Middle Eastern

As with her art of miniature painting and poetry, Persia has carried the preparation of rice to extraordinary heights of refinement. In Iran today, whereas bread is the daily staple, rice is the occasional prestige food for most of the population. It is said that no other country prepares rice in the same perfectionist manner. The result is a light, separate, and fragrant grain.

This is an elegant and decorative way of serving rice at a party.

There is a dish of rice cooked in yogurt which has been stabilized so that it doesn’t curdle (see page 113), but it is simpler and just as good to pour yogurt over plain rice. Everyone likes this, and Arab doctors prescribe it for people with stomach troubles.

A great variety of vegetable fillings exist. Vegetables with a meat filling are meant to be eaten hot, those with a meatless filling are usually cooked in oil and eaten cold. In Turkey these are called yalangi dolma or “false dolma,” because of the lack of meat. The following are the fillings most widely used. Quantities are enough to stuff about 2 pounds of vegetables, but this varies according to the size of the vegetables and the amount of pulp scooped out.

This was a family favorite.

In Turkey it is sade pilav; in Egypt it is roz mefalfel. The ingredients and quantities are the same as in the first recipe. Turks always use butter and plenty of it for rice to be eaten hot, and use olive oil when it is to be eaten cold. Butter is truly wonderful with rice, but some people today have turned to using a bland vegetable or seed oil, sunflower oil being the most common.

A delicious version, to be served hot with plain rice or with roz bil shaghria (rice with vermicelli, page 340).

A street vendor in Cairo used to sell these wrapped in newspaper, to be eaten on the spot or carried home. Other small or medium-sized fish can be used in the same way.