Our local community is home to a wide variety of cultures, with over 60% of these being Assyrian residents. Many of these will soon be celebrating Assyrian New Year on 1st April.

Assyrian New Year is traditionally celebrated to mark the start of the new year and Spring. It remains as one of the last few celebrations linking the ancient and modern Assyrians. The Assyrian people can be traced approximately 6,000 years back and were ruled by Kings and worshiped a pantheon of gods, much like other ancient cultures.

This year we are celebrating the diverse cultures within our community and share with you some traditional Assyrian recipes for popular dishes enjoyed during Assyrian New Year. You can find all the ingredients in the centre or for delivery to create and enjoy with members of your household at home.

These recipes were created by the Stockland team.


Biryani (spiced fried rice)
Serves: 4-6 people
Ingredients
1 x whole chicken, raw
3 x bay leaves
1 x star anise
2 teaspoons of seven spice
3 large potatoes
2 x white onions
300g of frozen peas
200g of sultanas
200g of peeled and halved almonds
3 cups of basmati rice
300g beef mince
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Create a stock by placing the chicken into a large pot, cover with water, then add the bay leaf, star anise and salt and bring to the boil. Simmer with a lid on for one hour. Once the chicken is cooked, take it out of the stock liquid and set aside to cool. Leave the stock liquid for later.
2. Once the chicken has cooled, shred in to pieces.
3. Place the mince in to a large mixing bowl, then add salt and pepper and mix well. Then create small 2-3cm sized meatballs.
4. Peel and chop the potatoes into 2cm cubes.
5. Peel and slice the onions in to rings.
6. Fry the following ingredients in olive oil separately until cooked, then set aside – potatoes, onion rings, almonds and sultanas. 
7. In a large frying pan, shallow fry the meatballs in olive oil until cooked through, then set aside.
8. In a large pot, add olive oil and rice, then cook for 2 minutes, stirring the rice regularly. Then add 3 cups chicken stock and the seven spice. Cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes or until rice is al-dente. 
9. Add to the cooked rice, frozen peas, shredded chicken, meatballs, potatoes, onions, almonds and sultanas and mix through in the pot on low heat for 5 minutes.
10. Serve the rice on a large serving dish and share.


Dolma (vine leaves)
Serves: 4-6 people
Ingredients
375g pack of vine leaves
1 x bunch of silver beet
1 x large zucchinis 
1 x Lebanese eggplant
200 grams of lamb ribs (4-5 ribs)
2 cups of basmati rice
500g of lamb mince
1 x 400g can of diced tomatoes 
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
4 x cloves of garlic 
1 x leek 
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of ginger powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
50g of tamarind paste

Method
Preparing the vine leaves and vegetables:
1. Soak the vine leaves in cold water to reduce salty residue.
2. Silver beet - remove stalks and finely chop, then blanch leaves in boiling water until slightly softened.
3. Zucchini, eggplant, leek and garlic - chop in to small pieces.

Creating the mixture:
1. In a deep casserole pot, heat olive oil and add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, zucchini, eggplant, silver beet stalks, leek and garlic. Slowly cook until all vegetables have softened
2. Wash the rice and place in to a large mixing bowl, then add cooked vegetable mixture. Mix in with rice and add salt, pepper, chilli, ginger, and cinnamon, then let it cool.
3. Once cooled, add raw mince to the rice mixture and combine.

Next step: 
1. Using the same casserole pot used for the vegetable mixture, line the bottom with the lamb ribs.

Rolling the vine leaves:
1. Lay out the vine leaves, then place a tablespoon of the rice, vegetable and raw meat mixture on the edge of the leaf. Fold the sides and bottom in then roll to form a tight parcel. 
Repeat this process for the silver beet leaves. 

2. Once the vine leaf and silver beet leaf parcels are complete, place them on top of the lamb ribs until finished or you have reached 3/4 to the top of your pot.

Cooking: 
1. Place the tamarind paste in to a small bowl and pour a cup of boiling water over the top. Leave it to dissolve for a few minutes. 
2. Pour the tamarind paste and water over the top of the leaves in the pot.
3. Fill the pot 1/3 of the way with boiling water. Then cook on a low-medium heat for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, heat half a cup of olive oil in a separate pan. Once heated pour into the pot and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve by flipping the pot on to a large serving dish and share.