Borani

The vegetable is boiled and then fried before the garlicky yogurt goes on.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (yogurt).

Ingredients

• 600 g spinach
• 500 g thick yogurt
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 60 g walnuts, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 40 g butter
• dried mint, to finish

Method

1. THE VEGETABLE IS BOILED AND THEN FRIED BEFORE THE GARLICKY YOGURT GOES ON. This is not my gloss: its article quotes a definition of borani in exactly those terms -- dishes in which the vegetables are boiled and then sauteed are called borani; herbs such as spinach, amaranth, dock, mallow and sorrel are simmered in water and then drained, then sauteed in oil or butter and topped with yoghurt flavoured with garlic. Two cooking stages, in that order, and then the yogurt goes ON TOP rather than being stirred through. That is what makes it a borani rather than a raw salad or a yogurt dip, and it is why the spinach tastes concentrated instead of watery.
2. THE BOILING WATER IS DRAINED AWAY AND THE SPINACH IS SQUEEZED. Two minutes in boiling water, into a sieve, then pressed hard with the back of a spoon or wrung in a cloth. Six hundred grams of spinach holds a remarkable amount of water and any of it left behind will thin the yogurt to soup.
3. THEN IT IS FRIED IN BUTTER WITH THE ONION. Six or seven minutes, until the pan is dry and the spinach has taken a little colour. This is the step most versions of this dish skip, and it is the one the definition insists on.
4. THE SPINACH MUST BE COLD BEFORE THE YOGURT MEETS IT. Warm spinach splits yogurt. Spread it on a plate and leave it twenty minutes.
5. THE GARLIC GOES IN THE YOGURT, NOT THE PAN. Crushed raw into the yogurt with the salt and left to stand ten minutes. Raw garlic in yogurt is sharp and that sharpness is the point of the dish.
6. THE YOGURT IS THICK OR IT IS STRAINED FIRST. Set, thick yogurt. Anything loose will slide off the spinach and pool.
7. IT IS ASSEMBLED COLD AND SERVED COLD. Spinach spread on a shallow dish, the garlic yogurt spooned over, walnuts and dried mint scattered on top.
8. THE OTHER IRANIAN VERSIONS CHANGE THE VEGETABLE. Its article names borani-e khiar, with yogurt, cucumber and walnut, and borani-ye bademjan with aubergine. It also records quite different dishes under the same name elsewhere -- a lamb and bulgur kofta with chard and chickpeas, a baked egg and spinach dish, and a version with black-eyed peas and ground lamb and no yogurt at all.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes