Accelerated Adolescence

Kristen points out, correctly, that we do have a small two cup tea pot that is clove capable.

Tea pots! No one sells them anymore. At least not any major chain stores I've searched through. I am on a throughul search for a nice tea pot where I can pour my friends some freshly brewed tea. I might break down and go to the uppity-tea store on sylvania. You might remember you bought some tea there for your mother last year or so.

Mmm! I'm very in love with Chai, Soy, and Honey as of late. It's a great morning drink for my drive to work.

Okay, first - cumin (and cayenne, too) are the spices I add to my black beans. I usually make them separate from the rice, though it's not necessary. You'll kill me, but my killer recipe was from the side of the can :-) (and certified as genuine for me by Amina, who's father is Mexican).

Secondly, teapots aren't really that hard to find. Now, ones that aren't those hoky mug and pot combos can be. I bought a beautiful one for Maman and Papa at Lazarus Department store - I just waited until they were having their after Christmas sales. Are those still on in the States? And what about Pier One? World Market/Cosco? TJMaxx?

I feel a bit cheeky writing this - a coyuple of our persian friends gave us a rice cooker they bought back from Iran that makes great tadik. But an easy way to make it - parboil the rice, transfer it into a seive and run under cold water to remove starch. Coat the bottom of the pan with oil, and if you want it, sliced potato, then add the washed rice on top, put on the lid covered with a cloth to soak up the steam, and cook until ready. I guess you can cook the beans seperately and then add them once the rice has been parboiled.

Helen, thanks! I'm now on a quest to make tadik and I needed a better method than, "uh, just burn it."

Mensch, a non-stick pan will also help a great deal with the tadiq-making process. Also, Maman has made great inroads into tadiq making, you may get a response from her about this.

Another thing about tadiq. It is made on/of/with rice. Not rice and beans. I think the sauce, lack of extra oil, and who knows what other factors, lead it to just burn. Non-stick pan is essential. (I have no idea how the Persians made tadiq before Teflon.) And I like potato tadiq better than just rice, but that is my preference. Basically, Helen summed it up very nicely. The next time you (any of you who want to know) are home, we can make rice and tadiq together. I hear it is yummy made of pita type bread also.

And you might try second hand stores, Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc, for teapots. They were in style not so long ago.

Unfortunately we have none of those stores in Toledo. Meijers and Wal-mart. That's about it. I'll keep searching however.

Oh Helen! I love persian rice cookers. I'll have to ask the Modarais where they bought one of there TWO persian rice cookers. They make that stuff by the cartload. Asiyih is turning into a fine cook BTW.

Yikes! Last time I saw Asiyih she was like . . . nine.

You don't have a Goodwill store in Toledo?!?! No Salvation Army?!?!? Is this possible? or have you just not located them?

There's a design for a dripless teapot that this girl came up with for her master's thesis in engineering, and though I cannot remember her name or where she was attending, I remember the design.

It basically has a glass stirring rod that's fixed to the inside of the teapot and sticks out of the spout a little. When you pour the tea, it runs down the glass stirring rod and when you tip the teapot back, the glass rod is close to the spout but not touching and capillary action draws the tea that would drip on a normal pot back up into the pot. Very clever piece of applied physics.

If you like tadik, you might want to try making a pinçage and using that to flavour the rice. Do you guys have a rice cooker?