[Sca-cooks] zereshk polow

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Natalie wrote:
> I but them dried now, to make - zereshk polow... the dried berries are 
> expensive, and we grow currants so I thought i might as well grow the 
> berries. But not wanting to propogate plant diseases, I will keep buying 
> them.

Stefan li Rous queried:
> Okay, but now the question is? what are/is "zereshk polow"?

As others have replied, it is polow seasoned with zereshk, barberries.

In some form it is an SCA-period dish. (diacritic marks removed) From my translation of recipes from the 1595 Safavid Persian cookbook

Sereshk-polaw (barberry-polaw; note the spelling with "s"!) and horma-polaw (date-polaw)

They are both one and the same [with respect to the preparation]. As for the dates, they must [necessarily only] be added [just] before the steaming out of the rice, because otherwise they will be overcooked.

-----

Uh, yeah, not a lot of detail.

The rice would have been soaked in water for some time, drained, and partially cooked in plenty of boiling water, then drained.

No specification of meat - lamb or chicken? In big chunks or small? Whatever it was would have been partially cooked before the steaming.

What else is added? It doesn't say, but based on other recipes from the same cookbook, i'd say it probably includes peeled chickpeas and chopped onions, and salt and maybe ground pepper.

The meat, barberries and other ingredients would have been layered with the pre-cooked rice. Either meat broth or butter would likely have been added, then the pot sealed and cooked over a low fire until done. The cook would know how long that would be - when i make other polaws from the same cookbook, i usually steam for about 45 min. on a very low fire.

The seasonings in modern Persian pulaos is generally quite different from the 16th c.

Urtatim (that's oor-tah-TEEM)