Saturday, May 15, 2010

Borani Esfanaj

Borani is a simple Iranian cold dish made with yoghurt and vegetables.Basically the dish is a simple raita or a mix of yoghurt and veggies of choice.When spinach (or esfenaaj/esfenaj/esfanaj in Farsi) is added to this then we get a yoghurt -spinach raita or borani esfanaj and is served as side to pilaf or as per choice. There are many ways of making this raita where the versions differ in the way of cooking spinach like blanching,boiling,steaming or stirfrying.The rest of the recipe is the same and I have adapted a stirfried version from here.

Ingredients:
Spinach: a small bunch chopped
Onion: 1 small
Garlic: 1 clove (optional)

Yogurt
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:
Heat oil in a pan,add chopped onion and garlic and saute till brown.Add the chopped spinach and little salt and cook till it wilts.I took it off the gas right at the instant it started giving out water. Allow it to cool.

Whisk thick curd adding salt and pepper.Add or fold in the cooled spinach-onion mix and adjust the salt and pepper. Serve chilled or at room temp.



The raita as it is known here is a simple and obviously tasty.If you want more spiciness replace the pepper or adjust it with your choice of spices.The simple dish is my entry to Weekend Wokking:Spinach hosted this tme by the originator of the event herself,Wandering Chopsticks.If you have any spinach dish do send it over after checking the rules.



13 Comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, that does look simple yet yummy !!! Love the combination of spinach and dahi.

Indian Khana said...

This is new to me and looks yum

Shama Nagarajan said...

delicious recipe...nice one

Rach said...

You have a lovely space here :)

Priya Suresh said...

Sounds truly easy and delicious...

Rachel said...

A delightful dish!

Yasmeen said...

This is so much better than the the usual creamy spinach dip :D

Kiran said...

Wow a nice spinach raita or Borani Esfanaj.Thank you for sharing.

Unknown said...

sounds very healthy Sweatha nice recipe

Padmajha said...

This is such a simple yet tasty dish.I love raitas and am sure to try this one.

AJ said...

I love this raita!! Iranian food is really superb!!

Cham said...

Another new dish that i learn today! Great for summer days!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

This looks delicious. A sort of spinach raita, perhaps?

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