This spectacular dip is borani an Iranian dish made of delicately flavoured cooked beetroot and yogurt, topped with walnuts, dill and feta. I tried it at Morito the little sister tappas bar/restaurant next to Moro on Exmouth Market, London.It is delicious served with flatbread and other dips or small sharing plates.
Serves 5 - 6 as part of a mezze
Ingredients
4 medium raw beetroot (about 700g)
1 small garlic clove, crushed to a paste with ½ teaspoon Maldon salt
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
4 tablespoons strained Greek yoghurt
chopped dill, plus a few sprigs to garnish
1 -2 tbsp good-quality aged red wine vinegar
a pinch of sugar
50g feta cheese, crumbled
6 walnut halves, roughly crushed
½ teaspoon nigella or black onion seeds
Method
Wash the beetroot, leaving the skins on, then cover with boiling water and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until they are tender to the tip of a knife. Top up the water when needed. Drain the beetroot, then leave them to cool.
Peel the beetroot and blend in a food processor. Do not over process them. Transfer to a bowl, add the crushed garlic paste, olive oil, yoghurt, dill, vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Mix well and check the seasoning. Place on a bowl or spread on a plate and sprinkle with the crumbled feta, walnuts, nigella seeds and extra sprigs of dill and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve with flatbread or pitta.
Frying pan flat bread
Makes 8
Ingredients
250g organic white bread flour (I use Doves Farm)
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp dried yeast (I use Doves Farm)
140ml tepid water
1 tbsp olive oil and a little more for drizzling
a few tsp za’atar
Method
Place the flour, salt and dried yeast in a bowl and mix well. Drizzled in the olive oil and mix in with your finger tips. Gradually add 125ml of water to the flour mix until you have a slightly sticky dough. Add a little more water if you need to. (Do not feel you have to use 140mls. The dough will become less sticky as you knead it and the flour absorbs the water). Begin kneading the dough, bearing in mind it will become less sticky as it is kneaded and stretched. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and stretchy. Cover the dough - I use a shower cap or a platic bag and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour or until it has doubled in size.
One tip is to preheat an oven to 100C, turn off the heat and use this as a warming cabinet for the bread dough to rise.
Dust a large board with flour. Knock back the dough and take small golf ball sized pieces of dough (approx.70g) and roll out into a disc 3mm thick.
Preheat a large frying pan - it needs to be very hot - and drizzle with a little olive oil. Place the disc of bread dough in the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Flip the dough over and cook for a further minute or until you see the dough blister and form dark spots on the underside. Sprinkle with a little za’atar and remove from the pan. Wrap the cooked flat bread in a clean tea towel to keep warm. Repeat until you have as many flatbreads as you need.
