SC - Persion cooking

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Tara Sersen wrote:
> 
> The only ingredient that I would question off-hand was the rice, which was served
> with everything.  First of all, it was Indian basmati rice.  This, I guess,
> is a modern affectation.  If they have traditionally used rice, wouldn't it
> have been a local variety instead of an import?  But, would they have used much
> rice at all in period?  Most middle-eastern cooking seems to focus much more
> on wheat, with cous-cous, bulgar, breads like matzoh.  The middle-east doesn't
> seem well suited to rice paddies.  On the other hand, the only wheat product
> they offered was pita bread.  They didn't have anything like tabouleh, cous-cous
> or other "middle-eastern staples".

This actually makes a fair amount of sense when you consider that at one
time India and Persia were, effectively, one country. There's a pretty
considerable culinary overlap. And while it is true that much of the
MidEast isn't suited for rice paddies, it isn't all desert, either
(since that would make it almost as hard to grow other grains as well).
We can't get caught up in the idea that the MidEast is all like the
central Arabian Peninsula or the Sahara or something like that. On the
other hand, it should be noted that paddies aren't strictly necessary to
grow rice, they just increase production and discourage weeds.
Regardless, this Persian restaurant you love is probably basing their
cuisine on an idea of a Persia that extends well beyond the borders of
modern Iran. 
 
> And the waitress likes us - she gave us the crust from the bottom of the rice
> pot :)

Kateh! Cool! Other cultures eat this as well (the Cantonese call this
fahn deoh --my best phonetic guess at a spelling-- and Dominicanos, and
perhaps other Spanish-speakers as well, call it something that I won't
even attempt to spell for real, but which sounds like pay gau). I've
actually seen recipes for this, more or less cheat versions that are
specifically made as kateh, rather than as a by-product of cooking pilau.

My lady wife is fond of her fan deoh, cooked in the bottom of the pot
until toasted brown, but not burnt, and then "deglazed" with hot soup
until it swells and lifts itself off the bottom of the pot in chunks.
Me, I'm a sucker for sizzling rice soup, which involves taking the
cooled fan deoh (which lifts off pretty easily in a sheet once it has
fully cooled), breaking it into pieces, and deep-frying them before
dropping them, still hot, into the soup, which then hisses at you while
you eat it. This dish is therefore not allowed at our house for New Year's...

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com