Spinach Cake

Adopted from Mom! What's for dinner? Blog.

This cake is amazing! If you don't know what's in this cake you can not tell its spinach.

I had some guests over and non of them could tell!

Spinach cake is a Turkish cake. So moist and delicious!

Try it with cream cheese frosting and enjoy the combination of tastes!

Ingredients:

- 3 eggs

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1 1/2 cup sugar

- 1 cup spinach puree

- 3/4 cup canola oil (the original recipe calls for light or extra light olive oil)

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice

- 2 cups flour

- 3 teaspoons baking powder 

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for Cream cheese frosting:

- 120 grams butter, softened

- 120 grams cream cheese, softened

- 2 cups powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cream-cheese-frosting-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Baby spinach are best for this cake. If using regular spinach remove stems.

Puree spinach in a food processor or blender till pureed. It should be perfectly fine and no trace of spinach. Just like this picture.

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch pans.

Beat eggs and sugar until light and creamy. Add oil, lemon juice and pureed spinach and mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt and blend into spinach mixture for 1 minute.

Pour into greased pans. 

      Bake for about 30 minutes and check with toothpick. Let them cool then transfer to serving plate.

Spread half of the frosting on the bottom layer and put the other one on top and add the other half of frosting on top.

Sheermal Bread

Shirmal or Sheermal is a saffron flavored traditional bread made in Iran. 

It is a mildly sweet and perfect for breakfast.

It can be made as a stuffed bread with dates or raisins or walnuts.

I it so soft , light and tasty you can not stop eating it!

I love this bread with jam for the breakfast.

This recipe is tested to perfection!

Thanks to 2nafare.com

Ingredients for the dough:

- 1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast

- 1/2 cup warm milk (40 degree C)

- 1/2 cup warm water

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup sugar

- 1/2 cup canola oil

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 350 to 400 grams flour

Ingredients for topping:

- 1 egg yolk

- 1 tablespoon milk

- 1/2 tablespoon sugar

- Saffron

- sesame seeds

All ingredients must be at room temperature for the best results.

Pour half of the warm water in a small bowl and add dry yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. In this step temperature of water is so important it should be exactly around 40 degree C. If it is too cold the yeast does not gonna rise and if it is too hot the yeast will die. So make sure the water is correct temperature.

After 3 to 4 minutes the the yeast bubbles up to the surface. this means the yeast is working.

In a separate bowl mix warm milk, sugar, egg and salt. Mix well until sugar is dissolved.

Add half of the oil and mix.

Add active yeast to the mixture and slowly add flour and mix constantly.

Add enough flour until the dough starts to form. Now transfer the dough to a floured surface and start to work the dough. Always try to work with palm of your hands. work the dough for good 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile if you see the dough gets too sticky, add the remaining oil  little by little.

After 15 minutes you should have a very soft and light and non sticky dough.

Rest the dough in a warm place for 2 hours until double in size.

Transfer the rested dough to a clean floured surface and form shapes with the dough.

To make the stuffed Shirmal just roll the dough and form an oval. Spread pitted dates down the middle section. Cut 1" crosswise strips down the length of the outside sections, making sure you have the same number of strips on both sides.

Flip the top piece over onto the filling.
Beginning with the left, lift the top dough strip and gently bring it across the filling diagonally.
Repeat on the other side with the top dough strip, so that the two strips crisscross each other.
Continue down the entire braid, alternating sides.

 

 To make a woven bread divide the dough into six equal parts and make six strands. Weave them as a basket. Twist two ends together and join them.

After forming the dough in desired shapes. let the dough rest in the baking sheet fro 20 minutes (do not rest the dough more than 30 minutes in this stage as it cracks through baking process.)

Now brush the top of bread with egg yolk, milk sugar and saffron mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake on the 350 degree F preheat oven for 20 minutes until golden.

Pickled Green Cherry Tomatoes

 

All summer we had beautiful cherry tomatoes from our little garden. last week I saw lots of cherry tomatoes still hanging there but, all green. I knew with this cold weather they are not going to turn red any more!

What should I do with them?

Yeah...Pickled tomatoes!

Yummy, gorgeous and delicious!

I just tell the ingredients I used. The amount depends on the amount of cherry tomatoes also your taste!

Ingredients:

- Green cherry tomatoes

- Mustard seeds

- Coriander seeds

- Kosher salt

- Black pepper

-  Dry tarragon

- Celery salt
 Dry mint

- Garlic

- Golpar (Heracleum persicum)

-Vinegar

- Water

Combine 3 cups of vinegar with one cup of water and 1 tablespoon salt in a large pot and bring to boil.

I used 3 jars.

Add almost 1 tablespoon of each spices to each jar and mix.

With a tooth pick poke tomatoes in different areas this way all the flavor goes inside the tomatoes and it is gonna be so flavorful and yummy.

Pack the tomatoes inside each jar and add 2 to 3 cloves of garlic in each jar.

Pour vinegar mixture over the tomatoes.

Put the lid on and place in cool and cry place.

You can eat your delicious green cherry tomato pickles after 2 to 3 weeks.

Enjoy!

KooKoo Paneer (Cheese Fritters)

 Who doesn't like cheese?  

This is one of my favorite fritters in the whole world!

Simple but extremely delicious. 

Kookoo Paneer is a traditional food in a northern city in Iran called Masouleh. The main ingredient is a local farm cheese called Siahmazgi. The texture and taste of Siahmazgi cheese is so close to parmesan cheese and surely can compete with the best cheeses in the world!

 Siahmazgi Cheese

 

City of Masouleh

You can make it with your favorite cheese.

It can be a great breakfast or dinner for your little ones too.

Try it now!

Ingredients:

 -300 grams cheese

- 2 to 3 eggs

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 1 teaspoon turmeric

- Pinch of cinnamon

- Oil for frying

Put all the the ingredients in a electric mixer. Mix and pour the batter in a hot pan with oil. Fry both sides.

Just like that you have a great and yummy dish!

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Bread

Fall is here! 

Leaves are turning yellow and red. The Pumpkin, apple and pomegranate season is here!

I love fall. Fall means apple pie, pumpkin pie, butternut squash soup...and much more!

 

Here is my first recipe of the season!

Fall in love with this gorgeous and yummy and fragrant butternut squash bread!

The smell in your house is great when baking this bread.

It is so yummy your kids gonna love it!

Ingredients:

- 200 grams butternut squash puree (or pumpkin puree)

- 2 eggs

- 1/3 cup milk

- 1 3/4 cups flour

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon cinnamon

- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice

- 1/2 teaspoon cloves

- 1/2 cup canola oil

- 1 1/2 cup sugar 

- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl beat the eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and oil and whisk until sugar dissolves.

Add milk and butternut squash puree and stir well.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin spice.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Pour the mixture to the pan sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top. Bake for  an hour or until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean.

Let it cool for 10 minutes then remove from the pan.

Enjoy with a cup of coffee.

Torshi Tareh (Persian Herb Stew)

Torshi Tareh is a traditional stew dish from Northern Province of Iran.

It is usually served with Kateh (Simple and plain rice), smoked white fish and Seer Torshi (Pickled Garlic).

To make a perfect Kateh just add about two parts of water to one part cleaned and rinsed rice in a pot, add salt and oil cover the pot and let it simmer on low heat for 30 to 40 minutes.

Ingredients:

- 150 grams cilantro, chopped

- 150 grams spinach, chopped

- 75 grams green onions, chopped

- 75 grams parsley, chopped

- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped

- 4 tablespoons rice

- 1/2 cup Verjuice or lemon juice you can change the amount base on your taste (you can find grape verjuice at any Iranian store)

- 2 to 3 tablespoons butter or oil 

- 2 eggs

- Salt & Pepper

- Turmeric

In a medium pot wash the rice and add one cup water.

Place the pot over medium heat and let the rice cook. When the rice is almost cooked add chopped vegetables and stir and let them cook together. 

Add salt and pepper and turmeric.

In a small pan add butter or oil and saute the garlic with a little bit of turmeric until soft and golden.

Transfer the garlic to the pot and stir.

Add verjuice and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

You can crack the eggs in as small bowl and beat them then add to the pot and stir put the lid on and let the egg cook or fry the eggs in the pan that you used for sauteing the garlic then add fried eggs on top of the stew for garnish. This way is more fancy and the taste of garlic combined with fried eggs makes it more yummy!

As you see I used the first method for the eggs.

Reshteh Polo (Persian Rice and Noodles Traditional Dish)

This is one of the traditional dishes that usually is served at New Year's Eve or New Year's Day (Nowruz) in Iran. It is pretty popular throughout the year too.

Some like it with sauteed raisins and dates and some serve it with shredded pistachio and almonds.

It also can be served with cooked chicken or small meatballs.

For the meatballs you just need grated onion, ground beef, salt & pepper. I'll explain more in another post.

This time I made it with cooked chicken.

Ingredients:

- 2 cups rice, rinsed
-100 grams of reshteh (toasted noodles), Reshteh may be found in Persian/Iranian grocery stores.
- Butter or vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon saffron powder dissolved in 5 tablespoons of hot water
-Salt & pepper
-Water

- raisins (optional)
- I used 2 chicken legs and 2 chicken breasts

- 1 onion

- Turmeric and 1/4 teaspoon saffron

Peel the onion and cut in half. Place the chicken legs and chicken breast in a medium sauce pan add onion, salt and pepper, turmeric. Place the pan over medium-low heat and cook until tender. Add saffron and 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. After the chickens cooked and cooled slightly cut them in small cubes.

Place a large pan over low heat add oil and noodles and saute the noodles for a few minutes add 1/2 cup water , some chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of saffron water. The noodles should be somewhat soft yet a little firm. Now add cubed chickens.

 

Wash the rice with warm water a few times. Soak in 4 cups of water, add 2 tablespoons of salt and set aside for an hour.

In a large non-stick pot bring 5 cups of water to a rapid boil on high heat. 

Drain the soaked rice and gently pour into the pot. Bring the water back to a boil on high heat, add the rice

and boil for about 8 minutes. Rice should be firm in the center and soft on the outside. . Then drain the rice in a colander.

Return the pot to heat, add 3 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons of liquid saffron and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and 2 tablespoons of water. Place a round pita bread on the bottom of the pot. With a large spatula place one layer of large over the pita bread then one layer noodles and chickens. Pour 1 teaspoon saffron water over each layer and try to mix the rice carefully to absorb the saffron and turn yellow.

Cover the pot and place on medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes then lower the heat on low and cook for 45 to 50 minutes.

Lightly saute the raisins in oil or butter and set aside.

Serve on a platter and garnish with raisins or pistachio slices.

This is Tah-Dig the crunchy and crispy bottom layer of pot that we made with pita bread. Tah-Dig is usually the first thing that disappears in a lunch or dinner table! So tasty and popular!