Assyrian Flag
me, my brother, mom, and dad
my mom, brother, me , my dad ( at Half Moon Bay)
My family is very traditional when it comes to certain holidays. Coming from an Assyrian ethnicity, where my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all born in Iran and migrated to America in the early 70s. In my household it’s, my mom, my dad, my younger brother, and myself. When it comes to certain holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving, the whole family usually comes over to our house and celebrates by eating mass amounts of ethnic foods, drinking shots, playing backgammon, and telling stories. The usual suspects that come over on those holidays are: uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and close family friends that might as well be called family.
family members sitting around the appetizers table
I guess neither of these guys knew there was a camera present.
Family gathered along the dinner table
My cousin, me, my brother
me, my grandma, my brother
When you walk into our house on any one of those days, you immediately smell a strong scent of international foods drifting up your nose. The dinner/lunch menu will consist of three or four different types of rice, chicken plates, beef plates, several types of salad, and various dessert dishes. Since Assyrians don’t actually have their own country anymore, majority of the Assyrian population resides in either Iran or Iraq. My family was originally from Iran so 90% of our recipes are Persian influenced.
Some of the dinner plates
Sabzi Polo (rice with herbs and saffron)
Salad Shirazi (persian style salad)
Tachin (upside down rice with egg yolk, chicken, and zerishk (sour berries))
Ashe Reshte (persian style stew with four types of beans, spinach, and noodle)
My personal favorite dish out of all of those mentioned above, would have to be the Tachin. If you’re interested in trying this delicious gourmet dish, I have the ingredients and recipe posted below.
DIY (Do-It-Yourself)
Ingredients:
- 2 cups basmati rice (dry)
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cup yogurt
- 1½ tsp saffron (Persian not Spanish)
- 4 pieces chicken breast (fresh or defrosted)
- A few dashes salt and pepper
- 4-5 tbsp vegetable or olive oil (just enough to thinly coat bottom of baking dish)
- ¼ cup salted butter thinly sliced
Preparation:
- Crush saffron with mortar and pestle so that the spice is ground to a fine consistency.
- Cook rice so that it’s not quite half cooked. This procedure is a delicate one. Fill large pot almost ¾ full with water. Add a few dashes of salt to the water.
- Add rice and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat a little but make sure rice continues to boil vigorously. Stir occasionally to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. This stage of cooking barely takes a couple of minutes and should be closely monitored. It is best to stay next to the stove during this entire process.
- Keep checking the rice by removing a grain to see if it is just past the stage of being hard throughout. Half cooked means that the hard center has barely changed from its raw state but that the grain is still far away from being the fluffy texture of fully cooked rice.
- Drain the rice.
- Beat eggs in mixing bowl. Stir in yogurt, saffron, salt and pepper. Remember salt and pepper can always be added after the dish is cooked so do not over season.
- Add liquid mixture to rice and stir in gently.
- Coat the bottom of a four quart baking dish with oil. Distribute pats of butter evenly over oil.
- Place half of the total mixture in baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 400° F.
- Remove from oven and lay pieces of chicken on top of the partially cooked mixture. Cover with remaining rice mixture. Cook 25 minutes at 400° F.
- Reduce heat to 250° F and cook for 20 minutes.
After reading and observing my family traditions and traditional dishes, what do you think your favorite dish would be out of those mentioned above? (please comment in the space provided below)
