As I have written here in years past (hard to believe how long I've been here!), the winter solstice is a big celebration in the Persian culture. My husband is originally from Tehran and we have a big feast each year to celebrate the longest night of the year.
Tonight we will be dining on roasted saffron chicken with barberry rice and noon (Persian flat bread). Dessert is simple since the entree takes about 4 hours to make. We will have fresh fruit and yogurt. Everything has symbolic meaning and we are looking forward to the long night and the much anticipated "enlightened" morning of sun.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and is enjoying all the holidays this month has!
Dawn in IL
Red Tractor Girl
True Blue Farmgirl
6663 Posts
Winnie
Gainesville
Fl
USA
6663 Posts
Posted - Dec 21 2013 : 07:57:30 AM
Dawn, your celebration dinner sounds delicious!! What is barberry rice? Enjoy your family traditions today. They sounds wonderful!
Thank you ladies. We got our solstice gifts in the mail today from my mother-in-law. Talk about good timing! She was in Iran and flew back to CA on Thanksgiving. We got lots of sweets, saffron(!), mixed nuts, beautiful amber and diamond rings for my husband and I (the designs symbolize keeping one safe from evil), a beautiful treasure box and $ and a sweater for our son. Dinner just went up another notch for tonight!
Here is the recipe from my favorite Persian cookbook author. http://www.chow.com/recipes/11068-barberry-rice-zereshk-polow I hope this answers your questions about barberries (dried) and gives you an idea of a delicious Persian dinner in case you haven't tried this superb cuisine before.
Thanks for the recipe. I printed it out and hope to try it next week. An uncle of mine lived in Iran for years when I was a child. It will make it even more fun to check this out!
Susan
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
Happy Winter Solstice --Thank goodness it is the shortest day of the year. That means the days will slowly be getting longer. I will dance in the light of the almost full moon. MB
Happy Winter Solstice!
Posted - Dec 21 2013 : 07:28:42 AM
