Chelow, Is It Me You're Looking For?

NATIONAL DISH OF IRAN - Chelow Kabab

In Melbourne, for the last hurrah of summer we have The St Kilda Festival. Although you would be forgiven for living in Melbourne this year and not knowing the word 'summer'. Down on the foreshore, there is bands, stalls and plenty to do for the family. The main street is closed off and all the bars and restaurants down Acland St are filled to the brim with customers. And of course there are drunken revelers that fill the streets after it finishes. I don't really enjoy going down there unless there are some good bands playing. For you can never get into bars or get served, and if you lose your friends you can't call them cause the phone reception is blocked due to the amount of people down there. So instead I throw a BBQ for anyone to come over to eat, drink and be merry on a Sunday. Food, alcohol, so who else would be there? The Molefaces!

And for a relaxed BBQ I chose the national dish of Iran, Chelow Kabab. Chelow Kabab consists of a kebab served with steamed, saffroned basmati rice. Other accompaniments include grilled tomatoes, sumac sprinkled on the rice/meat, and lavash bread. Then there is the controversial accompaniment of raw egg yolk that is placed on top of the rice. Although this is more of an older traditional and is not really practiced today. And I don't feel warm inside about the prospect of raw egg yolk, so we won't be partaking in that method either.

Enjoy, or as they say in Iran, نوش جان! (nooshe jan)



Recipe for some Iranian BBQ lamb: http://www.persiancity.com/recipes/recipe.asp?ID=55

Difficulty:         4

Appearance:   4

Taste:              4 

TOTAL:           12

Creating the marinade, cutting up the meat and letting it marinate overnight are pretty much the steps to this recipe. And of course cooking it at the end. So not much difficulty. However, where the difficulty lies is trying to prevent your hands being stained by the saffron tinged meat. Although it did get me one step closer to one of my life goals: becoming a member of The Simpsons.

The simple cooked meat of the Kabab looked and smelled inviting, but when assembled with the sides of the roasted tomatoes, basmati rice and lavash bread, the appeal factor multiplies by 10!

The meat tasted great (kudos to master BBQ'er Mark George), and the sumac I sprinkled on the end was a new taste for me. The red powder gave a deceptive tart and lemony taste that countered the strong taste of the saffron. And it paired beautifully with the sides. Wrapped in some lavash bread, add a bit of rice and some sour cream or yogurt....DELISH! The only downside would the grilled tomatoes. I love me a good tomato, but something happens when you try to pretend that it's a piece of steak and began grilling it. In my book, it goes from YAY to OMG WHAT DID YOU DO? Thankfully there was plenty of meat to ignore the grilled tomatoes. And The Molefaces that tried it loved the flavour.