A Persian Cookery Class at Open Kitchen

Fojah Dajaj Polow (chicken and rice)

A Taste of Madgascar and Tanzania cookery class was my first experience at the Open Kitchen in Hoxton. Open Kitchen is a bar and restaurant and the training ground for the London City Hospitality Centre (LCHC). The students prepare and serve food and drinks as part of their vocational studies and chef Amira, is one such student. I went back not long after to check out her Persian cooking class.

Chef Amira delivering the class

This class was massively different in that we were going to be using spice (sadly lacking in the last).  Very unfamiliar ones too like dried black lemon, which we were told is a traditional ingredient in Persian cooking. Result! I could already see that this was going to be a good class. And it was.

Look – spices!

We got to work on a chicken and rice dish called, Fojah Dajaj Polow, followed by a tomato, onion and dill salad called, Shirazy Salada. Both dishes were easy to prepare, you just had to keep an eye on the timings really. And although the dishes were simple, I definitely felt I had got a little taste of Persia. I loved how we also learned a traditional trick of tying a cloth around a pot to create a lid.

As a surprise bonus chef Amira had pre-prepared an okra stew, which went really well with the overall dish. At then end of the class you get to eat the meal in the downstairs restaurant area. This was a good opportunity to chat with the rest of the group, and to more importantly compare results.

I lack patience with reading and following instructions and much prefer to be taught by demonstration. I appreciate it takes a lot to deliver to a room full of strangers, but chef Amira was confident, bubbly and passionate – I’d completely forgotten that she was still a student. Her recipes (given below) are def worth a try and so to are her other classes:

13/01/13 – Colombian
06/03/13 – Jordanian
15/03/13 – Brazilian
27/03/13 – Qatarian/Emarati
29/03/13 – Kenya

A class at Open Kitchen is priced at £59 per person for a 2-hour lesson.

Open Kitchen: 40 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6LR.
Tel: 020 7613 9590
www.openkitchen.biz

Food I Fancy was a guest of Open Kitchen.

Persian Chicken and Rice (Fojah Dajaj Polow)

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Serves	1
Prep time	45 minutes
Cook time	45 minutes
Total time	1 hours, 30 minutes
By author	Chef Amira

Persian chicken and rice (Fojah Dajaj Polow).

Ingredients

• 1 chicken leg
• 1 teaspoon Arabic spices
• 1/4 green pepper diced
• 1/2 hot green pepper diced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 dried black lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped coriander
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 80g basmati rice
• vegetable oil
• water
• salt to taste

Directions

	Wash the rice and soak for 30 min.
	In a hot pan add some oil then onion, turmeric, Arabic spices, cumin, garlic and sauté for 2 min.
	Add chicken, salt, dried lemon, hot green pepper, green pepper and sauté for 2 min.
	Add tomato paste and fill half pot with water, cover the pot and leave to simmer for 30 min.
	Take chicken out and place on a plate.
	Rinse the rice and add to the pot, the chicken stock should be covering the rice.
	Cover the pot with lid and tea towel and leave to simmer until rice is cooked.
	Check after 15 min.
	Brush chicken with tomato paste and put iit on a tray in the oven to brown at 160 degrees for 15 min.
	Plate the rice with the chicken on top.
	Garnish with fresh coriander.

Shirazy Salada

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Serves	1
Prep time	5 minutes
By author	Chef Amira

A fresh Persian salad.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cucumber
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 onion
• 1/2 lemon
• a few strands of dill
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

	Slice the cucumber.
	Cut tomatoes into halves.
	Finely dice the onion.
	Finely chop the dill, then place all the chopped ingredients to a bowl.
	Add a few drops of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.
	Mix all together.