Receta Elephant Ears and Pomegranate Soup
Elephant Ears and Pomegranate Soup By Eliot, on March 15th, 2020 Welcome to the February/March round of Cook the Books. Simona from briciole is hosting. You can read her announcement post here.
Simona chose Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran. Three young women escape pre-revolutionary Iran and finally find a home in Ireland. Along the way we meet the eccentric and quirky villagers of Ballinacroagh as well as learning about their past lives in Iran.
I love the colors of the cover.
Marjan is the oldest and has taken over the roll of mothering her two younger sisters. She is the chef of the Babylon Cafe, which they open without much experience but with high expectations in Ballinacroagh.
Bahar, the middle sister, is a trained nurse but now helps out in the cafe (in between debilitating migraines). She is my least favorite of the three.
Layla is the youngest, just fifteen, and is full of optimism.
They are welcomed by a few of the villages because of the wonderful smells and exotic tastes coming out of the Babylon Cafe. Throughout, they must dodge the dowager gossipers and the town bully and kingpin, Thomas McGuire.
The novel is a quick read and there’s a bit of magical realism hinted at in the first part of the book—Layla’s birth, Marjan’s ingredients, etc.
Marjan worked her magic over both men and women in a more practical, yet equally intriguing manner. Through her recipes, Marjan was able to encourage people toward accomplishments that they had previously thought impossible; one taste of her food and most would not only start dreaming but actually contemplate doing. (78)
I think the book would have benefited from expanding on the magical themes.
I did enjoy reading about the characters in this village. While they became close to caricatures, I think Mehran dodges pairing them in a too ridiculous light. As the novel is set in the 80s, I enjoyed some of the references, especially Thomas McGuire’s fascination with dying disco.
The amount of food in this book is staggering. I usually keep a pretty darn comprehensive list of foods for the Cook the Book selections. I just didn’t have enough paper to do so. There’s so many herbs and spices, Persian food, Italian food and Irish food, I just couldn’t keep up.
Each chapter begins with a recipe that plays some part in the plot that follows. Recipes include dolmeh, red lentil soup, baklava, dugh yogurt drink, abgusht, elephant ears, lavash, torshi, chelow, fesenjoon, and of course, pomegranate soup. There’s also a migraine remedy (nutmeg, cardamom, cloves).
I really wanted to try the red lentil soup (that lead so many people into the cafe) or the pomegranate soup of the title. I had, however, about over-souped The Hubs recently so I decided on a sweeter recipe: Elephant Ears.
I slightly adapted Mehran’s recipe by only adding 1 teaspoon of rosewater (not a quarter cup) and I had to decrease the amount of flour. (I am not a rosewater fan, and even 1 teaspoon was a little much for us. I can’t imagine 1/4 cup!)
The result? They were interesting. I did not roll mine thin enough so they were more doughy (read donut) than a thinly fried treat. We did enjoy the flavor (but, again, the rosewater became more pronounced a day later).
Elephant Ears
By Marsha Mehran (with a few changes—see above)
Ingredients
1 large egg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1 t. rosewater
1/2 t. ground cardamom
3 c. flour
6 c. vegetable oil
1 c. powdered sugar
2 t. ground cinnamon
Instructions
Beat egg in a bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in milk, sugar, water, rosewater, and cardamom.
Slowly mix in flour using the dough hook attachment until a dough ball forms.
Roll out until paper-thin. Use a large round cookie cutter (about 3 1/2″). Pinch the center of the circle with your thumb and forefinger to form a bow. Set aside on a floured linen towel (or parchment paper).
Heat oil in a deep pan. Fry each ear for 1 minute. Lay pastries on paper towels to cool. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture
Yield: 2-2 1/2 dozen
I would recommend this book to friends (and will). It would make a great beach read (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Mehran’s writing style is descriptive and sometimes romantic. (I mean that in a good way.)
If you would like to join our merry band of culinary readers, you still have time to join up. The deadline for this round is March 31. Anyone and everyone is welcome. For more information, click here.
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