Azerbaijani Beef with Chestnuts and Sour Plums

There's nothing like cooking for 3 hours on a Saturday in Maine with ebullient experts from a country whose name I'm just learning to pronounce. Tarlan and Zemfira's culinary gifts are too many, too subtle, too natural to capture. This is my humble attempt. Click at right for the story, recipe and how-to photos.

photo: Tiffany Converse

See How To Do It

Photos by Tiffany Converse Photography

For the meat dish, cook beef covered in water for 1 1/2 hours. Then saute onions separately in oil and turmeric.

rinse plums - theirs came with salt on them.

These are the sour plums, also called Persian golden prunes.

Saute chestnuts (already boiled and peeled) and sour plums separately in a little ghee.

Then cook them all together: beef, onions, plums, chestnuts, covered, turning gently every so often and adding ladles of beef broth to keep moist.

This is their jar of homemade ghee - much cheaper than store-bought! Just cook butter slowly until it separates into clear and cloudy parts. Discard cloudy, keep clear. They store it on the counter for like a month.

Now for her special tumeric-and-ghee-scented rice:

Her method: soak and drain until the soak water is clear. Then par-cook it, boiling in a lot of water like pasta, then steam it with ghee and turmeric.

Strain it from the boiling water just before the grains are soft - they should not be fragrant or flavorful. Let dry for a little bit in the strainer.

Oil the bottom of the pot, place a large tortilla (to keep the rice from sticking!) on the bottom, and then scoop up the rice from the strainer and fluff it into the pot. Your goal is to build a mountain of fluffed rice, the sides of which don't touch the edge of the pot.

Dust the mountain with turmeric, and pour melted ghee over the surface area of the top.

Then line the top of the pot with two paper towels, and close the lid tightly. The paper towels keep the steam water from dripping back into the rice. The rice should come out all separated - not sticky or mushy. I haven't been able to recreate this yet! I think I boiled my rice too long and didn't let it dry in the strainer.

Have a cousin bring over some dolmas.

Now - for the homemade noodles that go in the lamb soup:

photo: LS

photo: LS

They served this platter of whole fresh veggies, and another of cucumber spears and tomato halves. It's a great idea to compliment any dinner. They eat the cilantro, stems and all, like you would a celery stick. Cool. Why not?

Have your cousin bring over this awesome dessert that looks like ant hill made out of ground and baked cookie batter.

Thank you to our gracious host, Tarlan Ahmadov....

And homecooking Goddess, Zemfira:

The day and the food was extraordinary.

Print the Recipe

The Ahmadov's Favorite Azerbaijani Meal

As Zemfira and Tarlan from Baku, Azerbaijan, showed Lindsay Sterling January 2011, in Portland, Maine.

Serves about 8

Active time: I think she did it in 4-5 hours

Ahead of time:

- Make ghee. The Ahmadovs use ghee a lot so they make a big crock that they use up in a month's time (making your own ghee is a lot cheaper than buying it, she says). I suggest making ghee out of one stick of butter for this meal. Put a stick of butter in a pan on medium low. Let cook until butter turns a clear amber color underneath thin layer of solids on top, being careful to not let any solids that drop to the bottom burn. Scoop solids off the top (discard) and pour clear butter into a dish, not including the solids that sank to the bottom. Later you'll pour most of the ghee into the rice, and you'll use two teaspoons of it in the meat dish.

- Cook chestnuts (or skip this step by buying them jarred already prepared). Score the bottoms of chestnuts, make an x, then boil for five-seven minutes. Preferably sit with a loved one as you two then peel off the hard shells and dark skins together.

- Cook beef cubes covered in salted water for an hour and a half.

- Make lamb meatballs for soup. Fine dice half an onion, mix into ground lamb with a little salt, and form meatballs (make them smaller than you'd think - about the diameter of a quarter). Simmer meatballs gently in water (which becomes the broth of your soup) for forty minutes.

Awesome Yellow Rice

Pilaff

3 c. basmati rice

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/3 c. ghee (a little less than a stick of butter)

Rinse rice in strainer over running water for at least a minute. Soak in cold water (if water is still cloudy, keep rinsing until it's clear.) Boil rice as you would pasta, for 8 minutes, and strain. It should be slightly uncooked and not yet fragrant or flavorful. Strain and let dry for 20 minutes. Oil the bottom of a large pot with tightly fitting lid, fit large tortilla in the bottom of the pot (so the rice doesn't stick). With a small bowl, take some of the rice out of the strainer and sprinkle it into the tortilla. Repeat, making a mountain of fluffed rice in the tortilla that does not touch the sides of the pan. Sprinkle turmeric all over the top like the mountain is dusted with yellow snow. Pour melted ghee in a small stream over the surface area of the rice mountain with a small drizzle as possible. Line a tight lid with two layers of paper towels, overlappign edges so the paper when you seal the lid is taught. Cook on low for 1-2 hours. The rice has a wonderful scent, flavor, and texture - individualized and firm - not soft or mushy.

Lamb Soup with Black-Eyed Peas and Homemade Noodles

khamrashy

1 pound ground lamb (preferabbly use more fatty cut than leg)

1/2 onion

1 can black eyed peas

vermicelli egg noodles

or make your own with 3 cups flour, 1 egg, and water

dried mint

balsamic vinegar

(Ahead of time, make lamb meatballs for soup. Fine dice half an onion, mix into ground lamb with a little salt, and form small meatballs (the diameter of a quarter). Simmer meatballs gently in water (which becomes the broth of your soup) for forty minutes, discarding foam or oils that rise to the top with a spoon.)

If you cooked the meatballs in broth ahead of time, reheat it now. It's time to make fresh pasta. Do not be daunted. She makes this look easy (Check out the video on the See how to do it section), and it is -- or I lucked out at when I tried it at home.

In a large mixing bowl make a well in 3 cups flour and fill it with one egg. Mix the egg with your pointer finger around and around faster than meets the eye. Then once the egg is mixed start widening the circle you're drawing with your finger to incorporate flour from the edges of the well. As you do this, pour water slowly from a cup into the egg mixture, allowing you to continue mixing your wet whirl into the dry flour around it until you have a dry dough that is soft and pliable. Continue folding the dough blob on top of itself so that it's uniform.

Split the dough into three equal sized balls. Make them nice and round by pulling the edges and pressing them into the bottom of each. Let the three balls rest in the center of the flour bowl, covered with a cloth, while you get the meat with chestnuts going.

While the meat dish is doing it's final slow cooking, roll the pasta out. You'll need a nice large clean space to do this (she used dining room table, I used counter top). Take the first ball, pat it into a circle, and then roll it out with a rolling pin until you have a sheet that is as thin as construction paper, sprinkling flour on the dough as you do, as well as lifting the sheet off the counter and flouring the other side so nothing sticks.

Fold the outside edges of the sheet into the middle, and then fold the shape in half making the crease where the edges are. Now you have a really long rectangle. Shorten the rectangle by folding it in half again.

Cut this into thin strips of fresh pasta with a chef knife, using the outside of your pinky finger of your non-knife hand as your guide on the dough. If you stick the elbow of your non-knife hand out infront of you, and then that hand along the short length of the dough, it will be in position. Words make this seem more difficult than it is. Watch the video! Once you've cut the strips, toss the noodles so they separate from each other. Do the same with the other two dough balls.

Now, turn soup to medium high. When its simmering, add black eyed peas, a couple handfuls of fresh pasta (reserve the rest of the pasta, covered in the fridge for fresh pasta dish tomorrow!). When pasta's done and soup slightly thickens from the pasta starch, it's done. Sprinkle each bowl with dried mint. Serve with small vessel of balsamic for people to drizzle on top.

Beef with Chestnuts and Sour Plums

turshu kourma

1 pound cubed beef (stew meat), pre cooked in water that turns to broth

2 onions, sliced thinly

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp ghee (see above to prepare)

1 cup persian golden prunes, otherwise known as sour plums

or dried cherries as a perfectly tart substitute

20 cooked, peeled chestnuts (if you buy them raw at the store, get 40. Some can be not good)

(Ahead of time..cook chestnuts. Score the bottoms of chestnuts, make an x, then boil for five-seven minutes. Preferably sit with a loved one as you two then peel off the hard shells and dark skins together. Also as you do this, cook beef cubes covered in salted water for an hour and a half.)

Rinse any salt off sour prunes, and soak in a dish of water. Strain beef from broth and reserve both. In large saute pan on medium heat, saute onions nearly covered in oil and sprinkled generously with turmeric, until they cook down to half their original size. In another large saute pan saute meat in a small amount of oil for about ten minutes to brown the sides. Remove meat and put in the onion pan on medium low. Strain plums and saute those for five minutes in a teaspoon of ghee. Remove and put in with the meat and onions. In another teaspoon of ghee, sautee chestnuts until golden. Remove and add to onion-beef pan. Now cook all together for about 45 minutes mostly with lid on, occassionally turning contents gently, and adding spoonfulls of beef broth here and there to keep everything moist and together but not saucy.

Fresh Veggie Platter

1 cucumber, or many smaller persian cukes

1 bunch radishes

handful cilantro

1 bunch green onions

handful tomatoes

This is so brilliant! To fill out this rich meal of complex slow cooked flavors with a platter of contrasting bright colors, fresh flavors, and crispy textures. She sliced cucumbers the long way into quarters so you have spears. Wash and trim radishes of roots, but leave whole, wash and present a bunch of cilantro, stems and all, for people to munch on (her nine-year-old loved munching whole cilantro stems!). Wash and trim scallions but leave whole, and cut tomatoes into generous bite size pieces. It's amazing how good all this simple stuff is, just bare, especially in the 0context of all these complex, deep, slowly cooked foods.

Pickled Veggies

jar of pickled veggies:

Carrots

Cabbage

Green Pepper

Cauliflower

eggplant

salt

vinegar

Again, such a nice touch to have a little dish of pickled veg on the table with the meal. The Ahmadov's had pickled their own veggies from their summer garden. I found a jar of similar pickled veg, Sadaf brand, at a middle eastern market.

Kalam Dolma

(I didn't see this made)

These were beef and rice stuffed in cabbage leaves. Her cousin brought them over.

The Anthill Desert

qarishga yuvasi

(I didn't see this made, but they told me about it and I tasted it. Really cool. They said it was something like cookie dough that they grind and bake in the oven. IT had some sort of coating on it - so I think they tossed it in something? And then piled into what looks like an anthill sprinkled with powdered sugar. They scooped it onto dessert plates, and served it with

Earl Gray Tea w/ Cardamon

They serve it straight, no milk or sugar, in these pretty small glass, glasses on saucers. Dishes, the shape and size, I am learning, do have quite a powerful effect on the experience.

Serve soup first. Place platers of all other dishes on the table for people to serve family style.

Shopping Notes:

Sinibad market in Portland, ME supplied me with sour golden plums and pickled veg,. You can order the golden sour plums/prunes here and elsewhere I'm sure. Dried cherries are the perfect substitute - a little sour, not too sweet. Whole Foods in Portland, ME had jarred prepared chestnuts and ground lamb. Fresh chestnuts were hit and miss at Hannaford. They're often in stores around Christmas. You can order Maine sustainably raised ground lamb from Northstar Farms. I also found it at Pineland Farms Market.

Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2011

The Story

Azerbaijani Meat with Chestnuts and Sour Plums

A Valentine’s Day invitation

By Lindsay Sterling

If the Committee of Basic World Knowledge had given me a surprise test, a world map with directions to fill in all the country names, I would have missed Azerbaijan. (It’s above Iran, next to Armenia, and under Russia.) I hope Tarlan Ahmadov and his wife Zemfira, two generous and kind-hearted people who immigrated from Baku, Azerbaijan, forgive me for having mistakenly equated their homeland with oblivion. They seemed grateful for the opportunity to give me an introduction by way of sharing their favorite meal. It was a Thanksgiving of dishes, but Zemfira insisted this was typical weekend fare. (I still don’t believe her!) A former teacher, she said she is very happy keeping Azerbaijani culinary and linguistic traditions alive at home while the children test remote toy trucks in the snow and then dash inside for another game of Wii.

Tarlan and Zemfira spent the morning before I arrived peeling chestnuts together. This strikes me as extremely romantic and charming. If people propose in restaurants, can I ask my spouse on a Valentine’s date through the newspaper? “Wanna peel chestnuts together hon?” Zemfira’s aunt and uncle came here originally because their inter-religious marriage wasn’t going over well in Azerbaijan. They lived and loved freely for many years in the United States. The Ahmadovs followed for their own family’s adventure.

Khamrashy was served first, a clear broth soup with black-eyed peas, homemade noodles, lamb meatballs and a delightful sprinkle of crushed dried mint. Before I arrived, Zemfira had already ground the lamb with onions in their own grinder, formed balls and cooked them in yjr water that would become the broth. I was lucky enough to witness her making the homemade noodles out of flour, egg and water. Her process was not like anything I’ve seen before. She used a two-foot-long dowel about a nickel in diameter with gradually tapered edges and rolled balls of dough on her kitchen table into perfect – perfect I tell you! – two foot wide circles of millimeter-thick dough. She folded the dough five or six times, then in half, and cut across it with a knife, making what looked like a snake pit of vermicelli-sized strips. I hoped her 4-year-old daughter, peering over the edge of the table, gets this down before she starts saying things like “why not just buy it?” or “This is boring. I’m going to the mall.”

The main dish, turshu kourma, is a mixture of whole chestnuts, sliced onions, beef cubes, and an ingredient that was new to me: sour, dried plums called albukhara. I found them under a different name, Persian golden prunes, at Sindbad Market, (207) 879-4469, 710 Forest Ave. Rich, sweet, savory, tangy, this dish is awesome, and I was successful recreating it at home. I love that all the ingredients keep their integrity, but their flavors meld thanks to a little ghee, some beef broth, and slow cooking. The dish’s counterpart, pilaff, was made of basmati rice, par-boiled like pasta, strained and then steamed with turmeric and ghee. The bright yellow grains were delightfully individualized. At home, though, I’d missed something. Mine came out all stuck together. Tarlan encouraged me over the phone “It takes practice!” Of course it does. Don’t all the really good things? There was more, oh there was more: pickled stuffed eggplant, a dessert that looked exactly like an anthill... so much beauty I couldn't possibly understand it all.

copyright Lindsay Sterling 2011