Gheyme nesa

Gheyme nesa is a traditional Iranian food and since I have a sweet tooth, it is my favourite. It got some kind of berries that we in Farsi,call it Zereshk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berberis), it is an excellent antioxidant and really tasty, you can pretty much get it from health shops or Iranian groceries. This recipe will serve 2-3 but I am fully capable of finishing it all by my self. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Lamb boneless shoulder: 400 g

Onion: 1 medium

Carrot:2 medium

Flaked chopped almond: a handful

vegetable oil: 1 Tsp

Orange flakes (dried): a handful

Rice: 1.5 cup

Saffron: 1/4 tsp

Sugar: 2.5 Tsp

Chop the onion finely and fry it in the oil until it has changed its colour. Slice the lamb and trim it from all its fat and add it to the onion. add salt, pepper, turmeric to taste. Grate the carrot and add that to the frying combination. Now the tricky bit is the orange (dried) skins and that is a bit bitter and you need to take the bitterness away. Now my mom has a ritualistic way to do it: pour ice cold water and put the orange skin in it and bring it to boil, when its boiled empty the water and repeat this procedure three times. I say NO to all this, just boil some water in the kettle, put the orange skin in a cup and pour the boiled water on it and let it be for a couple of hours and you're good to do (don't tell my mom).

add the orange skin to other things in the frying pan and then add berberis and the sugar and saffron to it. Add half a glass of water and let everything melt and match nicely.

In another pan boil some rice with some salt and a tiny drop of vegetable oil. Then when the water is all steamed out, add the lamb mixture to the rice and put the led on. Reduce the heat and set the table and in 15-20 minutes when the rice is all soft and nice, serve the food.