Our Persian adventure
MILLIE: My daughter Karla and I are so alike, we’re like two peas in a pod. We think alike and even look alike. We are so connected that, often times, we send each other text messages at the same time, usually addressing the same topic, one in question and the other in reply.
Although we enjoy eating the same favorite dishes and even share the same restaurant preferences I must admit I have learned about unique tastes and flavors from her as well. Unfortunately, Daddy Joe does not always agree with our taste buds. So whenever we get a chance to be out together on our own, we go to a restaurant that would be a no-no for him but a yes-yes for us.
KARLA: Once in a while, we try to sneak out little dates in our schedules when one of my titas or titos takes my lolo out for lunch or dinner. This gives us time to be together and visit our favorite restaurants. One of those restaurants mom and I usually have “dates” at is Hossein’s Persian Kebab Restaurant. Apparently, my lolo isn’t fond of Persian cuisine but he enjoys the belly dancers! Well, Mom and I weren’t always fans of Persian food until we were invited to dinner once at their Makati Ave. branch a few years ago. After that, I’d have cravings for it, which led us to keep coming back.
MILLIE: In the course of spending time in the kitchen together, we discovered minor stuff like how Karla likes her food really spiced up. She prefers it hot and spicy while I’m probably the corny one, liking my food prepared plain and simple but with exquisite sauces. She loves garlic and onions but hates pepper. I, in turn, dislike anything bitter and am not too fond of ginger and cilantro.
KARLA: One thing is for sure, even if we don’t prefer the same kinds of food, our tastes definitely complement each other. For something as simple as Brazo de Mercedes, Mom prefers the yellow (yolk) part and doesn’t care much for the white (egg white) part, which happens to be my favorite! On the other hand, I don’t mind eating the onions and garlic that Mom puts aside.
At Hossein, even before we sit down, we already know what we’re going to order. I usually take to motabal, which is mashed eggplant with yogurt, served with a little olive oil, a pitted olive on top reserved for Mom and warm naan bread on the side which we gulp down immediately as we get settled at our table. But our all-time favorite dishes are the Chelou Kebab and the Fish Bulgari. Kebabs are Persian barbecues cooked with flat metal skewers instead of the wooden or bamboo sticks we normally use. Chelou Kebab has two strips of charbroiled ground beef kebab that comes with fluffy basmati rice and grilled tomato which you mash into the rice. The Fish Bulgari is perfectly cooked chunks of marinated lapu-lapu fillet with skewered veggies that include whole grilled tomatoes, green bell peppers, zucchini, onions and lemon butter sauce. Hossein maintains the spices are secret but I taste lime juice, vinegar and garlic in the marinade which is also used to baste the fish while cooking. Some times, mom excuses herself to answer a call or go to the washroom, leaving me to do the ordering, since we already know what to order. I take this opportunity to secretly order Spicy Chelou Kebab instead of the mild version. Mom usually doesn’t like her food too spicy claiming it’s bad for her throat but… well, she wasn’t around and left the ordering to me. Ha!
MILLIE: It comes as no surprise that we like to do things differently. Karla’s more adventurous and likes to experiment in the kitchen. I, on the other hand, don’t like to waste time so I plan what I intend to do beforehand. As a result, she seems to have more fun cooking while I remain serious. Because I am always pressed for time, I seek an assistant to handle the minute chores for me like mincing onions, crushing garlic, chopping tomatoes, peeling potatoes or even pre-boiling the veggies as well as pre-boiling the meat.
When I take charge of the kitchen it’s Step 1, Step 2, Step 3. No fuss. It’s done. C’est fini.
KARLA: I, on the other hand, love to take my time in the kitchen: I find out what our chefs normally do and try this and that, find another way of doing this, or how something might look with a different cutter. The kitchen is a huge playground for me with so much to see and so much to do. Time goes by so fast all the time. Most times, when I feel like there is too much stuff happening in the office, I slip on my chef clogs and run off to the kitchen with my apron to lighten my mood or just to get away.
Some Sundays, when and if we’ve had a light week and things aren’t so hectic, we find time to cook. The easiest Sunday dish is kare-kare, one of Lolo’s favorites. We bicker about things like how much of this and that to put or argue about the consistency of the sauce, since (shh... secret!) Mom doesn’t really measure her ingredients. She just goes with the flow, “Tancha-tancha lang,” and corrects as she goes along.
MILLIE: But we can cook together. Yes, we can. I wish we could spend more time in the kitchen together. It’s great bonding. It’s relaxing. It’s interacting.
Hossein’s Persian Kebab branches are located at Makati Ave. LKV Bldg., 890-5928, 890-6137; Greenbelt 3, 2nd level, 729-0266; TriNoma, 3rd level, 901-5613; Serendra, 2nd level, 856-0632, 856-1278, 856-6137; and The Fort Strip, 816-1165, 816-1167.
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Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com.
