I was really excited when I received my instructions from Kimia, I love savoury food, peppers have never been my favourites, but I had a good feeling about peppers dolma style, I have only had a little bit of experience with Persian food, but a friends father taught me how to make rice with parsely and mint, mmm yummy, and I have a Kurtish friend from northern Iran, and her cooking is always delicious, and she taught me how to make grape leaf dolmas this past spring. So I was pretty sure I was going to love what Kimia sent. My favourite part of the instructions was when she wrote about her Azari heritage and summers visiting grandparents and the gathering in the kitchen to make the dish – the hectic and mishaps were definitely a part of my experience – which hopefully you will be able to see from my non-verbal feedback. And yes, Kimia, the kitten was nearby almost the whole time!!!
Sorry bubs it’s getting late, I don’t think I have the energy to make it for dinner tonight, lets put in a frozen pizza, I’ll make it for lunch tomorrow.
Okay so this part was really beautiful, and I was not able to convey in my nonverbal presentation, but the mint I used came from my backyard, but originally I brought that mint back with me from Ontario, it is from my grannies summer garden at the loghouse/schoolhouse. The recipe was from Kimia’s grandma, and the first ingredient was from my granny! So far so good. I also learned how to wash my rice up all nice, and put on the Persian Mix Kimia sent to cut a rug while I prepared the dish.
Still doing good, I got the onions, and the spice, and the meat, and the herbs… it smells so good!! But wait! Oh! I think I made my first mistake!! Eeeeeu. rewind. So proud that I washed it all nice, and got the onions going, I forgot to cook the rice! Eeek!
The rice is cooked, I switched over to the Anzari mix, which I dig, the sun is out, the door is open, the air is fresh and Nomi is supervising!!! I am starting to get a bit hungry though… don’t worry Bubs, I’m almost there!
Okay so a series of missteps, I also forgot to add the tomato paste to the rice mix, and ran into some pot sized discrepancies, so I can get all four peppers into one pot, but its tight, and then i read that I need a lid, that pot doesn’t have a lid, i usually use a plate, but it drips a lot… so I use the other pot, but its too big, I need one or two more peppers to fill it out, So I grab a couple spoons and wedge them in so the peppers don’t fall over.
Hahah, and then I read, cook for 2 hrs, or until the water is all gone. Spoiler alert – in the bigger pot after 4 hours, the water still hadn’t evaporated very much!! Sorry bubs, I’ll make us sandwiches us some sandwiches.
So good, definitely worth the wait! Now it’s getting quite late again, and I still have to make my presentation for class tomorrow morning!!! Hey Nomi! People food isn’t for you!!!
It turns out that Pepper Dolma makes a great breakfast!!
Kimia’s recipe was delicious! And even though we hadn’t spoken, it felt as if we knew each other very intimately. After the action was over we took the opportunity to chat over zoom, there was an ease to it, but also a bit of awkwardness, we had shared so much with each other. Once you arrive in Vancouver Kimia, we will have to get together to prepare some dolma. It would be a lot more fun, with more of us in the kitchen together! Thank you for sharing with me. I have more peppers and plan to make it again soon!