Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving goes global

We had an amazing holiday weekend. Both S + I are stuffed to the gills with yum. I held down the So Cal fort while S spent her turkey days up in the SF area.  S’s family does a traditional dinner followed the next day by an Italian influenced version of Thanksgiving. Almost doesn’t seem fair to get two full days of feasting, right! My family does a very traditional, Southern style supper with all the holiday favs. But the prize for the most creative Thanksgiving dinner goes to our friend, Jill. She and her friend carry on an 8 year tradition of enjoying a different global feast each Thanksgiving. She was kind enough to share her adventure with us. S + I will share out thanksgiving pictures tomorrow.

A Thanksgiving Persian Excursion in Tehrangeles (minus the turkey & stuffing)

Eight years ago my best friend and I started a Thanksgiving tradition by accident really. It was 2001, and we had both just moved to LA. Unable to be with our families for the holiday made us incredibly home sick and the thought of cooking our own feast didn’t feel quite right since we associated eating turkey and all the trimmings with our loved ones. So we decided to go out to eat. We went to a Greek Restaurant in Malibu and indulged in all the wonderful flavors of Greece. It was there that we decided to begin a tradition to dine at a different ethnic restaurant every Thanksgiving.

This is our 8th year and this year the chosen cuisine was Persian and the destination was Flame Restaurant in Westwood. Did you know that Southern California is home to more Iranian immigrants than any other place in the US? While the turkey and stuffing were missing from our feast the counting of our blessings were plentiful and were the centerpiece of our gathering.

Our meal started with a basket of piping hot flatbread from the restaurant’s tanoor, a clay oven.

The appetizer was a dish called tadig, a dish consisting of rice so crispy you’ll need to stab through the crust like an ice fisherman. Tadig is created by scraping the bottom of a rice pot, but don’t think you’re getting the detritus of a cook’s day. Spending all the time at the bottom nearly carbonizes the rice, drawing out every molecule of a grain’s flavor. It is recommended to pour stews on top of the tadig—ghemeh bademjon (tomatoes, yellow peas and eggplant—more delicious than it sounds) ghormehsabzi (vegetables cooked with veal, kidney beans and special seasonings) or fessenjoon, the walnut-pomegranate elixir. We couldn’t decide between them so we did the combination platter.

Our feast included Chicken Barg (Marinated boneless chicken breasts), Rack of Lamb Kebab, Chengen Kebab (filet mignon marinated in a special sauce) and Chelo Kebab (charbroiled seasoned ground beef.)

Doogh means “to milk” and is prepared by beating unflavored yogurt, then diluting with water to a consistency similar to whole milk. Salt and dried mint is mixed in as well. To put it simply and I mean no disrespect but it tastes like you just had a big gulp of salt water from the ocean.

We enjoyed saffron and rose ice cream to cap off our delicious meal. Oh, and the restaurant even had Tehran music videos on plasma screens. We became very acquainted with the “Madonna” of Iran.

I will definitely return to Westwood Blvd. to further explore the Persian culture. There are many Iranian-owned grocery stores, bookstores and restaurants that make Iranian Angelenos – Tehrangelenos- feel connected to their homeland. I loved being a visitor!

Posted by c  at   1:54 PM    3 comment