East Cuisine Meets West Cuisine – Pirashkis and Pigs in a Blanket #crossculturalmarriage

Happy Anniversary to Us!

I can’t believe it has only been two years. I didn’t feel like we got pregnant fast, but since we have an almost 11 month old, I guess we did.

Marriage has been wonderful, difficult, intense and mundane. I do not feel that our cultural backgrounds, he is Iranian, I am a Southern-Yankee halfbreed, really play a huge roll in our marriage.

Different mother tongues are a factor, but so far, the cultural differences just add spice.  I think that is mostly true because we both enjoy and are open to each other’s culture.  (Let me clarify that I am not talking about cross-religious differences which I know would be a huge issue.)

No place are our cultural differences quite as fun as in the kitchen. We both enjoy cooking and eating. So when he suggested the menu for our Easter/Norooz lunch with an Iranian refugee family, there was no conflict. It was only as it was coming together did it start to seem like an unusual combination.

Mirsah ghasemi, a smoked eggplant dish, and Velveeta-salsa dip.

Pirashki and pigs in a blanket.

We both cooked. Sure, I made the Velveeta dip while he made the mirsah ghasemi. But I made the pirashkis while he made the guacamole.

And what is a pirashki?  Well I’m glad you asked. I had no idea, but Google helped. Apparently their are Russian pirashkis and Iranian pirashkis. The main difference seems to be if they include dill as a spice or parsley. We went with the Iranian parsley.

I think this was the first time I have made something having no idea how it was supposed to taste. Plus I had to learn from experince, since Google didn’t answer my question, that you can make pirashkis the night before.

(You can also make pigs in a blanket ahead of time. Just cook them fully the first time and reheat about 5 minutes in the oven when ready to serve.)

Coolest thing about the pirashkis is that the first ingredient for the dough is plain yogurt, then milk and then yeast and a little sugar to make it grow. The link for the recipe I used is at the bottom of all this.

Mine did not look like those on the website, but I think practice will make perfect.

So what did the pirashkis taste like?  Surprisingly, they tasted a lot like Sloppy Joe’s.

No kidding. All that work and I really think Sloppy Joe’s must be related to Iranian pirashkis. Of course, the bread was really out of this world amazing, and so much better, and yet similar, to a soft hamburger bun.

So yes, they went very well with the pigs in a blanket.

I will make them again and try to get them right next time. And by right I mean, I’ll roll the dough thinner and put more filling in each one. But sometime in the next year I need to get him to try Sloppy Joe’s so that he can see how similar they really are.

Here is the recipee I used and will use again. http://www.aashpazi.com/pirashki