Salad-e Shirazi

It's classic of Middle Eastern feasts to have a beautiful fresh tomato and  herb salad and Iran is no exception. Iranian food is generally packed full of chopped herbs (sabzi) which make for incredible fresh and tangy salads. This recipe isn't the most unusual or remarkable salad you've ever come across, but it's one that you'll go back to and make again and again and again!

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients

4 tomatoes

1 small onion

2 Lebanese cucumbers

Juice of 2 limes

1/2 bunch fresh mint

1/2 bunch fresh parsley

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cracked black pepper

Salt to taste

To Make
1. Finely dice the tomatoes and then put in a strainer to strain out some of the juice while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (seems a shame to waste I know, but if you don't your salad will be very mushy!).
2. Peel the onion and dice very finely. Dice the cucumber.
3. Finely chop all the herbs.
4. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and allow to sit for about 20 minutes in the fridge. Serve.

Serves 2 (or 4 as a side salad).

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Sholeh Zard (Iranian Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

This is my latest offering in April - in which, I am featuring recipes from the amazing cuisine of Iran (check out the other recipes in the links below). Rice pudding is one of my favourite desserts, it's hearty, filling and warming for a cooler evening (and the evening have started to get a lot cooler here over the past week!). When I was young I didn't like rice pudding at all, but I think that I would have liked this deliciously simple sweet rosewater pudding. Sholeh Zard is a traditional Iranian dessert flavoured with rosewater and coloured with saffron. Traditionally it is served cold, however, I much preferred mine hot and would recommend it that way.

Talking Saffron....

Now comes the confession... I'm not exactly flush with money at the moment so I had to substitute my saffron! I know, true foodies would be horrified, but real saffron just wasn't an option for me! I'm also very conscious never to buy cheap saffron because it is usually fake, and some types of fake saffron are actually made from gelatine and food colouring (which horrified me when I found out!), therefore wouldn't be suitable for vegetarians or vegans (or anybody who doesn't consume animal products for religious or cultural reasons). I know that using turmeric instead of saffron is considered a culinary sin by high brow foodies, but sometimes needs must. However, I don't use just turmeric because it will go the wrong colour, so I add a pinch of sweet paprika as well to get a slightly more orangey hue. The recipe below includes options for saffron and for "student's saffron".

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients

250g long grain or basmati rice

1.5L cold water

400g sugar

1/2 tsp real saffron (OR 1 tsp tumeric plus a pinch of sweet paprika)

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup rosewater

1/2 cup slivered almonds (plus extra for garnish)

1/2 cup pistachios

To Make

1. Prehead your oven to 150 degrees C. Place the rice in a strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear.

2. Place the rice and the water in a big saucepan and put over a medium heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 15 minutes (or until the rice is just cooked). 

3. Add the sugar and stir well to dissolve. Transfer to a large baking dish (one that has a lid because you will need to cover it!).

4. Steep the saffron (or tumeric/paprika) in half a cup of hot water. Add the saffron, rosewater and almonds (except those which you will use to garnish). Stir well and cover.

5. Bake in the oven for half an hour. Let stand a bit to cool down before serving as it will be very hot coming out of the oven!

6. Roughly chop the pistachios (or pulse in a food processor). Garnish each serving liberally with slivered almonds and chopped pistachios before eating.

Serves 6.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Vegan Lemon Curd Cake Sandwiches

I've been doing a lot of blog hopping at the moment, in fact I had three over three days. It started with my own blog hop - The Soup-Off Challenge which was my first ever so I was a bit worried about whether it would work. It turned out to be a flop unfortunately, but c'est la vie! Next time I will know just to sit back and enter other people's hops rather than have any of my own. Nevertheless, I made an awesome soup which you should check out here - Green Tea Noodle Soup with Leek and Shitake Mushrooms.

Then, the very next day I participated in the Eat-the-Alphabet Blog Hop, a monthly group which featured E and F as the letters this month. The idea is to base the dish around a fruit, vegetable, bean, grain or pulse that starts with E or F. I made Vegan Fig and Red Wine Ice Cream - yum!

So, I almost didn't get time to make anything for the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, which this month is lemon themed and hosted by a favourite blogger of mine, Delicieux.  But I decided that I should try and get something in because I believe in supporting the blogging community by trying to make the culinary projects of other bloggers a success.

Lemons are a delicious theme! I don't know anybody who doesn't love lemon desserts. Several ones immediately spring to mind: lemon cake, lemon tart, lemon cupcakes, lemon meringue pie, lemon pudding, lemon pie etc. All delicious and classic recipes. However, I like to challenge myself with themes which is why I decided to invent something completely new which (to my knowledge) has never been done before. My answer was....

The Cake Sandwich.

These gorgeous tea party delights look very unassuming. In fact, they look like fairly plain and boring brown bread sandwiches. However, they are actually made from light lemony cake filled with wonderfully tangy lemon curd. They are perfect for a tea party because they combine two classic afternoon tea/tea party elements - cakes and triangle sandwiches. They can be almost completely prepared the day before and just assembled on the day - plus they are finger food so don't require plates or forks (=less washing up!).

Also - the lemon curd was to die for.


On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html


Lemon Curd Cake Sandwiches
Vegan Lemon Curd Recipe from vegnews.com


Ingredients
Lemon Curd:
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (should be about 2 lemons - note: zest lemons before juicing!)
3/4 cup coconut milk
3 heaped tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp turmeric

Cake:
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange essence
1 1/4 cups wholemeal plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda

To Make
Lemon Curd (must be made a day in advance)
1. Zest the lemon. (You may as well go ahead and zest the other lemon as well and set it aside for later as you will need it for the cake.) Then juice the lemons.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir well.
3. Place the saucepan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring continuously, to bring to a warm temperature (at no point should it simmer/boil - it it starts to simmer turn it down immediately).
4. Reduce the heat to low and continue stirring constantly. Leave over the low heat for 7 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer straight into a clean empty glass jar (don't leave it sitting in the hot saucepan).
5. All to cool and then refrigerate over night before using.

The Cake (can be made a day in advance)
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Mix the lemon zest, lemon juice and soy milk together and allow it to curdle for a few minutes.
3. Add the sugar, apple sauce, canola oil and extracts and mix well.
4. Sift the remaining ingredients into the batter and mix well.
5. Lightly grease a square 20cm x 20cm baking dish and line it with baking paper (mine was actually 21cm x 21cm, so don't worry about a few cm difference). Pour the batter in and smooth the top over evenly.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden on top and a skewer comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before using.

Assembly
1. Take out your cooled cake and cut it into even quarter squares. Then cut each square along both diagonals so that you have 4 small triangles in each quarter. If you are having difficulty visualising what I just described then here is a (not to scale) drawing:

2. Cut each small triangle in half lengthways (like you would slice open a bread roll) so that now you have two small pieces of cake which look just like brown bread. Now here is the clever trick - you want it to look just like brown bread so you need to spread the lemon curd (the sandwich filling) on the darker "crust" of the bread so that the middle bits of the cake are facing out. (If you find that a bit confusing just have a look at the pics of the finished products - you will see the softer middle parts of the cake form the look of the bread whilst the top and bottom edges of the actual cake face inwards with the lemon curd filling.

3. Continue filling sandwiches until you use up all the cake (you will have lemon curd left over but that's just a bonus!).

4. For best results refrigerate the made sandwiches for about 10 minutes to help them stay together.

Serve with tea of course! 

Makes 16 triangle sandwiches (and 2 small jars of lemon curd).

Vegan Fig and Red Wine Ice Cream

Over summer all my local greengrocers were stocking the most beautiful ripe figs for great prices. As soon as I saw these beautiful figs I instantly bought six. Then I got home and I couldn't decide what to do with them. It was tempting just to eat them all fresh in all their delicious fresh figgy goodness. But I have never made anything with figs so I decided that I wanted to use them in something. The first thing I thought of was The Kitchen Crusader's wonderful looking No Bake Fig and Chocolate Tart. But I'm trying to cook less rich and decadent desserts to be honest. I live with my partner and there are only so many rich desserts we can handle - so I thought I would make something which didn't have to be eaten all at once. My solution was fig and red wine ice cream (vegan, of course).

This is also my first time participating in the Eat-the-Alphabet link up blog hop - which I think it such a great idea. This month the letters E and F are being featured so I'm using Figs! For this recipe you'll need chilled coconut cream so be nice and organised and put the coconut cream in the fridge a few days before hand - I just keep a couple of tins in the fridge at all times so that I can pull them out and use it whenever I want.

On the subject of blog hops - I've decided that I should have one of my own since I have been participating in so many others' hops. Just trying to give a bit back into the community. It's open right now! The Vegan Soup-Off Challenge Blog Hop - don't be put off if you're not a vegan, it's open to everyone and vegetable/grain/pulse/noodle/pasta soups are for everyone - not just vegans. Please check it out and enter here.

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients
1 tin coconut cream, chilled for at least 24 hours (several days is even better)
1 cup red wine plus 3 tbsp
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup soy milk
175g silken tofu
1 tbsp vanilla extract
5-6 fresh figs, skins removed

To Make
1. Place the cinnamon stick and the 1 cup of red wine in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer until the liquid has reduced by half to 1/2 cup. Remove the cinnamon stick and allow to cool.
2. Open the can of coconut cream and scoop out the solid cream on the top. Set the liquid parts down the bottom of the can to use in another dish (I usually add mine to curries or soups).
3. Place the coconut cream, simmered red wine, soy milk, tofu, extra tbsp red wine, vanilla extract and the fresh figs in a blender. Blend to combine (don't over blend).
4. Pour the ice cream into an ice cream maker and process according to the instructions that come with your maker. If you don't have an ice cream maker - like me :( - pour the ice cream into a wide chilled dish. Then remove from the freezer every half hour and mix well - breaking up the frozen edges. I use a whisk or a large metal spoon, just make sure you break up all the frozen bits so that large ice crystals don't form. Do this at least 6 times, the more the better! Then leave to freeze overnight.
5. Once the ice cream is firm you can serve. I recommend removing it from the freezer 5-10 minutes before serving so that it's easier to scoop.

What is your favourite unusual ice cream flavour?

Green Tea Noodle Soup with Leek & Shitake

Recently I was on a jaunt to my local Asian supermarket stocking up on anything that looked cool to try out. You know what I found? Green sago! But that is a tangent - one that you can read about here. I also found Green Tea Noodles! They rather excited me. My favourite Japanese restaurant, Jazushi, makes an amazing green tea noodle salad and also served green tea noodles with their amazing Agedashi Tofu (which I always order). So when I was looking for inspiration I immediately grabbed the green tea noodles and cooked them up with a big fresh leek from my garden.

On another note - I've been nominated for the Best Australian Blogs 2012 People's Choice Award - you can vote for me by hitting up this link: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/peopleschoice.html

Ingredients

1 packet of green tea noodles

1 leek, thinly sliced (just use the white parts and save the green parts for another meal)

500g fresh Shitake mushrooms, trimmed and sliced

1 bunch broccolini, cut into 1 inch length pieces

1 litre water

2 sachets of kombu dashi (mine come in 10g sachets)

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

1/4 cup sake (or substitute 2 tbsp mirin)

Shallots to garnish

To Make

1. Cook the green tea noodles according to the packet directions (should just be boiling them in water for 5 mins). Drain and rinse well under cold water. Set aside.

2. Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in a saucepan and sauté the leeks until soft. Add the mushrooms, water, dashi powder, soy sauce and sake. Bring to a simmer and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

3. Add broccolini and the other tablespoon of sesame oil and simmer for a further 5 mins (until the broccolini is just cooked). 

4. Divide the noodles evenly amongst two bowls, sprinkle with chopped shallots and ladle the vegetables and broth over the top. If you like you can drizzle some more sesame oil over the top.

Serves 2.

I've submitted this recipe to the Vegan Virtual Linky Potluck - click here to see the other entries.

Iranian Sugar-Pickled Garlic

At the end of last month, when I announced that I would be featuring Iranian recipes all this month in this post, I hinted that you might be seeing something very garlicy from me - well here it is! Sugar pickled whole garlic cloves. You might be thinking that this just sounds a bit too overpowering and strong, but you'll just have to trust me (and all my dinner guests who loved this) when I tell you that it was amazing!

As a cook, I constantly reach little milestones of the development of my skills (I'm sure other cooks are alike),  these are mostly about doing things for the first time by hand (instead of buying things in jars, tins and packets from the supermarket). Things like making my own jam, making my own home made pasta (and then home made ravioli!), making my own pesto varieties or making my own infused spirits! All of these have been small milestones in my development as a cook and here is another one: making my own pickled vegetables!


This Iranian pickled garlic recipe was a great introduction, as it was very easy and didn't need to be stored for a long amount of time (as the garlic was cooked). This allowed me to prepare it in time to post as part of this month's Iranian recipes.

I served this pickled garlic and my torshi-havaj (recipe to come later!) to my dinner guests as part of mokhalafat (traditional Iranian table accompaniments) and it went down so well with my guests that some of them went so far as to say that it was their favourite dish of the night!

What is your favourite pickled vegetable?

Sugar Pickled Garlic

Adapted from www.food.com

Ingredients
3 whole heads of garlic
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup water
8 whole cloves
20 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt

To Make
1. Peel all the garlic cloves (I know! This is a pain but worth it!).
2. Place peeled garlic cloves with all other ingredients in a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
4. Remove lid and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
5. Transfer to a glass jar with a tight lid and store in the fridge for at least 3 weeks before serving (1-2 months optimum).

Serve as an accompaniment, add to wraps and salads, add to a cheese platter or antipasto platter.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

This Iranian sweet is quite unusual but also quite absurdly simple really. I'm not entirely sure why it's called Ice in Heaven - when I first read the name I thought it must be a milky frozen sweet, but then when I went to make it I find that it isn't frozen at all - it's just set with cornstarch just like Turkish Delight. It was delightfully simple to make and had a milky sweet taste with a lovely creamy consistency and colourful crunchy pistachios all over the top - what more could you ask for in a dessert?

The only thing you really need to know about it is that you have to stir it constantly to stop it going lumpy. I have to confess that I dropped the ball for a moment and ended up with some big sticky bits in mine but I managed to save it by putting the electric beaters through it on the highest setting and it whisked out the lumps. But learn from my mistake and just stir it continuously while you have it on the stove!

Yakh Dar Behesht
Adapted from the Iran Chamber Society website

Ingredients
1 litre almond milk
1 litre cold water
150g cornstarch
80g rice flour
500g raw sugar
1/2 cup rosewater
1 cup pistachios, very finely chopped

To Make
1. Place cold water in a large bowl and add the cornstarch. Stir well until the cornstarch is completely dissolved (there should be no lumps as long as you do this in cold water).
2. Place the almond milk and rice flour in a saucepan and stir well to dissolve. Add the cornstarch and place the saucepan over a low heat.
3. Stir continuously while the liquid heats up and bring it to a simmer. Stir continuously!!
4. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until it becomes the consistency of thick custard (stirring continuously!).
5. Pour into a large wide rectangular dish (like a big lasagne dish) and smooth the surface out level. Allow to cool.
6. Refrigerate for a couple of hours and then cut into diamond shaped slices in the pan.
7. Spread the crushed pistachios over the top and serve.

Serves 10-12.

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Artichoke & Pine Nut Dolma

Most of us encounter these little delights in the form of their Greek cousin, Dolmades. However, these parcels of rice wrapped in vine leaves also appear in Iranian cuisine (and some other Middle Eastern cuisines) called  Dolma. The term Dolma simply refers to something which is stuffed - in this case it refers to stuffed vine leaves. Eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes and many other vegetables can also be made into Dolma, simply by stuffing with a rice filling.

I've never been very fond of dolmades when I have had them from delicatessens or bought in restaurants or supermarkets. So, I have always thought that one day I would make my own and fill them with flavours that I love in the hope that I would finally enjoy them! I certainly did - having freshly made ones made such an amazing difference and I could happily eat these in vast quantities!

Ingredients

Preserved vine leaves (available from Middle Eastern grocers in packets or jars)

1 cup long grain rice

1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts

1 large tomato

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/2 bunch dill

2 cups vegetable stock

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

To Make

1. Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. Place in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes and then drain and rinse immediately with cold water.

2. Place the rice in a large mixing bowl and spread it out to allow it to dry while you prepare the rest of the filling.

3. Score the tomato with a cross on the underside and place it in a bowl of boiling hot water for about 2 minutes, or until the skin is split and wrinkled. Remove and rinse under cold water. Peel the skin off and discard.

4. Dry fry the pine nuts in a saucepan to toast for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently and watching carefully to make sure they don't burn.

5. Finely chop the artichoke hearts, peeled tomato and dill. 

6. Mix the rice, tomato, pine nuts, artichoke hearts and dill together. Season to taste with salt and pepper (optional).

7. Spread out a vine leaf (set aside any that have tears or holes and trim any long stems) and place a heaped tablespoon of rice filling at the base (at the point where the stem would have attached). Fold the two sides inwards and roll the leaf up tightly like a small cigar (because we've all done that before right??).

8. Line a wide pan with some of the ripped/discarded vine leaves and place the rolled vine leaves on them as you go, packing them in tightly so that they won't move around or unroll. 

9. Continue rolling until all the mix is used up. You will find that your dolma will vary in size because the vine leaves come in all different sizes!

10. When the pan is full, add the vegetable stock to the pan. Drizzle the lemon juice and olive oil over the top.

11. Place a plate upside down on top the the dolma in the pan to stop them moving around. Place the pan over a medium heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

12. Remove from the pan and serve warm or cold.

Makes 30-35 dolma (depending on the size of your vine leaves!).

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Persian Carrot and Rose Jam

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej (Persian Carrot & Rose Jam)

This month I am so incredibly excited to announce that I will be cooking and posting a plethora of Iranian cuisine! This is the fourth month that I have been featuring a different country each month and I have to say I am SO happy that somebody suggested Iran! So far we have featured Croatia, Chad and Bosnia - so it's definitely time we all visited the Middle East! Iranian food is a wonderful delight of ingredients such as eggplant, rice, okra, pomegranate, nuts, dates, fresh herbs and rosewater! All ingredients that I adore. So thank you from the bottom of my heart to the reader who suggested it!

I anticipate that this month may be the biggest one regarding the number of recipes, just because I found so many dishes that I wanted to try! I'm starting off with this one for two reasons, 1) because it is such an unusual idea that turned out so well and 2) because it fits into the Holiday Recipe Club's Easter/Passover Blog Hop theme. This hop's ingredients are: Spinach, Carrots and Eggs. Clearly eggs are out so carrots or spinach it is. However, I wanted to do something completely different to what I would normally do with these vegetables so here it is: Carrot and Rose Jam. I also wanted to make sure it was acceptable to Pesach food (no chametz and also suitable for any Jews which also abstain from kitniyot).

I know this sounds a bit unusual - however, really it makes a lot of sense. Orange vegetables really do lend themselves to be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Think carrot cake, pumpkin pie, sweet potato brownies (these exist! I have seen recipes on the internet), orange chicken, carrot and orange soup. There are plenty of other examples! The jam also turns out an awesome colour (one day I will try it with purple carrots)!

What are your favourite ways to use orange vegetables in sweet cooking?

Morabaa-Yeh Haveej

Adapted from persianrecipes.net 

Ingredient

1 kg carrots

1 kg sugar
1/4 cup rosewater
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 packed jam setta (for info on this see this other jam post)

To Make
1. Grate the carrots (there is no need to peel them first). This is awesome for building your arm muscles because it is a lot of grating. Alternately, if your food processor has a grating attachment you could use that and save yourself some time.
2. Add the grated carrot, lime juice and sugar to the biggest pot you own (you want it to be big enough that the jam only fills up half the pot).
3. Put over a medium heat and stir continuously until all the sugar has melted. Cover and boil over a medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add the jam setta. Boil for a further 10 minutes. Add the rose water and boil for a further  5 minutes.

5. To test whether the jam is ready do the set test. To do this: place a teaspoon full of the jam (preferably not a chunky fruity bit) on a saucer and put in the freezer for about 30-40 seconds. Take it out and run your finger through it. If the jam crinkles then it is ready. If it doesn't then boil the jam for a further 5 minutes and try the test again.

6. Once you have a successful set test remove the jam from the heat.

7. Wash your empty jars in warm soapy water and rinse well. Put the jam in them and screw the lids on tightly. 

8. Line a big saucepan with tea towels (so the glass jars don't touch the bottom or sides) and add the jars full of jam. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil for 20 minutes to sterilise. 

Makes 5-8 jars of jam (depending on the size of your jars).

This month I'm featuring lots of amazing Iranian recipes!

Check out my other Iranian recipe posts:

Artichoke and Pine Nut Dolma

Vegan Yakh Dar Behesht (Ice in Heaven)

Iranian Sugar-pickled Garlic

Sholeh Zard (Rice & Rosewater Pudding)

Salad-e Shirazi

Naaz Khatoon (Eggplant with Pomegranate Molasses)

Torshi-havij (Pickled Baby Carrots)

Mokhalafat (Traditional Accompaniments) 

Peach, Date and Walnut Bircher Muesli

I have a confession to make. I'm not good at eating breakfast. I beat myself up about it a lot because I know how important breakfast is. I'm always telling my patients how important it is to have breakfast and yet each morning I struggled to get inspired to eat and I usually end up skipping it. But now, I'm trying to kick myself in the backside and eat more regularly and get a healthy routine happening. The big first step is making sure I have breakfast every morning.

There are two main reasons I don't ever want to eat breakfast. Firstly, I never feel hungry in the mornings (this may be something to do with the fact that I usually have a big dinner). Secondly, I just don't like many breakfast foods. As a vegan I don't eat eggs, milk or yoghourt. That cuts out a lot of traditional breakfast foods. I'm also not big on eating a lot of wheat because it just isn't the kind of thing I want to fill my body with! All that really leaves me with for breakfast is elaborate things like pancakes (which I don't have the time or energy to make every day). So, I have set myself the mission of coming up with new things for breakfast which will actually excite me and make me want to eat breakfast!

This gorgeous bircher muesli was a fantastic start and made me feel really excited about my new routine! The thing I liked best about it was the fact it takes me 5 minutes to prepare it the night before and then it's just in the fridge waiting for me when I get up - so quick and easy! I loved this so much I decided to make exactly the same thing again for my breakfast the next day.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup dates, chopped

1 tbsp pepitas 

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 cup apple juice

1 large ripe peach

1/3 cup walnuts

2 tbsp slivered almonds, lightly toasted in a dry fry pan or for about a minute in a pre heated oven

To Make:

1. Mix the oats, dates, pepitas and sunflower seeds in a small bowl. Mix the apple juice in and leave to soak in the fridge overnight (or minimum 1 hour).

2. Slice and pit the peach and dice. Break the walnuts up with your hands and mix them and the peaches into the soaked muesli. 

3. Serve sprinkled with toasted slivered almonds.

Serves 2.

You'll be seeing a lot of new breakfast recipes from me I hope! What is your favourite quick and easy breakfast?

UPDATE:

It't been a few months now since I pledged to find and share some yummy vegan breakfast ideas, so here are some links to the ones I had added:

For more great vegan breakfast ideas that are worth getting up for check out:

Vegan Blueberry Oatbran Muffins (plus variations!)

Rainbow Banana Pancakes with Bourbon Syrup

Peach, Date and Walnut Bircher Muesli

Quadruple Hazelnut and Date Breakfast Muffins

Cherry and Almond Bircher Muesli

Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes