Persian Fried Chicken, Sumac Peaches, Sabzi Salad

We’re a Persian-American family. After many years as Chef for six Persian inspired Mediterranean restaurants, plus having a Mother-In-Law who throws lavish dinner parties with delectable traditional Iranian dishes and a husband that does Persian-style barbecues; I’d say the way I cook at home is now an interesting mix of French, Persian and, well, Californian. My family, my work, my background all gets stirred up these days.

Neither my Husband or my daughter, Layla, like chicken. My husband might be tempted if it’s slowly stewed in a thick sauce of pomegranate and ground walnuts or marinated in saffron and onion juice and cooked on long skewers over a charcoal fire, but neither daughter or hubby get excited about a roasted chicken or a baked breast. I can’t really blame them actually, once you’ve tasted Fesenjoon or Jujeh kabob, it’s hard to go back. But fried chicken, on the other hand,  disappears quickly.

I originally created this spice rub for Faz Restaurasnt for our Persian popcorn chicken appetizer. It flew out the door to say the least. The spices are a mixture of Persian sun dried lime, toasted cumin, tumeric, smoked paprika and salt. Sun dried limes (dried whole Persian Bearss limes) give an awesome sour kick. These limes are mostly used in stews like Gormeh Sabzi (meat stew with sun dried limes and braised green fresh herbs) where they are added whole and simmered slowly with other ingredients. But here, for this spice blend, I just toss them into the Vitamix along with the other spices and whirr away.

Sumac is another interesting spice that adds a pleasing sour pucker. My husband likes to spoon sumac over his saffron rice and on top of meat too. I find here, that it gives ripe, sweet peaches a little extra zing. Sumac is not a spice-y spice in terms of heat. It’s quite mild and, like sundried lime, is on the tart side.

Sabzi means ‘greens’ in farsi and refers to green herbs in recipes. No Persian meal is truly complete without a sabzi platter consisting of lemon basil, tarragon (the kind with fat leaves), mint and scallions. It’s a healthy antioxidant mixture often served alongside peeled walnuts and feta. The sabzi mixture gets rolled up in barbari bread or lavash with feta and eaten as an appetizer or added alongside the other various dishes being served for the meal.

Oh and Persians love raw onions! My husband would eat them like apples if I let him – which I don’t – for the obvious reasons! He shoves whole scallions in sandwiches along with all the other sabzi herbs and munches happily away. Me, not so much. My daughter, she likes onions too. Must be in the genes!

I just can’t seem to plate a protein without some sort of swoop these days. This one is an easy saffron aioli! You can cheat and add ground saffron to your mayo if you’re in a hurry. I won’t tell anyone. And, if I wasn’t mostly-gluten-free this whole meal would really be great as a sandwich on a brioche bun.

Salamati!

Persian Fried Chicken, Sumac Peaches, Sabzi Salad

Ingredients

• 2 large organic boneless skinless chicken breasts with tendons and petite filet removed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• Spice Rub:
• 5 golf ball size Sundried Persian Limes
• 4 tablespoons whole cumin seed, toasted lightly until fragrant
• 3 tablespoons smoked sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons ground tumeric
• 3 tablespoons kosher salt
• Peaches:
• 2 large peaches sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 1 tablespoon sugar (to draw the juices out a little)
• 1/2 lime squeezed over to prevent discoloration
• Ground sumac to sprinkle over before serving
• Shaved red onion
• Sabzi Salad:
• 5 sprigs tarragon
• 7-8 leaves lemon basil, torn
• 4 sprigs mint, torn
• 1/2 box mesclun mix or arugula
• 2 scallions sliced thin
• 1 persian cucumber, sliced thin
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup rice wine vineagar
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Sea salt
• Fry oil

Put all spices in a Vitamix blender or burr grinder and whirr until finely ground. Set aside in a bowl and whisk in the Kosher salt.

To prep chicken: create 4 portions by placing breasts vertically on the cutting board, cut the breasts across in the middle, horizontally, into two sections. Why? Because the top is thicker than the bottom and they cook for different times. Butterfly all portions by placing your hand flat on top of the portion and, using a sharp knife, slicing into the side that looks the thickest and ending a the thin point – do not cut all the way through. Open out the breast portion so that it resembles a butterfly.

Turn on heat of deep fryer to 350F. Set up two large tuperware containers, one with buttermilk and one with flour and paper towel lined plate or baking sheet for the finished chicken to drain on. Rub chicken generously with spice blend. Dip chicken into buttermilk then into flour. Shake off excess flour and gently lower into deep fryer. Fry two pieces of chicken at a time and make sure to do the thicker portions together and the thinner portions together. The chicken will take about 5 minutes total. Remove to the paper towel lined plate to drain.

For the Peaches: slice peaches and place in a bowl. Toss with sugar to draw out the juices and add a little squeeze of lime or lemon juice to stop discoloration

For the Sabzi Salad: in a large mixing bowl add mesclun, fresh herbs, scallions and cucumber. To make the vinaigrette, in a small bowl add the lime juice and rice wine vinegar plus two generous pinches of sea salt. Slowly drizzle in olive oil whisking constantly. Toss vinaigrette with salad before serving. Add a little more seasoning if desired.

Plate the chicken on top of a swoop of saffron aioli, top with peaches and a little of the juice plus a few pinches of sumac. Serve salad alongside. Or make a sandwich out of all of the ingredients on a brioche bun!