![Peedi-borani / Beetroot borani / Beet borani](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7084/7269224154_8ea4b7b7c5.jpg)
Any regular reader of Nami-Nami has noticed the respectable number of beetroot recipes on this blog. My friend Alanna of A Veggie Venture blog even calls me "Beet Princess" (she reserved the title of Beet Queen to herself, and indeed, her list of beetroot recipes is pretty impressive, too :)
Here's my latest discovery among beetroot recipes. I was browsing Sam and Sam Clark's latest book, MORO EAST, and this Persian dish caught my eye. Borani is a general term for yogurt-based vegetable "salads" and dips in Persian cuisine. We really enjoyed this, eating it with simple oven-baked potato wedges on our sunny patio. It'd work well on a meze/mezze board with some toasted flatbread, or alongside some grilled or fried fish, oven-roasted lamb or even grilled chicken. It's extremely versatile, as you can imagine.
I will surely be making this borani chogondar again over the summer (I loved the colour!!!), perhaps alongside the spinach version (borani esfanaaj) and the aubergine/eggplant version (borani bademjan).
Make it at least a few hours in advance, so the flavours can develop.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj49oP-9k8aOpj1K_8D_7AY-4k1_2UFBc0PVIJr1jSO-zhvKcIXedLomDcDFfUu495TczDppvZu7GXN0NuHb8ht-zPuDO_FyksHqTSS-lO9vW_XljM76EK4n3VkrZwSRl98rs7P/s200/pinterestpin.jpeg)
Beet Borani
(Peedi-borani)
Serves 6 to 8
Based on Sam & Sam Clark's recipe, with some modifications
![Peedi-borani / Beetroot borani / Beet borani](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7216/7269209688_483e17c89e.jpg)
500 g young beets
400 g thick/strained Greek/Turkish/Persian yoghurt
1 large garlic clove (crush to a paste with a generous pinch of salt)
a pinch of sugar
a small bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a splash of wine vinegar or lemon juice, to taste
To garnish:
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
a small handful of walnuts, chopped
a sprinkling of nigella seeds (also known as black Kalonji onion seeds)
a few dill fronds
Scrub the beets, but don't peel them. Place into a boiling water and simmer for 1-1,5 hours, until cooked. Drain and cool and peel, then cut into chunks and place into a food processor.
(Note that you can also roast the beets, or, in a hurry, use boiled un-vinegared beets).
Process the beets, then add the yogurt, crushed garlic and a pinch of sugar, process again until smooth.
Add the chopped dill, then season to taste with salt, pepper and vinegar/lemon juice.
Transfer onto a serving bowl, cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge for a few hours so the flavours can mingle.
When ready to serve, garnish with crumbled feta, chopped walnuts and some dill fronds. Sprinkle black nigella seeds on top.
![Peedi-borani / Beetroot borani / Beet borani](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8144/7269202542_d10771e5b5.jpg)
See other beetroot borani recipes:
Smoke and Umami
Café Leilee
The Salty Pear
Liz Z (Liz uses mint to flavour her borani)
Chef Yusuf
7 comments:
looks gorgeous!
Very pretty, Pille! Could you make a non-dairy/vegan version by substituting chickpeas for the yoghurt & leave off the feta cheese garnish?
Thank you, Roxy!! I bet you'd love this!
Pene - for a vegan alternative, try
my beetroot hummus then. But I agree - there's something very pretty about this dish :)
Really? That's all???? SOLD!
You're hilarious, Alanna! :)
Beet princess, this looks beautiful!
(I use to make your pie with beetroots and fetacheese and it´s very nice.)
Thank you, Viktoria! PS I was in Stockholm last weekend - loved the city, as always, but the weather was keeping us from really enjoying it this time :(
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