Name: Iranian Stuffed Chicken with Fresh Green Herbs and Golden Soup
Yield: Yield: 4–8 servings, depending on the size of the chicken and other dishes served
Ingredients: Enough fresh, cold water to cover the bird (if you use bottled water for coffee or tea, use it here); Freshly ground black pepper; An assortment of fresh herbs, including at least three of these: basil, mint, tarragon, cilantro, scallions; 1 to 1½ teaspoons turmeric; Herb blossoms or other edible flowers (optional); 1 large onion, peeled and cut in half; 2 medium celery stalks, preferably with leaves; A large roasting chicken, 4–7 pounds (neck, liver, and giblets removed and reserved for another use); 1 cup chickpeas, picked over, rinsed, and soaked overnight (optional); Salt; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; ½ cup yellow split peas, picked over and rinsed well; ½ teaspoon turmeric; 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed well; 1½ cups finely chopped onions; 1½ tablespoons cumin seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle or coarsely ground in a spice mill (for extra flavor, lightly toast the seeds until fragrant before crushing); 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; Small red radishes

Preparation info

Yield:
4–8
servings, depending on the size of the chicken and other dishes served

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Gefilte Variations

By Jayne Cohen

Published 2000

About

You pick up strips of silky, moist poached chicken glistening with amber broth and wrap them in an array of fresh green herbs—mint, scallion slivers, basil, tarragon, cilantro—then pop the scented packet in your mouth. Between bites there is the stuffing—cumin-scented rice and dal-like split peas, tinted sunshine yellow with turmeric—that has been cooked to melt-in-the-mouth tenderness inside the gently simmered chicken.

Only much later do you realize that this sensory feast—unlike