- This is too intense for one day.
- Totally nearly burnt the house down, so take two.
- This is nothing like I have ever tasted in my life.
(upbeat music)
- Hi, I'm Sepi, and I'll be challenging my friend Vishal
to make Iranian food for the day.
- Hey, my name is Vishal.
I am from BuzzFeed India, and I live in Mumbai,
and today I am going to swap a meal
with my dear friend,
Sepi. - I've not cooked much
Indian cuisine, and I'm so ready for it.
- I don't have much idea about Iranian cuisine,
but I know for a fact that we Indians do have
a lot of influences from there.
It'll be interesting to see how our foods overlap.
- The meals I've selected for Vishal are,
the first dish is one of my absolute favorites,
Khoresh Gheymeh with chips, and, of course, rice and tahdig.
The second dish is the iconic dessert, Faloodeh.
- [Vishal] The dishes that I've selected for Sepi
are egg masala curry with roti.
This is one of my most favorite meals to eat.
And, for dessert, we have Assamese rice pudding
called payakh.
Let's get to cooking, and nooshe jaan.
The first recipe that I'm giving Sepi is
a quintessential egg masala curry.
This is one of my most favorite curries,
and it's really close to my heart
because I learned to make it during the lockdown.
For this recipe, Sepi will have to take
four hard boiled eggs and slice them into halves.
Cut two medium sized onions and fry them
until they are brown, and then in a mixer grinder,
coarse grind the fried onions.
(immersion blender whirs) - Oh, ooh, ooh, oh.
(Sepi speaks foreign language) - And then take a cooking pot,
and add the oil, add the cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon.
After stirring for a bit,
add the ginger garlic paste. - Oh. (beeps)
Totally nearly burnt the house down.
So take two. - Now add the chopped
tomatoes, and then let it cook for a bit.
Now add the salt, the red chili powder, coriander powder,
the cumin powder, then continue cooking
for about two minutes.
At this point, the tomatoes should become
almost like a paste.
This is where the curry has started brewing. (meows)
Now you can add the curd, and mix it.
Now you can add the onions into the curry.
After that, you can add the garam masala to it
and let it cook for about a minute more.
Add water so that your curry doesn't burn.
Now, add the sliced eggs with the yolk facing downwards.
Let the spices seep into the egg.
Then turn the eggs over.
Now you can garnish this curry with kasuri methi
or fresh coriander.
I personally like fresh coriander.
Sepi, it'll be test of our friendship,
which one you go with.
The next item in today's meal is, of course, rotis.
Rotis are flatbreads
made out of whole wheat flour, and it's round.
I can't make them round.
Mine are usually trapezoid. (laughs)
- [Sepi] Well, I'm not too confident, I'm not gonna lie.
As long as it tastes okay, I hope it'll be fine.
- [Vishal] And then you have to cook them on a flat pan.
If you don't have a flat pan, good luck.
This egg curry and roti combo really slaps every time
I make it.
- Mm, oh, this is insane.
Thank you, Vishal.
I'm speechless.
Let's get a bit of the egg.
Mm, (claps) I've never had a curry,
which is like an egg curry.
I'm not going back.
The great thing about it is it just packs so much flavor.
I do think I didn't make the roti very well.
Also, this dish is very different to Persian cooking.
We don't have a lot of curries with these sort of
spicy spices in.
We use a lot of herbs, and I'm totally here for it.
So the first dish I'll be getting Vishal to make is
one of the most iconic stews, Khoresh Gheymeh.
This is a super aromatic dish,
and whenever somebody makes us a family gathering,
I'm the first one at the sofreh.
So firstly, heat up some oil in a big pan
and fry your onions. (onions sizzle)
Then add the turmeric, pepper, and fry until golden.
Now, remove two tablespoons of onion
and set aside for later.
Now, add the lamb and fry with the onions.
Once the meat has browned, add half of the cinnamon,
coriander, curry and cardamom powder,
and fry for a few minutes. - The spices are really
doing their magic. - Now, add some hot water
and allow it to come to a boil.
While the meat is cooking, heat up some oil
and add some yellow split peas, then some tomato paste.
Then add some hot water and boil for 15 minutes.
Now add this mixture to the meat and give it a good stir.
Here's your dried limes, and add them to the stew.
- I don't have dried lime.
I searched it all over the place.
So I called Sepi and asked her if I can just use
lime squeezed in, so I'm just gonna do that
- [Sepi] Cover with lid and let it cook on a low heat
for three to four hours.
This is key in Persian cooking.
Timing is everything. - We are going to go over
to the next dish, which is rice with tahdig.
- [Sepi] Once you've parboiled your rice,
add oil to the base and add your rice back in.
Let it cook, but keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.
- This is too intense for one day
- It's time to flip.
Good luck, Vishal. (whispers)
- Okay, wait, how do we do this?
How do we do this? - You got this, Vishal.
I trust you. - Here we go.
(pot and pan clang) Whoa.
That was intense.
Time to reveal.
Oh, no, I think we burnt a little bit
- Back to the Gheymeh.
Now your stew should have turned more of a deep red color.
Time to add the salt, saffron, onions,
and the rest of the spices.
For the topping, fry your chips.
This is an important touch for Gheymeh.
Now it's time to serve, (foreign phrase).
- Before even taste testing it all together,
I can tell I'm gonna cook this again at some point.
Let's dig in.
Oh, my God.
Absolutely amazing, Sepi.
Give me a moment, okay?
This is nothing like I have ever tasted in my life.
I can't say what it is.
It's so comforting.
The flavors are like so chaotic,
but still it's all together.
It's beautiful.
Bah bah.
For the dessert recipe, I wanted to give Sepi something
from my home state of Assam.
Payakh is Assamese rice pudding.
What makes it really, really unique is the use of joha rice.
- I already have an issue.
I don't have joha rice.
Is basmati okay?
I hope it's okay. - What rice?
Basmati, basmati. (pronounces BAHZ-mah-tee)
Yes, just go ahead.
Best of luck. - Thank goodness.
Let's continue. - I love the smell of payakh.
It provides me so much comfort.
Emotions. (speaks foreign phrase)
For this recipe, Sepi will have to take the rice
and soak it in water for 30 minutes.
Boil the milk, and when the milk starts boiling,
lower the flame and add the bay leaves.
Then add the soaked rice and the cardamom
and give it a nice stir.
In the low flame, cook this for about 15 to 20 minutes
until the rice is cooked.
Add the jaggery or sugar according to your taste,
but it shouldn't be too sweet.
When the jaggery or the sugar is melted,
you can add the cashew nuts and the raisins,
and then you can continue cooking for about 10 more minutes.
Now you can add the condensed milk.
If you're going to add condensed milk,
it does add a little bit of a different flavor.
Now turn off the stove and let the payakh cool down.
It will get thicker as it cools.
Now you can serve it in a bowl.
You can garnish it with some cashew
and raisins, whatever you like.
You can also serve it right away, warm,
or you could also put it in a fridge for some time
and serve it cold, which is also great.
I like both. - I'm actually a bit nervous
to try this because it's really similar to
some Persian desserts we have like shir berenj
and sholeh zard, and I don't really like those desserts.
Let's dig in.
Mm.
This is actually better than I thought it would be.
I'm not gonna lie, I'm not the bigger fan of raisins,
but the raisins in this actually add such a nice texture.
I'm not mad at it.
I know the condensed milk was optional,
but I'm so glad I added it.
I think if I didn't add the condensed milk,
it wouldn't have been right for me.
And this dish really feels like a lovely warm hug.
So thank you, Vishal, for putting this on your menu.
I've been very pleasantly surprised on this one.
Vishal will be making the beautiful faloodeh.
This traditional dessert originates from Shiraz in Iran,
and it contains vermicelli noodles
with frozen rosewater syrup. - I know faloodeh is very
popular in India,
but I have never had faloodeh in my life.
- [Sepi] Firstly, Vishal will pour water and sugar
into a pot and place this on heat to dissolve the sugar.
Once cooled, add your rose water and stir.
- This smells so good.
There you go. - Refrigerate the syrup
for a few hours.
The mixture should become thicker as time passes.
- [Vishal] Oh, my God, look at this.
- [Sepi] Now, it's time to boil the noodles.
Once cooked, drain and pour cold water
on the noodles. - I don't think I got
the right vermicelli for this.
To avoid wastage, I'm just gonna use this.
I think it's gonna taste the same, though,
but the texture is going to be a little different.
So yeah, sorry. - Now cut the noodles
with scissors.
Add the noodles to the frozen syrup and mix.
Now, add a squeeze of lime
and a bit of cherry syrup on top if you have any.
And now you have a bowl of faloodeh.
- Mm,
my God.
The rose water is really doing it for me.
Oh, my God, what a lovely, lovely dessert.
Thank you so much, Sepi, for introducing me to all of this.
Have I become a faloodeh fan now?
I have never had faloodeh in my life.
Who knows, only time will tell.
- [Sepi] I just wanna thank you, Vishal, for the recipes.
I had such a great time, and I really hope you enjoyed
my Iranian dishes.
Catch you in the next one. (upbeat music)