For my final meal I chose to go with the theme of making foods related to protein (whether it be meat or bone for broth). The 3 Persian dishes are recipes I had received from my mother. For an appetizer I made a Pan Cooked Kebab, for the side I made a Wild rice Vegetable Soup made with Chicken Broth, and finally for the main dish I made a Lentil Beef curry with Basmati rice. I mainly choice these recipes because I had grown up eating these food and had never attempted to make them, I decided to take on this task of making these dishes mainly due to the reason so that I can learn to make these foods for myself in the future. I also choice these recipes also because I was trying to get rid of some of the ingredients that had been sitting in my fridge or freezer for a while.
Nutrition of meal:
When it comes the dishes nutritional value I believe they I chose dishes that are very diverse in their nutritional values. In my Pan cooked Kebab I obviously had ground beef but I also incorporated shredded bell peppers into the meat as well and topped it all off with fresh tomato sauce giving it not only value in protein but also vitamin and minerals from the vegetables. In my my vegetable soup with chicken broth I had vegetables ranging from carrots, celery, cabbage, and some scallions. These vegetables cover a wide variety of vitamins and minerals needed in a daily diet. I also had home made chicken broth that is loaded with vitamins and minerals as well (such as protein and iron). In the soup it also had wild rice which is a very good source of carbohydrates. Lastly in my Lentil Beef curry it had fresh chopped sautéed onions, ground beef, lentils, and a very large amount of tomato sauce. By ingredient list you can tell it ranged in a large variety of vegetables and proteins. It was also served with basmati rice giving it the carbohydrate element to it as well.
Appetizer: Pan Cooked Kebabs
Ingredients:
-1 lbs of ground beef
-2 tbsp salt
-2 tbsp pepper
-2 tbsp chili powder
-3-4 tbsp olive oil
-1 whole green pepper
-2 cups sauce tomato sauce (seedless)
Process: You first want to start out by adding the ground beef into a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and chili powder to the beef and mix it thoroughly. You then want to take your bell pepper and cut it into 4 pieces and then use a grater to grate the pepper into the beef. Then mix it thoroughly again and set to the side. Then take the tomatoes (in my case cherry tomatoes) and cut them in half and deseed them (you should save these for a different dish). One this is done you want to take a hand held speed blender and blend the tomatoes until smooth but also not too water. You then take you olive oil and add it to the pan, then take your ground beef and pat it down onto the pan (pat until your desirable thickness). Turn on the heat to medium, allow the beef to cook for a bit before adding the tomato sauce, after the sauce is added keep on low-medium heat for 30 minutes-1 hour to fully cook the meat.
Side Dish: Wild rice Vegetable Soup made with Chicken Broth
Ingredients
-4-5 cups water
-1 1/2 lbs chicken legs and wings
-3 tbsp salt
-1/2-1 cup wild rice
-1-2 cups grated carrots
-1/2 cup diced celery
-1/2 cup diced scallions
-1/4 cup diced cabbage
Process: I first started out by grating my carrots, dicing my celery, scallions and cabbage as these. I these rinsed the wild rice under water a couple of times to make sure it was cleaned from any dirt (you do NOT want to soak them). Then into a large bowl I added the water, and all my ingredients except the salt. I turned on the heat to medium and covered the pot and let it cook for a couple of hours. After I simply fished out the chicken parts, finally added the salt and it was ready to serve.
Main Dish: Lentil Beef curry with Basmati rice
Ingredients:
-1 whole diced yellow onion
-1 lbs ground beef
-2 cups lentil
-4 cups tomato sauce (seedless)
-4 tbsp salt
-4-5 tbsp chili powder
-1 tbsp turmeric powder
-2-3 cups basmati rice
-2-3 tbsp olive oil
Process: The first thing I started with was about 24 hours before cooking I look the lentils and rice and washed them (separately) and then I let them soak in water over night. The next day I started by taking the onions and dicing them up, then adding them to a pan, adding a bit of the olive oil and sautéing them, after the onions were close to being done I added the ground beef as well as a tablespoon of the salt, turmeric, and chili powder. After that beef was fully cooked I set it off to the side. I dumped all the water out of the bowl my rice was in and added the rice to a pot, adding a bit of the olive oil and water and let it on low heat with a tight lid on it to allow it to steam cook for the next hour. I then took my tomatoes and cut them in half and removed all the seeds, I then used a small hand help blender and blended it until it was very smooth. I then added my tomato sauce, beef, onions, the remaining salt and chili powder, and the olive; I put this in a small bowl and set it over low heat for about 10 minutes. I rinsed off the lentils and added it to the them to the bowl with the sauce. I allowed it to cook a bit longer on the stove before transferring it to a oven and set it to 165º F for 2-3 hours. It can be served on the rice or it can also be eaten as a dip with bread.
Final Thoughts:
Overall I was very satisfied with the results of all 3 dishes. I was especially surprised by how the side of wild rice vegetable soup with chicken broth turned out. It was my first time attempting to make chicken broth so I wasn't extremely confident on how it would turn out. One tweak I did make to make the broth was that instead of introducing my vegetables after the broth was made I decided to put it in right away to allow those flavors to be incorporated within the broth itself and at the same time cook. I did this mainly for the wild rice as I knew that would take the longest to cook. My initial thought while doing this was that the vegetables and wild rice would become to mushy and overcooked while being in the broth for so long (if that was the case I had a back up plan on just use the hand blender to blend it all together and make a smooth soup). I personally am not a big fan of vegetable heavy soups but I really did enjoy the flavor of the soup and the overall result of the chicken broth. While I was overall satisfied with all the foods there was a few changes I would have made. The biggest one would be be to introduce more spices to the Pan cooked Kebab, I think I underestimated how potent the taste of the tomato sauce would, it tasted a bit bland to me, luckily the tomato sauce did add some flavor but some spies would have been better. Lastly I would have changed the amount of oil I added to the Lentil Beef curry. While I was cooking it I added the oil and didn't think there was enough so I added a bit more, I didn't take into consideration how much of the tomato sauce would cook off leaving ergo making the oil to tomato sauce proportions off. I still liked the flavor but just the excess oil made it a bit greasy tasting, even for my taste. Overall I was very satisfied with the results of all 3 dishes and how they turned out both visually and flavor wise.
Nutrition of meal:
When it comes the dishes nutritional value I believe they I chose dishes that are very diverse in their nutritional values. In my Pan cooked Kebab I obviously had ground beef but I also incorporated shredded bell peppers into the meat as well and topped it all off with fresh tomato sauce giving it not only value in protein but also vitamin and minerals from the vegetables. In my my vegetable soup with chicken broth I had vegetables ranging from carrots, celery, cabbage, and some scallions. These vegetables cover a wide variety of vitamins and minerals needed in a daily diet. I also had home made chicken broth that is loaded with vitamins and minerals as well (such as protein and iron). In the soup it also had wild rice which is a very good source of carbohydrates. Lastly in my Lentil Beef curry it had fresh chopped sautéed onions, ground beef, lentils, and a very large amount of tomato sauce. By ingredient list you can tell it ranged in a large variety of vegetables and proteins. It was also served with basmati rice giving it the carbohydrate element to it as well.
Ingredients of all the dishes (Some ingredients may be missing)
Appetizer: Pan Cooked Kebabs
Ingredients:
-1 lbs of ground beef
-2 tbsp salt
-2 tbsp pepper
-2 tbsp chili powder
-3-4 tbsp olive oil
-1 whole green pepper
-2 cups sauce tomato sauce (seedless)
Process: You first want to start out by adding the ground beef into a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and chili powder to the beef and mix it thoroughly. You then want to take your bell pepper and cut it into 4 pieces and then use a grater to grate the pepper into the beef. Then mix it thoroughly again and set to the side. Then take the tomatoes (in my case cherry tomatoes) and cut them in half and deseed them (you should save these for a different dish). One this is done you want to take a hand held speed blender and blend the tomatoes until smooth but also not too water. You then take you olive oil and add it to the pan, then take your ground beef and pat it down onto the pan (pat until your desirable thickness). Turn on the heat to medium, allow the beef to cook for a bit before adding the tomato sauce, after the sauce is added keep on low-medium heat for 30 minutes-1 hour to fully cook the meat.
Side Dish: Wild rice Vegetable Soup made with Chicken Broth
Ingredients
-4-5 cups water
-1 1/2 lbs chicken legs and wings
-3 tbsp salt
-1/2-1 cup wild rice
-1-2 cups grated carrots
-1/2 cup diced celery
-1/2 cup diced scallions
-1/4 cup diced cabbage
Process: I first started out by grating my carrots, dicing my celery, scallions and cabbage as these. I these rinsed the wild rice under water a couple of times to make sure it was cleaned from any dirt (you do NOT want to soak them). Then into a large bowl I added the water, and all my ingredients except the salt. I turned on the heat to medium and covered the pot and let it cook for a couple of hours. After I simply fished out the chicken parts, finally added the salt and it was ready to serve.
Main Dish: Lentil Beef curry with Basmati rice
Ingredients:
-1 whole diced yellow onion
-1 lbs ground beef
-2 cups lentil
-4 cups tomato sauce (seedless)
-4 tbsp salt
-4-5 tbsp chili powder
-1 tbsp turmeric powder
-2-3 cups basmati rice
-2-3 tbsp olive oil
Process: The first thing I started with was about 24 hours before cooking I look the lentils and rice and washed them (separately) and then I let them soak in water over night. The next day I started by taking the onions and dicing them up, then adding them to a pan, adding a bit of the olive oil and sautéing them, after the onions were close to being done I added the ground beef as well as a tablespoon of the salt, turmeric, and chili powder. After that beef was fully cooked I set it off to the side. I dumped all the water out of the bowl my rice was in and added the rice to a pot, adding a bit of the olive oil and water and let it on low heat with a tight lid on it to allow it to steam cook for the next hour. I then took my tomatoes and cut them in half and removed all the seeds, I then used a small hand help blender and blended it until it was very smooth. I then added my tomato sauce, beef, onions, the remaining salt and chili powder, and the olive; I put this in a small bowl and set it over low heat for about 10 minutes. I rinsed off the lentils and added it to the them to the bowl with the sauce. I allowed it to cook a bit longer on the stove before transferring it to a oven and set it to 165º F for 2-3 hours. It can be served on the rice or it can also be eaten as a dip with bread.
Final Thoughts:
Overall I was very satisfied with the results of all 3 dishes. I was especially surprised by how the side of wild rice vegetable soup with chicken broth turned out. It was my first time attempting to make chicken broth so I wasn't extremely confident on how it would turn out. One tweak I did make to make the broth was that instead of introducing my vegetables after the broth was made I decided to put it in right away to allow those flavors to be incorporated within the broth itself and at the same time cook. I did this mainly for the wild rice as I knew that would take the longest to cook. My initial thought while doing this was that the vegetables and wild rice would become to mushy and overcooked while being in the broth for so long (if that was the case I had a back up plan on just use the hand blender to blend it all together and make a smooth soup). I personally am not a big fan of vegetable heavy soups but I really did enjoy the flavor of the soup and the overall result of the chicken broth. While I was overall satisfied with all the foods there was a few changes I would have made. The biggest one would be be to introduce more spices to the Pan cooked Kebab, I think I underestimated how potent the taste of the tomato sauce would, it tasted a bit bland to me, luckily the tomato sauce did add some flavor but some spies would have been better. Lastly I would have changed the amount of oil I added to the Lentil Beef curry. While I was cooking it I added the oil and didn't think there was enough so I added a bit more, I didn't take into consideration how much of the tomato sauce would cook off leaving ergo making the oil to tomato sauce proportions off. I still liked the flavor but just the excess oil made it a bit greasy tasting, even for my taste. Overall I was very satisfied with the results of all 3 dishes and how they turned out both visually and flavor wise.
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