1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (128 page)

That’s certainly true of a soup no food lover should go without trying, and which begins and ends with pomegranates, the symbol of fertility and plenty. Good-luck pomegranates are worked into the soup first as paste and juice, combined with a base of pungently seasoned amber-yellow split peas. Fresh herbs and the ever-present turmeric are joined by plenty of black pepper and a hint of the airy, elusive angelica. A little lean ground beef or lamb and rice are added for extra body, along with one finely chopped beet cooked in the soup until it virtually disappears, leaving only its color behind.

The flavors are as vivid as the colors here, the final soup emerging with the sweet, sour, and winey overtones of the pomegranates, a combination that achieves extra depth if the soup is allowed to mellow and ripen in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours. For good measure, individual portions of the hot soup are garnished with a green-gold sauce of parsley sautéed with garlic and turmeric, and a final sprinkling of shiny pomegranate seeds.

Where:
In Houston
, Saffron Persian Café, tel 713-780-7474; Café Caspian, tel 281-493-4000,
cafecaspian.com
;
Mail order:
For whole pomegranates, November–January,
pomstoyou.com
;
for whole pomegranates and seeds, Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
; for pomegranate juice, amazon.com.
Further information and recipes:
A Taste of Persia
by Najmieh Batmanglij (2004);
Secrets of Cooking: Armenian, Lebanese, Persian
by Linda Chirinian (1986);
Pomegranates: 70 Celebratory Recipes
by Ann Kleinberg (2004);
foodandwine.com
(search persian pomegranate soup with meatballs).

Perhaps the most sublime of all Middle Eastern grills, this Iranian specialty begins with the savory
kubideh
(meaning squashed)
kebab
of ground lamb (and sometimes beef) and grated onion and saffron, marinated in yogurt and garlic. What makes it a
chelo kebab
is the way the smoky charcoal-grilled meat is slid off its skewers and onto a bed of mellow basmati rice. A Tehran tradition sold in many of the pita shops that dot the city, it is made at home for holidays and special occasions like Norooz, or “New Day,” the two-week observance of the Persian New Year that begins in mid-March.

The rice, cooked slowly until it forms a marvelously crunchy crust, is no slouch. Glossed with melted butter, it is enriched by a raw egg yolk broken and stirred into the mix along with the bright spice of sumac. Grilled tomatoes and warm pita bread provide the finishing touches to a feast that is at once elegant and reassuringly rustic.

Where:
In Chicago
, Noon-O-Kabab, tel 773-279-9309,
noonokabab.co
;
in Sunnyvale, CA
, Chelokababi Restaurant, tel 408-737-1222,
chelokababi.com
;
in Los Angeles
, Attari Sandwich Shop and Grill, tel 310-446-4660,
attarisandwiches.com
;
in Vienna, VA
, Shamshiry, tel 703-448-8883,
shamshiry.com
.
Further information and recipes:
New Persian Cooking
by Jila Dana-Haeri, Shahrzad Ghorashian, and Jason Lowe (2011);
A Taste of Persia
by Najmieh K. Batmanglij (2007);
Secrets of Cooking: Armenian, Lebanese, Persian
by Linda Chirinian (1986);
saveur.com
(search persian kebabs).

Sweet and tender, but with just enough crunch to entice, the small green pistachio (
Pistacia vera
) is one of the world’s most prized nuts, an ancient pleasure beloved for its exotic flavor and its naturally salty essence. When it’s
not being compulsively eaten out of its shell, the pistachio is most often served roasted and salted. Its flavor, distilled to a gorgeously perfumy essence, is a famous enhancer of ice cream, candies, cakes, cookies, and on the savory side, of Middle Eastern stews.

A native of Turkey and Afghanistan, the low and bushy pistachio tree was introduced to Europe in the first century
A.D.
and today flourishes throughout the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and parts of North Africa. It is also widely cultivated in California, in whose climate it thrives. The best, biggest, and most intensely flavorful pistachios grow in Iran, the world’s largest producer, but global sanctions currently prevent the importation of its sublime product.

The edible pistachio nut is the kernel inside the stone of a small, olivelike, and otherwise inedible fruit called a drupe. When the pistachio is ripe, the fruit turns red and the stone inside (the nut shell) parts slightly to expose the nut, making it easy to open—a stage often described as “laughing,” which is what the shell looks like it’s doing. But the joke’s not on you. Pistachios are not only addictively delicious but are also high in antioxidants, amino acids, and the monounsaturated fats said to promote cardiovascular health.

Have you spied a red-shelled pistachio? It’s not green pistachio’s cousin or an effect related to the ripening of the fruit, but rather a now-uncommon marketing trick achieved via food coloring.

Mail order:
Zenobia, tel 866-936-6242,
nutsonthenet.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Arabesque
by Claudia Roden (2005);
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
Nuts: More than 75 Delicious & Healthy Recipes
by Avner Laskin (2008);
A Taste of Persia
by Najmieh Batmanglij (2007);
Jerusalem: A Cookbook
by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (2012);
americanpistachios.org
;
cookstr.com
(search pistachios);
bonappetit.com
(search spiced pistachios).
Tip:
Look for Zenobia brand pistachios.
Special event:
Aegina Fistiki Fest (Aegina Pistachio Festival), Aegina, Greece, September,
aeginafistikifest.gr
.

Often called the “jewel of autumn.”

If rubies could be liquified, the result might taste like the vibrant juice of the pomegranate—and in fact, liquifying rubies might well prove easier than trying to eat a pomegranate while maintaining a modicum of dignity. Covered in leathery crimson skin, the pomegranate’s globe encloses a matrix of tightly packed slippery, juicy, red arils surrounding white seeds. The arils are the edible part, so the pomegranates must be split open, a task best performed over a sink and in an outfit composed of disposable rags. The sink is also the best place to take mouthfuls of the seeds, chew out and swallow the luscious juices, and expectorate the seeds, edible but fibrous.

The pomegranate (
Punica granatum
) is native to Iran, but the fruit has charmed its way around the world, in its most ancient days distributed by the birds that dropped its seeds in distant gardens. The venerable fruits are even mentioned in the Bible—in Deuteronomy,
Moses promises to bring his people to “a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates.”

Because of its many seeds, the pomegranate has long been a symbol of fertility and good fortune in Iran. The ruby-red fruit has also had a symbolic presence in Greek mythology. When Persephone, the daughter of Demeter (goddess of agriculture), is kidnapped to the underworld by Hades, he persuades her to eat six pomegranate seeds, dooming her to spend six months of each year in the underworld—during which time her mother’s sadness on earth above would result in the gray, cold months of fall and winter.

Today, more than 760 varieties of the fruit are grown, and for centuries they have been cultivated all over the Middle East, in Egypt, Azerbaijan, and Israel in particular. By the eighteenth century, pomegranates had reached California by way of the American South, and there they flourished.

Good, ripe pomegranates have a perfumey, sweet-tart flavor prized in Middle Eastern cooking in seed form, or in jams and syrups, the former often used as a piquant garnish for hummus and baba ghanoush. But in the United States they’ve become something of a one-note wonder. In about the year 2000, the California-based company POM Wonderful, producers of fresh pomegranate juice, released studies touting the nutritional benefits of the antioxidant-packed, inflammation-fighting so-called “superfruit” the company used in its juices, and a pomegranate fever took hold.

Indeed, pomegranates are quite healthful—but the best way to get their benefits is to dig into the real thing. Back to the sink.

Where:
Pomegranates can be found in upscale greengrocers, usually from October to February, and especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Mail order:
Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
; for pomegranate juices and teas,
pomwonderful.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Pomegranates: 70 Celebratory Recipes
by Ann Kleinberg (2004);
A Taste of Persia
by Najmieh Batmanglij (2007);
Arabesque
by Claudia Roden (2005);
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
cookstr.com
(search pomegranate ice cream; warm lamb salad with pomegranate and walnuts);
pomegranates.org
;
pomwonderful.com
.
Special event:
Madera’s Annual Pomegranate Festival, Madera, CA, November,
pomegranatefestival.com
.

Among the world’s popular street foods, it is doubtful that any could seem as improbable as a Jerusalem mixed grill (
meorav Yerushalmi
), an exuberant mixture of finely chopped, griddle-seared chicken hearts, necks, kidneys, livers,
spleens, and other poultry offal—also known as “spare parts”—perfumed with onion, garlic, and a cloud of aromatic Middle Eastern spices, including turmeric, coriander, cloves, cardamom, and sumac. These spices account for the magic of this potent, deeply fragrant dish in which meat is flash-fried on a hot griddle and served hot off the grill top, either strewn on a platter or spooned into a pocket of soft, warm pita bread.

Wildly flavorful, enticingly chewy, and luxuriously greasy, this tumble of spare parts is the epitome of soul food. But you won’t find it in full-fledged restaurants, or even at Grandma’s. Meorav, as it’s commonly called, is served almost exclusively in fast-food joints—it’s a staple throughout Jerusalem and especially within the Mahane Yehuda, the city’s venerable (100-plus-year-old) and massive outdoor marketplace. You can get a meorav there almost any time of day, but it’s an especially popular treat at night among the young and hungry carousers who know a good thing when they taste it.

Where:
In Jerusalem
, Mahane Yehuda market,
machne.co.il/en
; Sima’s, 82 Agrippas Street;
in Brooklyn
, Jerusalem Steakhouses II, tel 718-376-0680,
jerusalemsteakhouse.com
;
in Houston
, Al Aseel Grill & Café, tel 713-787-0400,
alaseelgrill.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Jerusalem: A Cookbook
by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (2012);
The Foods of Israel
by Sherry Ansky (2000);
saveur.com
(search jerusalem mixed grill).