Everything About IRAN

[IQ]

Okra Stew
Khoresh BAmieh
(By Mrs. Soheila Amiri)

(3-6 servings.)


Ingredients:
1 pound fresh okras
1/2 pound stew meat cubed
4 Oz of Tomato Paste or
8 Oz of Tomato sauce
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic
1 tablespoon turmeric (Zard Choobeh)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cut off the stems of the okras, wash and drain them. In a medium
size pot, fry the onions in oil over medium heat until they turn golden
brown. Add the meat, salt, pepper and turmeric, stir, and let it cook for
a few minutes. Occasionally stir so it doesn't stick to the pot. Add the
tomato sauce/paste, stir and let it cook over medium-low heat. If you use
tomato paste, dilute it in hot water before adding it in.

Depending on the toughness of the meat you use, it may take as much
as an hour for the meat to soften. Occasionally, put a sharp knife in one
of the pieces to see if it has softened. In the process, you may have to
add more tomato sauce and/or water to stop the sauce mixture from thickening.

When the meat has softened, give the mixture one last vigorous stir
and put the okras on top. With a knife make a few holes into the garlic
clove (unpeeled), and put it in one corner of the pot so that later it could
be retrieved. Let it cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes or until
the okras have lost their green color.


HINTS:

If you get to pick the okras at the market, select the smallest
ones. Okras tend to get tougher as they get bigger. The pre-cut,
frozen okras could be used if all else fails.
When you are cutting the stems, try not to cut into the pods themselves.
Otherwise, you are going to end up with a gooey mess.
For the health conscious who doesn't want to use red meat, you can use
the same recipe with chicken breast.
If you're in a hurry, and have a pressure cooker handy, put the(red) meat
in the cooker with a medium onion cut in large pieces and a bit of salt,
pepper and turmeric, add water and let it cook for about 5-10 minutes.
Then take the meat out and drain it. Add it the same way as fresh meat
to the fried onions and follow the recipe from that point on.
Also, make sure you take out the clove of garlic before serving.Otherwise,
the poor sole who ends up eating it accidentally, may suffer sever consequences
the next day at work .

[IQ]

Vegitable Stew
Ghormeh-Sabzi
(By Mrs. Soheila Amiri)
(4 servings)
Note: This is the khuzestAni version which uses more variety of vegetables than the TehrAni version.

Ingredients:

Fresh spinach (esfenAg) 1 bunch or 1 medium size package.
Fresh dill (sheveed) 1/2 bunch.
Fresh parsely (ja`faree) 1 bunch.
Fresh cilantro or 1 bunch.
coriantro (geshneez)
Fresh Leak (tareh farangee) 1 bunch (use only the green stems).
Fresh chives (tareh) 1 bunch, or substitute stems of one
bunch of scallions (piAzcheh).
Fresh fenugreek
(shanbelileh) 1 bunch, or substitute 1 table spoon
of dried shanbelileh.
1 pound stew meat (beef, lamb, veal, etc.), cubed.
4 dried lemons (limoo amAnee) or,
1 table spoon dried lemon powder (gard-e leemo amAnee).
1 medium onion, finely diced.
1/2 teaspoon turmeric (zard choobeh).
3 tablespoons cooking oil.
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional).
1 cup of pre-soaked dried beans, or substitute 1 can.
A touch each of salt, pepper and crushed red peppers (if you like it spicy).
Directions:

Wash the meat and let it drain.

Cut off the heads of the leaks and scallions and put the stems along with the rest of vegetables in a kitchen stringer, thoroughly wash and drain them.

Using a cutting board, while repeatedly bunching up all vegetables together, finely chop the vegetables. The smaller the pieces the better. If you have a food processor, you could use it in place of the manual labor

Place the chopped vegetables in a pot, with heat setting on high and frequently stir the vegetables until all their excess water has evaporated.

Add two table spoons of cooking oil and continually stir fry the vegetables until they turn a browinsh color. This process should take about 15 minutes. Take the pot off and put it aside. During the stir fry process, you may add a bit more oil if needed. When finished, the vegetables resemble dried ones with no water remaining in the pot.

In another pot, add about one table spoon of cooking oil and the chopped onions and stir fry until they turn a golden brown color. Add the meat, stir fry for a few minutes, add salt, pepper and turmeric and let the meat fry with the onions for a few minutes. If you are using dried beans, at this point drain them and add them to the mixture. Turn the heat setting to medium.

Next poke a hole in each of the dried lemons and add them to the mixture (or add the powdered kind). Add about two cups (16 oz) of water, place the lid on the pot and let it boil for another 15 minutes.

Add the fried vegetables into the mixture, turn the heat setting to medium-low and let it cook. The cooking time required from this point on is about an hour. Half way through this period, if you are using canned beans, add them into the mixture. Once the meat is separated when poked by a fork, the stew is ready. This stew is served over white rice.

If you like the sour taste, you may add a table spoon of lemon juice towards the end of cooking.

Hints:

When stir frying, its imperative to constantly stir the vegetables. Otherwise, they quickly form a crust and burn. You can easily undercook the vegetables but you can hardly ever over cook them. If they look watery stir fry them a bit longer.
Almost all of the vegetables listed above are easily found at produce section of grocery stores. The only exception to this is shanbelileh (fenugreek). You can purchase dried ones from middle eastern stores.
Tareh (called chives and sometimes garlic chives) is somewhat hard to find. In place of chives, use the stems of scallions (also called green onions).
There are two kinds of parsely in the market. One is labeled as parsely and the other is called Italian parsely which has larger size leaves. You may use either one.
This stew can be made with two kinds of dried/canned beans. Either use kidney beans (loobiA ghermez) or black-eyed beans (loobiA cheshm bolboli). The canned beans soften quickly, so add them almost at the end and do not use the liquid inside the can.
If your stew ends up having a bitter taste, you more than likely burned the vegetables. If it smells like hannA (henna), you added too much spinach. You can't recover from these two mishaps. If the vegetables swim to one side and the meat goes the opposite way, you've undercooked it. Put in back on medium heat and let some of the excess water evaporate.

[IQ]

Beef Stew
Abgousht
(By Mrs. Soheila Amiri)
Ingredients:

One cup of Garbanzo beans (nokhod).
One cup of dried white beans (loobia sefeed).
1/2 pound of meat with bones (mAheecheh).
One medium onion, peeled.
One medium potato, peeled.
Half a cup long grain rice.
One medium tomato.
One table spoon turmeric (zard-choobeh).
Salt and pepper to the liking.
Two heads of whole dried lemons (leemoo-amAnee) or
4 tablespoons of lemon juice if you can't find dried lemons.
Directions:

Wash the meat and put it in a medium size pot (deezee for traditionalists), half filled with water, add the beans, the onion, turmeric, salt and pepper and let it cook for 1-2 hours on medium-low heat.

Next, add the potato, rice, and the tomato (they get too soft too soon if you add them at the beginning), and let it cook on low heat until all the ingredients are soft.

Take the pot out, separate the juice from the ingredients and pour the ingredients in a bowl, separate the bones and using a potato masher (gousht-coob) or something similar, finely mash the whole mixture. Taste a small portion and add more salt/pepper if needed. When the mixture has a smooth texture, it can be served.

The soup (juice) is also served in a separate bawl. The idea is to mix it with small pieces of bread (not American bread loaves, more like pita bread, tortilla bread, or any kind of Iranian bread you can find in specialty stores).

Hints:

Soak the dried beans and the rice before hand. It speeds up the cooking process.
The best kind of meat for this dish is what is called muscle meat (mAheecheh) which has plenty of meat, fat, and bones (the name used to refer to it escapes me unfortunately. Shank maybe?).
The tomato, potato, and the rice are all optional. They give richer flavor, color and texture to this dish. In more traditional versions they don't use any of these ingredients.
While mashing the ingredients, you can also add finely chopped raw onions. The onion juice gets mixed in and gives it a different flavor.
At the table, this dish is served with Iranian bread, raw onions, radishes and fresh herbs such as parsley, basil leaves, mint leaves, leeks, etc.

[IQ]

Rangeenak
(By Mrs. Soheila Amiri)



Ingredients:

1 pound of fresh dates (those huge california dates taste %100 better).
1 cup of white powdered sugar.
1 can of shelled walnuts.
1 cup of cinammon.
1 cup of sesame seeds.
Directions:

Roast the sesame seeds over the oven for a minute or so and set aside. Open the dates from one side only and stuff them with the walnuts. Make the cut as small as possible so that the date doesn't break in halves. Put half of a walnut per date. As you stuff the dates, place them in a flat oven dish in a round fashion (pick a nice dish, since it'll be served in the same one).

When one layer of dates is completed, sprinkle them freely with sesame seeds, powdered sugar and cinammon (in that order). Start another layer, sprinkle them in the same fashion until you run out of ingredients. Make the circles smaller as you work your way to the top. It makes it easier for people to pick and eat them, when the faithful moment arrives.

At last, place the dish in the oven (set at bake setting, say at 250 degrees) for a few minutes. The object is to just get them warmed up so that the ingredients stick to each other better. Take it out and serve it warm or cold.

[IQ]

Sweet Paste
HalvA
(By Mrs. Soheila Amiri)
(2? servings)
Ingredients:

1 cup (8 oz.) of cooking oil.
1 cup (8 oz.) of all purpose white flour.
1 cup (8 oz.) of granulated sugar.
1/2 cup (4 oz.) of rose water (golAb).
1 table spoon of sugar powder (or granuatated sugar).
1 table spoon of cinnamon (dArcheen).
Directions:

In a medium size pot, heat up the cooking oil and slowly pour the flour while stirring and continue to stir until the mixture has a smooth texture and a golden brown color.

In a small pot, over medium-high heat, mix the rose water and sugar, constantly stir, and let it cook for a few minutes, until all the sugar dissolves. Pour the rose-water and sugar mixture over the flour paste, mix it well, and over medium-high heat cook for a few minutes and then turn off the heat. Cover the lid of the pot with a clean rag/paper towel and let the mixture sit in the pot for about an hour.

Next, pour out the paste into a flat dish, mold/decorate it into the shape you want, sprinkle the mixture of sugar and cinnamon on top of it (while it is still warm), and serve.

HINTS:

Use unsalted white flour. Otherwise, the salt in the flour and the sugar used in the recipe give this dish a weird taste!!
The rose water (liquid rose flower extract), is found in most Middle Eastern specialty stores

[IQ]

Persian Architecture includes seven traditional forms which taken together form the foundation on which it was based in the same way that music was once based on a finite number of notes. These are modulated by the use of colours and textures to leaven the surfaces and are held together in an overall construction akin to that of a sonata in which connexion leads to culmination through a transition space. To appreciate the skill of the architects and designers fully, it is necessary to have an appreciation of these fundamental concepts which are divided below, for convenience, under separate headings, although in the geometry and architecture of of the buildings they are woven together to present a seamless whole.

[IQ]

The garden has been inextricably tied with Iranian culture since the Emperor Cyrus planted fruit trees at Pasargardae, just north of Shiraz. Indeed our word "Paradise" derives from the Persian word for an enclosed garden. For the formerly nomadic tribes of central Asia, the concept of a permanent place in which flowers and trees were planted to be enjoyed over successive years, became a powerful symbol.
The concept of garden is fundamental to an understanding of Shah Abbas I's intention in rebuilding Isfahan. The palaces he built were small since each had a definite purpose; the entertainment of visitors, the dispensation of justice, but they were linked by gardens set out along his great central avenue, Chahar Bagh (or four gardens).
There are few gardens left today in Isfahan but every house has its own miniature enclosure which will normally include some shade and a small pool around which people may gather when the weather permits.
The architectural conception of garden reflects the "sense of place" - makan -, the garden being viewed as a defined space encompassing within itself a total reflection of the cosmos. At the same time it reflects for the intellect the essence, the hidden dimension latent in positive space, symbolised in the picture on the right which shows men relaxing or discussing their affairs in the tea garden attached to the palace of Chehel Sotoon.
An architectural parallel is found in the cloistered study spaces of the Masjed-e-Imam or the garden in the Madrasa Mader-e-Shah. There is a poignant story that seventy years after the death of Shah Abbas I his pious but ineffectual successor, Sultan Hussein, who built the Madrasa Mader-e-Shah, laid out a new garden within Isfahan at Farahabad. When he was defeated by the Afghanis in a battle which marked the end to the Safavid dynasty, he offered to surrender the city of Isfahan in exchange for a peaceful life in Farahabad. The Afghanis took the city and the garden and destroyed the latter.

[IQ]

IN KISH

[me_89]

baba IQ jaan this is too much i cant read that much im not into reading and crap so i dont like books either but thanx anways rock on babe... have fun tc

[IQ]

what about the last pics. you can see those can't you ? kish pics.

[Cop]

IQ thanks for hard work dude hadde aghal bacheha ye tashakor konid chizi azeton kam nemishe

[me_89]

no baba i love IQ bishtar az in ke nemishe

[Narges-Khanoom]

Wow good job IQ.... And dastet dard nakone.... khaste nashodi enqad type kardi??? lol ...... anyways..... chera ye kam az khodet neminevisi.....

[me_89]

ummm narges jaan thats supposed to be in INTRODUCTION!!! hahahahahaha

[IQ]

Teheran is situated on the southern slopes of the Alborz mountain range. It lies at an elevation of 1,100 meters above the Caspian sea level and it is the vastest and the most populous city of Iran and also ranks among the prominent cities of the world.
Tehran was selected as the center of Iran during the Ghajar period (1800 A.D.) because of its pleasant weather and beauty of nature. Now it has grown to a conglomerade of ancient monuments, huge buildings, business centers, etc.

Damavand Peak (5672 m), the tallest mountain in Iran Plateau, is located on north of teheran and has inspired many poets and writers.


Dome of the world, O Damavand!
Chained, earth-bound White Giant
Whit your silver helmet
and your steel girth!
You hide yourself behind clouds
As if no man should look at your gentle face
When heaven's antagonism caused the Earth
To become cold and dark and silent and bleak,
It hits back in anger at Heaven with a punch.
You are that punch O damavand!
Oh, no, no, I'm not happy with what I said
You're not a punch thrown by Providence,
You are the unhappy heart of the Earth
Which is swollen with chronic pain.
(Malek-ol-Shoara Bahar)
Tehran which means warm slope, was a village in the suburb of the ancient Iranian capital of Ray, and after the fall of Ray by the Mongols in 1220 A.D., its residents moved to Tehran and the foundation for it to become a city was thus laid.
The oldest available historical records take Tehran as far back as the 3rd A.H./9th A.D. century; Yaqoot Hamavi, in his book Mo'jamol Boldan, says, Tehran is one of the villages of Ray.

The sectrial conflicts which was followed by the blind destructiveness, plunder and massacre launched by the Mongols (1218 - 1334 A.D.) brought about the destruction of Ray in 1220, and paved the way for the increase in population of Tehran. In 888/1378, with the rule of the Aq Qoyunlu (1378 - 150 over Ray and Tehran, in the scope of geography Tehran began to enjoy a more glaring status.

After the gain of power by the Safavid Dynasty (1502 - 1736), Tehran attracted the attention of Shah Tahmasp 1, (1524 - 1576), son of Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid Dynasty, who was going on a pilgrimage to Imamzadeh Hamzeh (A.S.), crossing through this region. In 961/1553, he ordered the construction of walls around Tehran with 114 forts, matching the number of Suras in the Koran. Length of these walls measured to 6000 paces. Shah Abbas appointed a chief magistrate for Tehran, and furthermore ordered the planting of a plane-tree grove, the site of which later became the Arg of Tehran (Tehran Citadel).

From this point on, Tehran joined the ranks of the Safavid Dynasty cities; a city with walls comprised of 114 forts and renowned gates, namely:


The Shah Abdul-Azim Gate

The Doolab Gate

The Shemiran Gate

The Qazvin Gate

In the late Safavid period, upon the order of Shah Suleiman, a splendid building was erected at the site of Chenarestan-e Shah Abbassi (the Shah Abbassi Plane-Tree Grove) where Shah Sultan Hussein (1664-1722) of the Safavid Dynasty, during the final years of his reign, spent some time there and received the ambassador from Sultan Ahmed, Ottoman ruler.

The Afghans selected the city citadle as their living quarters, and as an escaping measure, they constructed a bridge over the moat of the northern side of the citadel safeguarded by a gate called Arg. This very gate later became the site of the ruins on which the Dowlat Gate was erected.

With the fall of the power into the hands of Nadir shah (1736-1747), the Afghans realized that they lacked the military strength to confront his forces and the danger that was impending, so they decided to ravage the city and massacre its inhabitants; that they did, and left behind numerous corps, many homeless, and a large number of ruined structures.

In the year 1153/1643, Nadir Shah bestowed Tehran to his son, Reza Qoli Mirza. Approximately 20 years later, Karim Khan Zand (1750-1779), the founder of the Zand Dynasty, in order to continue his fight against Mohammad Hassan Khan Qajar (chief of the Qavanlu clan of the Qajars), captured the city and made it his military headquarters.

In 1173/1764, he ordered the construction of a large Diwankhaneh (government headquarters building) and a harem (seraglio), with its own surrounding walls and moats, inside the compound of the Tehran Citadel.

Agha Mohammad Khan, in 1200/1785, designated Tehran as his capital city, and after the elimination of all his rivals and enemies, he was formally crowned as shah at the Tehran Citadel. From this point on and until the fall of the Qajars, Tehran carried the title of Dar-ol Khelafeh (the Seat of the Caliphate) bestowed upon it by Agha Mohammad Khan, He was succeeded by his nephew Fath Ali Shah (1797-1834). During Fath Ali's reign, Tehran gradually improved and became more developed. New buildings were erected and the population began and upward trend with speculations that Tehran's population, in those years, was somewhere between 15 to 20 thousand. During the reign intenvals of Fath Ali Shah and his successor Mohammad Shah (1834-4 and until the beginning of Naser od-Din Shah's 1848-96) Tehran witnessed a three to four times population increase as well as the formation of new architectural structures including the Marmar (Marble) Ivan or Diwankhaneh va Darol Emareh (the Government Headquarters and the Governor's Seat), for the construction of which, the major materials were acquired from the Karim Khan's Vakil Palace in Shiras. Other monuments from this period were: the Golestan Garden and Palace, the Qajar Palace, the Khorroji Building, the Negarestan Garden and Palace, the Soltani Mosque, and a number of other splendid and luxurious structure, which were mainly used for the accommodation of nobles, generals and foreign ambassadors.

Tehran's truely remarkable growth coincided with the reign of Naserod-Din shah. The population of the city, over the course of a five year period, increased as much as three to four times. The number of people that lived in Tehran amounted to 155,736. Tehran at that time embodied the districts of Arg. Udlajan, Chal Maydan, Sangelaj, Bazaar and a number of outlying buildings around Tehran Known as the out of city quarters.

An important population characteristic observed in this census was the fact that immigrants constituted 73.4 percent of the population, while a mere 26.6 percent were accounted as Tehrani borns, Azarbyjanis, Isfahanis and Kashanis formed the majority of the immigrants, respectively.