mikey tips for cooking Persian food for the first time -

• Be inventive
• Experiment with cooking techniques
• Do research to become a mini expert on a particular dish or technique

Ask the Beats: Mikey and Rinne ask "We already have saffron now in our pantry and cooking repertoire, what other Persian ingredient would you suggest we add and try?"

• Limoo Amani, dried lime if you love sour flavors!

Also catch the Beats on Mikey and Rinne Eat in episode: Persian Food… with Bita and Beata!

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Mikey & Rinne Eat In podcast

Mikey And Rinne - Podcasters (@mikeyandrinne) • Instagram photos and videos

Dinnerbell

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend!

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Make Tahdig Not War! A T-shirt, a movement, and so much more. In today's episode co-hosts Bita and Beata are joined by a creative expressionist, Parisa Parnian. Special guest Parisa puts passion and meaning behind everything she does. She is the inspiration behind #maketahdignotwar and the growing, peaceful Persian foodie community. We learn the story behind the origination of said shirt as well as the history around Parisa's spice blend, Perxican and her Mexican and Spanish inspired art.

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Savage Muse

Savage Taste

Perxican Spice Blend

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend!

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Cohosts Beata and Bita reflect on spring time and how they have celebrated Easter, both growing up Persian in the US and also as an adult in their Iranian-American families. They share their favorite Easter and springtime foods and recipes which include:

• Deviled eggs
• Steamed fava beans
• Baghali Polo | Layered Persian dill rice with fava beans
• Lamb including braised lamb shanks maycheh and lamb chops

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Bita's recipe for Deviled Eggs

Bita's recipe for Baghali Polo

Beata's recipe for Thanh's Classic Deviled Eggs – BeatsEats

Beata's post on Bagheleh Polo bah Maycheh – Braised Lamb Shank Over Fava Bean and Dill Rice – BeatsEats

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend!

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Listen to our insightful and motivating conversation with chef Beeta Mohajeri with the following topic: How to conquer culinary challenges by diving right in and taking the bull by the horns with a say yes, try everything attitude! We hope you have fun with our triple Beat power…triple Bita/Beata/Beeta action including co-hosts Bita Arabian, Beata Nazem Kelley, and special guest Beeta Mohajeri. Chef Beeta is currently a private chef and has recently opened a new private dining chefs dinner space called Micro904.

Beeta's strategy to success included trying everything in the culinary world (for the last 8 years) until narrowing down what she wants to do, as well as what the world wants her to do. Lesson: try everything, figure out what you don't want to do, then focus on what you love to do!

For more information on Beeta's businesses: Beetzeats.com

Instagram: Chef Beeta Mohajeri (@chef.mbeetz)

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend.

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Join us as we explore Persian dishes that are full of vegetables, herbs, legumes, and fruits. Persian cuisine is often plant-based protein rich without needing any meat substitutes. In this podcast episode we cover off on some of our favorite vegetarian appetizers, soups, rice dishes, and luscious khoreshts plus some of our tips and tricks to get the most flavor out of your ingredients.

Learn about Bita and Beata's favorite way to treat guests in this week's "Ask the Beats" segment.

Subscribe+ to the Modern Persian Food podcast on your favorite podcast player, and tell a friend.

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Recipes referenced include::

Bita's recipe for Salad Shirazi

Bita's recipe for Persian Yogurt Dip | Mast-o-khiar

Bita's recipe for Kashk Bademjan | Persian Eggplant Dip

Bita's recipe for Salad Olivier | Persian Potato Salad

Bita's recipe for Sabzi Khordan | Persian Herb Appetizer

Bita's recipe for Kookoo Sabzi

Bita's recipe for Aash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup

Bita's recipe for Soup eh Joe | Persian Cream of Barley Soup

Bita's recipe for Lentil and Date Rice | Adas Polo

Bita's recipe for Baghali Polo

Bita's recipe for Khoresh Karafs

Beata's recipe for: Ash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup

Beata's recipe for: Asheh Reshteh – Persian Noodle Soup – Original Recipe Post

Beata's recipe for: Maast-o-Khiar with Shallot and Salad Shirazi

Beata's recipe for: Persian Salad Olivieh

Beata's recipe for: Persian Frittata Koo Koo Sabzi

Beata's recipe for: Vegan Khoresh Karafs – Celery Stew With Mint and Parsley

Beata's recipe for: Persian Jeweled Tahchin

Beata's recipe for: Giti Joon's Famous Tacheen Recipe

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Round out your Norooz/Nowruz season by taking the popular Salad Olivier to Sizdeh Bedar! Sizdeh Bedar is the 13th day of the Persian New Year where it is tradition to get out of the house and have a picnic or spend time outdoors.

Salad Olivier (pronounced ooloovieh or olivieh) is a potato, chicken, and egg salad with a tangy twist – pickles add crunch and a punchy tartness. We serve Salad Olivier as an appetizer or side dish at gatherings. It is a wonderful compliment to kabab at barbecues, potlucks, and picnics - always a crowd pleaser!

Similar to Russian version - both have potatoes, carrots, peas, pickles, and mayo

Persian potato salad has boiled eggs and chicken. However Russian potato salad has diced ham, onion and dill, the Persian version does not.

What we like about it:

• Easy to make ahead, batch cook, meal prep
• Travels well to parties and picnics
• Unique, fun twist to potato salad - a popular crowd pleaser

Basics of recipe:

• Cooked chicken breasts
• Cooked potatoes
• Peas & carrots (sometimes available frozen)
• Dill pickles (the crunchier the better!)
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Mayonnaise
• Salt, pepper, and lemon juice

Recipe variations:

• Cut down on the mayo - possible substitutes: light mayo, yogurt, or mustard (will alter the flavor)
• Traditional method to serve has an extra layer of mayo covering the salad as a canvas to then decorate the top with vegetables
• Scoop method - scoop it in the shape of a ball and decorate around it
• Serve in split top buns or rolls as a sandwich
• Experiment with your preference of different types of potatoes and whether or not to keep the potato skins intact

Ask the Beats

Bita wants to know, what is a special Sizdeh Bedar memory that you have and can share?

Beata: Enjoying a big pot of Maman joon's Loobia polo out in a big park at a picnic

References:

Ep 24: Norooz Part 3: Persian New Year Sizdah Behdar

Episode 58: Lubia Polo | Green Bean Rice

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Bita's recipe for Salad Olivier Persian Potato Salad

Beata's recipe for Lubia Polo for the Persian New Year Sezdeh be Dar Picnic

Beata's recipe for Persian Salad Olivieh

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

An inspiring conversation with Chef Nadia Deljou of Delle Dining on preserving culture through the sounds, smells, and tastes of Persian food and music.

Background - raised in an Iranian-American family with a father being of Jewish faith. Family and extended family were involved in art, creation, and food with family at the foreground of everyting. Nadia has been able to identify with her culture in a multi-faceted way.

Nadia's approach and mission: To develop greater meaning for self (feeling empowered by culture, confident, and dominant - "wearing my Iranian-ness as loud as I can"), and then package it and expose it to the world in both a traditional and non-traditional way.

Deljou - interpretation and meaning of Nadia's chosen family name (chosen by father's side of the family): someone who is always in search of the goodness in others

The Farsi word "Del" - an extension of who she is; two references - the heart and the stomach, heart, stomach, and soul

Nadia also has a background in music! With concentration in independent music

The cross-over and communality among cultures

• Persian and Moroccan food culture, specifically with spices
• Hospitality and offering food in the home and for guests
• How one cooks and eats

Food etiquette (like a dance)

• Integrating fresh herbs as an integral part of the eating experience - fresh, cooked, and/or fried

Nadia is involved in many facets of integrated Persian cuisine and culture:

• Private dining
• Cooking classes
• Store: pastries, breads, scented candles, apparel (shirts, aprons, hats)

Dining events - pairing food with music for an overall immersive experience

"Food is so much more than food"

Nadia's candles - a tangible product that evokes place, culture and flavor through scent. An interactive quality including aroma (taste/smell) and music to create a mood and feeling

• At Mamani & Baba's: smoky citrus + earthy cedar-wood: "Limoo Amani" (Persian dried lime), a powerful flavor which Nadia loves - each candle comes with a recipe (ghormeh sabzi) and a song pairing (referenced in podcast) for a global experience.
• Stay For Chai: soothing jasmine + bright bergamot - the aroma that brings people together
• Poetry & Perfume: warm vanilla + sweet rose - royalty and sweet comfort
• Black peppercorns and rose petals paired with akbar mashti, Persian ice cream, rose water, cardamom, saffron

The intuition of cooking -

"Cooking is primitive and so much easier than what people think"

Using fire at the end of the day is very primitive

Where to find Nadia

Website: Delle

Instagram handle: @delledining

All Modern Persian Food episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio

Get inspired to set up your own Norooz/Nowruz Sofreh Haft Seen this year! Co-hosts Bita and Beata give an overview of the Persian New Year and encourage everyone to set up the traditional place setting with 7 symbolic items (or with whatever items you can get your hands on!)

Highlights of Norooz (also spelled Nowruz)

• It is the biggest Persian holiday and celebrated by other nationalities and countries as well
• It means new day and a time of renewal and rebirth
• Celebrated at the Spring Equinox for 13 days
• Youngers pay respect to elders, and in exchange the elders give them money or "Aid-e"
• Ends with "Sezdeh Bedar" - get out of the house on the 13th day for a picnic.

Learn more about Norooz in the Modern Persian Food podcast 3-part series episodes 22, 23, and 24 (see links below).

The sofreh Haft Seen is a special place setting with 7 symbolic items starting with the Farsi letter which has the sound of "s"

Items on the Haft-seen place setting or sofreh can include:

• Seeb - apple, representing health
• Seer - garlic, representing good health
• Somagh - sumac, the color of sunrise
• Sombol - fragrant flower, the Hyacinth flower
• Serkeh - vinegar, patience and aging
• Sabzeh - the Persian grass or sprouted legumes/lentils, representing growth and renewal
• Senjed - dried jujube, representing love
• Samanou - wheat germ pudding, representing patience, power, and bravery
• Sekeh - coins; representing prosperity
• Shirini - sweets

Additional, optional items often found on a haft-seen setting

• Mirror
• Candles
• Termeh or beautiful old fabric
• Colored, decorated eggs
• Fish - live or a representation of them
• Fresh flowers of any form
• A special book of poetry or a holy book (tradition being that at the moment of Norooz, clean, new bills are taken from the holy book by elders and gifted to youngers)
• Framed photos to commemorate deceased family members

Setting up a haft-seen can take different forms. There is a lot of flexibility with how one chooses to set it up. It can be big or small. It can even be portable! Beata's strategy is to start out with a mirror and then build the haft seen from there. Often Beata will start out with a larger haftseen set up on a table then make it smaller on the days following Norooz. A tray is a clever addition which can be used to move the table setting up if needed, or to even transport it to another place or home altogether.

We encourage you to set up your own haft-seen! Send us your Haft Seen pics and we will share them on IG!

Ask the Beats!

Manijeh from Germany asks: "What are you going to eat for Norooz this year?"

Sabzi polo - herb rice

Mahi - fish

Aash eh reshteh - Persian Herb and Noodle Soup

Kookoo sabzi

Resource links and recipes from this episode:

Modern Persian Food podcast 3-part Series-

Episode 22: Norooz Part 1

Episode 23: Norooz Part 2

Episode 24: Norooz Part 3

Episode 26: Flowers | Gol

Episode 64: Aash Reshteh

Episode 73: Growing Sabzeh with Naz

Recipes:

Beata's Ash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup

Asheh Reshteh – Persian Noodle Soup – Original Recipe Post

Bita's Aash Reshteh | Persian Noodle Soup

Beata's Persian Frittata Koo Koo Sabzi

Bita's Kookoo Sabzi | Quiche Muffins

Bita's Easy Marinated Salmon

Haftseen for Norooz post

All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio