Arctic Cloudberry: saffron

Emirati saloona - a versatile and healthy stew with fish, chicken or red meat

12:49

Saloona or salona is a classic Arabic stew believed to have beduin origins. It's often made with chicken, but can also be made with fish, beef or lamb. And there is nothing wrong with doing it as a fully vegetarian or vegan version.

Lamb saloona, so far our biggest success in terms of the consistency of the sauce, smooth and velvety. I forgot to add the potatoes though.

I've had the authentic experience in UAE visiting my sister-in-law. Her chicken saloona blew my mind, it was simple and just spicy enough. This dish is not about chilli, it does have a kick but is really nice even if you want to leave it quite mild.

This was also one of the first things my husband ever cooked for me. That time it didn't work that perfectly, the fish he used was too soft fleshed and kind of disintegrated during the cooking process. It was tasty though and I appreciated the effort.

Tilapia

Tilapia saloona, this is the adult version. A bit fiddly to eat with the bones, and some people might find a large fish head in their soup a bit freaky. Not husband, who loves a good fish head.

And a couple of years ago I got the flu. I mean the proper flu and was just sick as a dog for over two weeks. I missed my own 50th birthday party with all the family in Finland. And I lost more than a stone. I remember as I recovered thinking this is the best thing ever, it's like falling asleep, having a bit of a nightmare to be fair, but waking up with a new body. My new downsized body lasted about 3 days before the weight crept back on. Anyway, during the illness my husband made me a beautiful and restorative chicken saloona.

A very nice monkfish saloona, might have been more attractive with the tails cut into two. I eat mine as a soup with a little bit of rice.

Husband eats his like all natives with lots of rice like a curry.

During lockdown we've been perfecting the recipe. This is not a difficult recipe at all, but we want to get the balance of spices and the consistency of the sauce right. Husband and I have been working on this together with one of her sisters on the other end of the phone. We've tried it with different types of fish, whole tilapia, monkfish tails and tuna steaks. My favourite is monkfish tails, husband prefers tuna steaks so sometimes we now use both at the same time.

We've done a very nice albeit a bit watery chicken version, because husband wouldn't let me remove the lid to help it cook down. And we did a very nice lamb version the other night. We don't work perfectly as a team I must say, I am too bossy and husband is too stubborn, so it has been a bit spatulas at dawn. But the results have been worth it.

Tastes like home, says husband. Can't say fairer than that.

Chicken saloona with saffron rice.

Emirati fish saloona - Arabic fish stew

serves 2 (generously or with leftovers)

For the fish:

Oil

400g fresh firm fish like tuna steaks, monkfish tails, a whole tilapia or fillets

salt

pepper

turmeric

For the soup:

Oil

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove

Thumbsized piece of fresh ginger (or substitute with 1 tsp ground ginger)

fresh chilli or chilli powder / cayenne pepper to taste

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cardamom

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

Pinch of saffron (not usually added to the fish version, but definitely for the meat ones)

Salt

Pepper

3 medium potatoes

1 bell pepper

1 carrot (you can also add other veg of your choice like courgette)

400g of tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste

Water
Dried lime (optional)

Prep your veg. Mince the onion finely. I use a blender. Mincing the onion finely gives more body to the sauce than having them roughly chopped. Grate the garlic and ginger.

I also quickly blend the tinned chopped tomatoes to make a smooth sauce. You can also use fresh tomatoes, chop very finely or blend into pulp.

Chop the bell pepper and carrot. Cut the potatoes into chunks. Emiratis would peel the potatoes, but I leave the peel on, there is fibre and taste in there.

Season the fish pieces with salt, pepper and turmeric. Fry quickly on both sides, just so they get some colour. Don't cook through.

Add oil to a deep lidded saucepan. On medium heat fry onion, garlic, ginger and fresh finely chopped chilli if using. Add some salt and pepper and the rest of the spices. I go with quite heaped teaspoons. Keep frying for another couple of minutes until the onion softens a little. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and the vegetables (if you use soft veg that cook quickly, like courgette, add them in later so they don't overcook). Pierce the dried lemon with a fork and addto the pan.

Add water, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups.

Cover with lid and let it boil for about 20 minutes on low to medium heat. If the sauce is too thick add water. If it looks too thin, let it cook down without a lid. Add the fish to the sauce. Stir gently so that the sauce covers the fish. After this avoid stirring so the fish doesn't break. Cook for another 10-15 minutes on low heat. Serve with rice, a green salad and Arabic flatbread.

If cooking with chicken add the meat in at the same time with the vegetables so the chicken has enough time to cook. With lamb I add the meat in first and then add the vegetables when the lamb is almost done, because the meat takes a while to become tender.

arab

Emirati-style lamb biriani

15:09

Lamb biriani with fried onions and cashew nuts

Or maybe I should say Fenno-Emirati style, not because I added dill, but for some of the other little tweaks I did, like substituting white rice with brown to keep it healthy.

I actually desperately wanted to add dill. I already had a bunch in my hand, but showing great strength of character I put it away. My favourite middle-eastern rice is Persian shivid polo, rice with saffron, dill and garlic and it goes really well with lamb, so I bet it would work perfectly in this biriani. I will try it sometime, but I wanted to keep this as authentic as possible so as not to always bastardise husband's favourite foods, but to delight him particularly since I recently tortured him with some oven baked mackerel fillets. He didn't seem to mind them too much, but I thought they were just vile. Not sure exactly what went wrong there, but wrong it went.

It's been a while since my last food mishap. And not even the best of us win every time. My sister who is a very competent cook, but maybe too experimental for her own good proudly WhatsApped me pictures on her Georgian Khatchapuri pies going in the oven looking amazing. And then a few hours later a summary: "A shit pie."

And I am not exactly sure about her sourdough rye breads that she made a few weeks ago. They looked very impressive, but when I asked if they were nice, her answer was: "Sour and tough like Finland". I suppose this meant that they were as they should be, but hard to say. My sister is a woman of few words. And many of them unpublishable.

UAE lamb biriani with fried onions and cashew nuts

India may have made this the world famous dish it is today, the hyderabadi biriani maybe the most famous of them all, but the dish most likely originally came from Iran. It is very popular throughout the region and it's the national dish of husband's homeland United Arab Emirates, at least according to some sources, I'm not sure if there is an absolute official list somewhere. But anyway Emirates was where I learned to love this dish sitting very uncomfortably on the floor surrounded by his brother's family.

It is a true celebration dish, often served in weddings on huge platters and there is often a chicken and a lamb version available. But you may want to be quick, in the last wedding we attended in Dubai he was taking pictures of the food and the guests and when he finally picked up his spoon the lamb was gone and only rice was left. Luckily the rice is very tasty too. And he can take his time with anything, so I can't blame his tablemates. (I was in another table with his nieces, otherwise would have of course saved some lamb for him.)

Emirati wedding feast of harees and biriani

Biriani in an Emirati wedding. Next to it Harees, which is also sometimes called the national dish of UAE, a type of dip mad of cracked, ground wheat and meat, a mild but delicious starter dish.

This was the second night of the celebration, this time a more modern setting, again we had some harees and biriani, but also grilled meats.

Biriani is also often eaten at home with family. We have been served it many times by husband's family and it is always just amazing. You could just eat it forever.

The Emirati biriani tends to have a bit of a kick. It's not super spicy, but there is definitely some chilli in it. I make mine reasonably mild, since husband is not into very hot foods and then just add tabasco on mine at the table. Tabasco is not the national dish of UAE.

Table is set.

Next time we are over in UAE or Iran I must ask one of husband's family to cook biriani with me, so that I see how it's really done. But I have made it many times and studied lots of different recipes. I try to make it like we have eaten it in Dubai and Iran. I don't use sultanas or any of that shit. I hate raisins and sultanas, what a waste of perfectly good grapes.

Fattoush

Middle-Eastern yogurt sauce with mint and lemon

Laban - yoghurt, mint and lemon

Lamb biriani

For the meat and marinade:
About 800g-1kg boneless lamb chunks
1-3 garlic cloves, finely minced
Thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 tbsp tomato paste
5 heaped tbsp plain yogurt

2 tsp ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp chili powder or a pinch of dried chilli (or more or less depending on how hot you like)

½ tsp ground cloves

Salt

Blackpepper

To make the sauce:

Vegetable oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

2 large tomatoes, chopped

3 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Water

Salt and pepper to taste

For the rice:

2.5 cups of brown rice

Water

Chicken stock cube

Salt

Generous pinch of saffron strands

1 tsp rose water

To marinate the meat mix the yogurt, salt, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, spices and lamb. Mix well and leave to marinate for a few hours or ideally overnight.

About an hour before starting cooking, take the meat out of the fridge to get to room temperature.

Heat the oil in a large pot and add onions. Keep stirring and when the onions are soft take most of the onions to one side, Keep browning the rest until they are brown in color. These will be used to garnish the dish.

In another pot heat some vegetable oil. Add the lamb cubes and sauté the meat for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the softened onions (apart from the ones browned to be used as garnish), tomatoes and chopped mint and continue to cook until the tomatoes start to soften. Add 1 cup of water and bring to boil. Leave the meat to cook on low heat on the stove. Or you can also place it in 190C oven to cook. Cook until the meat is soft, this will take about 1 1/2 hours depending on the size of you lamb pieces. Chec the seasoning and add salt or black pepper if needed.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the rice. Wash the rice well and soak in lightly salted water for at least 30 minutes. This will get rid of extra starch and ensure your rice is not sticky. Drain the rice.

Cook the rice in plenty of water, a pinch of salt and a chicken stock cube on the stove until the rice is almost done. Or you can use your rice cooker. Don't cook all the way, because it will continue to cook in the oven. Drain any excess water.

Grind the saffron strands in pestle and mortar and cover with a few tbsp of boiling water, add the rose water and mix well. Leave to infuse.

Once your meat is soft assemble the biriani in an ovenproof dish or pot. You can brush the dish lightly with vegetable oil. You can do more layers if you like, I usually layer about half of rice on the bottom, drizzle a little bit of the saffron water, then add all of the meat and tomato sauce and cover with the rest of the rice and the rest of the saffron water on top.

Cover the pot and bake in 190C oven for 20-25 minutes. Once ready mix the top a little to spread the saffron and garnish with the browned onions and some cashew nuts.

Serve with a fattoush or shirazi salad and laban mint yoghurt sauce.

Persian Fattoush salad with fried flatbread chips

barberry

Zereshk Polo ba Morgh - Persian chicken with barberry rice the easy and healthy way

21:54

aioli

Creamy French salmon, mussel and saffron soup and smoked mackerel pate

21:45

gremolata

Veal Ossobuco with Risotto Milanese

22:52

Not always easy to find, but always worth the search is the cross-cut shank of ossobuco, or osso buco.

My earliest memory of Ossobuco is from when I was about 7 years old and having dinner at my best friend's house. She was also called Hanna, so I called her Yrkki just to avoid confusion, she didn't appreciate it much. I was very much in love with her morose and slightly hostile older brother who threatened to beat us up if we ever went into his (unhealthily clean) room or touched his vast collection of neatly stacked board games. But the romance never happened for us, even though I obediently never touched his board games. Me and his sister did sneak into his room and snooped whenever he was out, obviously. But he turned down all my marriage proposals in the most ungentlemanlike manner and with very little endeavour at civility (yes I have been watching Pride and Prejudice again) and I never learned why. I thought I was quite an eligible 7-year old with my good grades, blond plaits and cute dungarees.

So during one of many sleepovers we had this mouth watering and meltingly soft, wonderful meat dish. I think that time it might have been pork. I'm not sure if I ever had it again until I started cooking myself. The dish surprisingly never was part of my mother's very broad repertoire. Which makes me think I definitely must cook this for them the next time they come and visit.

My next rendezvouz with Ossobuco was inspired by my sister who was bragging about what brilliant Ossobuco she had made and how all good wives should make it for their husbands otherwise they were not such good wives. I already have the handicap of not having taken my husband's name, which puts me behind her in the good wife competition. Although of course it's not a competition and we are not at all competitive, but very supportive sisters. But just out of interest I immediately had to try if I could make an even more fantastic version.

So I have been making this both from lamb and veal quite a few times and everytime husband's reaction confirms that this is a great man dish. I was planning to maybe do this for Christmas or New Year, but couldn't find the cut, so the other day walking past the lovely butcher's C Lidgates in Holland Park I popped in and they had beautiful thick cuts of veal.

Ossobuco (feeds 2 with some leftovers depending on size of the shanks)

4 pieces osso buco veal shanks
Salt
Blackpepper
Plain flour
Rapeseed oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine
3 tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup chicken stock
2-3 fresh sprigs of thyme and/or rosemary (or 2tsp dry herbs)
2 bay leaves
water

Gremolata:
1/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
Grated zest of a small lemon
1 garlic glove, minced (optional)

Season the shanks with salt and pepper and dredge with flour. You can tie some twine around the shanks to help them hold their shape during cooking, but I find the twine usually falls off anyway. Main thing to keep the shanks from falling apart is not to disturb them too much whilst cooking.

In a large Dutch oven or non-stick lidded pan heat a splash of oil over medium-high heat cook shanks in batches until lightly browned on both sides. Place browned shanks to a platter while you are browning the remaining shanks. Add oil if necessary and transfer the rest of the shanks to the platter.

Add oil to the pan, add the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook over medium heat stirring continuously until vegetables are softened, around 5 minutes.

Add the wine and let reduce a little. Add the stock and tomatoes along with the veal shanks and any accumulated juices. The liquid should nearly, but not totally cover the shanks. If it doesn't, add a little water. Add the herbs and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and cover.

You can either cook this on the stove keeping it simmering, or in a 170C oven. Depending on the thickness of the shanks it will take around 1.5 hours until the meat is meltingly soft. Add water if it starts looking dry.

Prepare the gremolata by mixing the minced parsley, garlic and lemon zest.

Once the meat is done, remove the twines if using and carefully mix in half of the gremolata. Try not to break the shanks.

The sauce should be nice and thick. You can adjust the consistency by adding a little water to thin it, or simmering it uncovered until the required consistency. Adjust seasoning.

Risotto milanese (serves 2)

250 g risotto rice
Vegetable oil (and butter if you like)
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups hot chicken stock (and extra water if needed)
Pinch of saffron
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt
Knob of butter

Heat the oil in a non stick pan. I use just a splash of oil, but you can use half oil half butter if you like. I don't think it needs it because we will add a knob of butter in the end.

Saute the onion on low to medium heat until softened, a couple of minutes. You don't want the onion to brown at all. Add the rice and stir around until all grains are covered with oil. You can add a bit of heat now. Add white wine and cook until the wine is evaporated.

In the meanwhile heat the chicken (or veal) stock. Once the wine has more or less evaporated start adding stock to rice a couple of ladles at a time, keep stirring gently. When the rice has absorbed the stock add another couple of ladles. Keep doing this until the rice is done, about 15 min. I often add a bit more stock at a go in the beginning, but when you get closer to the rice being cooked you want to go little by little. If your rice is still not done and you have used all your stock, you can use water.

While the rice is cooking grind the saffron in a pestle and mortar and add a splash of boiling water, stir and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Once the rice is done, but still has a bit of bite stir in the saffron water and the grated parmesan. Finish by melting in a knob of butter.

Create a generous bed of risotto on a plate, place a veal shank and some sauce on the top. Garnish with some of the remaining gremolata and enjoy with a fresh salad.