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recipe you wanted

-- [ From: nonayobusiness * EMC.Ver #2.3 ] --

Here's the recipe that several people asked for.  It's a Persian dish that
some of our friends make, and  I've watched them do it,so now I can make it
too.   All the ingredients are approximate, because I  don't have a real
recipe.   I know people who use fava beans, but I use lima beans. 

	About 1 pound baby  lima beans  (I use the frozen bag from the 		
supermarket) 
	3 cups  basmati rice (or long grain, but it won't taste as good)  You can
get 	this at Indian food stores, and in some supermarkets
	1/2  cup oil (I use canola)
	a biggish pinch of crumbled saffron
	about 5 or 6 cups  fresh finely chopped  dill  
	1 or 2 potatoes, depending on their size, and that of the pot
	salt  to taste
	1/4 cup water

	Rinse  the rice 5 times in water, then soak it  for about an hour in fresh
water.  In a big  pot, boil 8 cups  water and about 3  teaspoons of salt. 
When it's boiling ,  drain the soaking rice and  put the rice  into the
boiling water.  Stir it  gently (so you don't break any of the grains)  and
watch  it carefully so you don't overcook it.  When it is ALMOST all the
way cooked (it should still be a little bit tough), drain it.  (You're
going to cook it some more afterward, and if it  gets overcooked,  it's
mushy!)   While  this  is going  on, it's a good time to peel  the potatoes
and slice them as thin as possible, and stick them in a little bowl of
water  so they don't turn  black.

	The best pot for this part of the recipe is a  big, non stick one.  Put 
oil just to cover the bottom of the pot.  Heat it gently.  Take the potato
slices  and line the bottom of the pot,  trying to cover as much of the
bottom as possible, without overlapping it. Put some of the rice, maybe 
3/4  of a cup in the pot. I  don't know why, but you have to make  this in
a sort of inverted cone  shape. Then sprinkle some of the lima beans,  and 
some of the dill.   Repeat this process  of layering the ingredients until
you use it all up.  Sprinkle the crumbled saffron all over the cone.  The
heat is still on,  right?  Sprinkle the remaining oil all over the  cone,
and while you're at it, sprinkle just a little water,  maybe 1/4 cup over
it too.

	Take a couple of paper towels and place these on top of the  open pot. 
Put the  lid on  tightly  on top of this.  Obviously, don't let any paper
hang out or down where  it'll start a fire!  I think it absorbs any water 
that collects on the pot lid, which should be closed very tightly  so that
steam  doesn't escape.  I have a  perforated metal disk that I put on the
gas burner, and the pot sits on top of this.  Then the contents of the pot
can  cook  very slowly.  If you  don't have this, I have also stacked 2  of
the removable metal things that sit on top of the burner, and rested the
pot  on this. (Shades of Dr. Seuss)  The object is for the  pot to cook
VERY slowly.  Depending on what  sort of way you  rig up the  cooking, the
pot  can  cook  for 1 -2 hours.  Check after an hour to see if everything
is cooked.  When everything is finally tender, take a big spatula, and 
carefully  spoon out the rice in  a big mound onto a big platter.  The
contents should be more mixed  than when  you put them in - evenly
distributed.  If you use a non stick pot, this next part  will be easy.  
If not, sometimes taking out the contents of the bottom of the pot can be
very annoying.  You may need a chisel if there isn't enough oil!  On the
bottom, the potatoes should be brown and crisp  (like fat chips) . Put
these on  a separate plate, sprinkle a little salt  on  them, and pass them
around right away, before they get cool and soggy!  These are considered a 
great delicacy.  Sometimes people don't put the potatoes on the bottom, and
instead the rice on the bottom gets brown and crunchy.  This is  called
"tardeek."  The  bottom of the pot in either case  is considered the best
part of the dish. You sprinkle salt on this and cut it into pieces  and
serve this immediately.  The rice and dill dish is good either served as a
side dish  with  chicken or other meat, but I like to eat it by itself!   
Try to serve right away so it doesn't get soggy.  I know this is a very
verbose recipe, but once you  get  the  hang of this, it really is
extremely simple!  Any  questions?

I have grown geraniums on  a windowsill for years.  Yes you can.   The more
sun the better.  Don't feed too much and don't water too much.  When they 
get leggy, cut off the tops and make new cuttings.  I think I finally was
able to make some cuttings of regular  geraniums!   They didn't rot out!  
I have to say  though, that I'm not really so strict with them. I'm  pretty
permissive.

If you live on  the East coast and you want to see a guy holding out his
arms for  birds  to land on, there is one at the Rock Garden in the New
York Botanical Gardens.   There has ALWAYs been  one of these people there,
ever since I was a kid.   It can't be the same person, because it's been
more than  30 years since I first saw this, and the man was elderly then. 
Hmm.

	Hi  Victoria, welcome to the list!  The only veggie I've grown in the
house  is red lettuce.   I just put 3 seeds in a 4" clay pot, and kept it
in a cool sunny window.  It grew and we kept snipping off the outer leaves
and we harvested it all winter into the spring.

Sol, You've just described  my kid, working hard not to do anything. 
Sounds like me too....
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