Recipes...

Katira asked for some recipes

Pigeon or Chicken Pie

2 lbs ground chicken (dark meat is better)
3 teaspoons thyme
3 tablespoons parsley, fresh
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 tablespoon fenugeek leaves, crushed
1 juniper berries, mashed
3 cups almonds (ground)
1 cups pinenuts, toasted and ground
2 lemons, juice of
1 teaspoon salt
12 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pomegranate mollasses
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 large onions, ground
1 large carrot, ground
1/4 cup of rose water
3 cloves of garlic, groud
1/3 cups honey
1/3 cups water
9 leaves phyllo or mountain bread

Grind together the chicken, onion, garlic, carrot and the juniper berry. Melt the butter in one pot and melt the honey and water in another. Brush a tin with butter and lay in the mountain bread of phyllo. Brush that with butter. Repeat three times. Mix all the remaining ingredients and pack on top of the phyllo. Cover with three more buttered layers of phyllo and then one layer of phyllo that is brushed with honey water and bake for 25 minutes at 320 degrees.


Chelow:

3 cups basmati rice
9 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
1/2 teaspoon tumeric powder
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2/3 cup butter, clarified melted, unsalted or olive oil (see note)
1/2 cup of white butter (this is made only from the fat from the top of whole milk)

Wash the rice 4-6 times until it runs clear. Pick it over as needed. Boil the rice between 6 and 10 minutes at a full rolling, boil. Drain the rice. Steep the safforn in a tablespoon of boiling water. Whisk 1/4 cup of white butter, clarified butter and enough water to thin it (I am thinking 1/2 cup of water from the modern recipes.) Pour the butter mixture into the pot. Pat half the rice into the pot so it makes a shell, then mound the rest in the middle. Cover and cook it covered 8 minutes. Then turn it off. Sprinkle the rice with 1/2 cup of water. Get a dishtowel and wrap the lid of the pot, or put paper towels between the pot and the lid. Cook on low for 40 minutes or until golden crust forms. Now, our cooks decided to parboil this for 24 minutes instead of 6-10 so it got mushy and puddinglike. We only allowed 12 minutes for the crust.