The Cooking Show: Sosis Bandari with a Twist

As we sit down to cook some sosis bandari, I'm excited to share this traditional Iranian dish with you. But first, let's talk about the wind. "Yo, it is windy as hell here in Joshua Tree," I say, and indeed, it seems like the wind has just stopped. We're going to keep cooking before things get any wilder. And speaking of wild, we've been here for a couple of days, and now we're feeling quite hungry.

Sosis bandari is an Iranian dish that's also commonly known as port sausage. It's a popular street food in the south of Iran, and its name literally translates to "port sausage." But what's interesting is that it usually consists of sausage, not hot dogs. However, as I like to experiment with different ingredients, we're going to substitute the sausage with all-American hotdogs. Yes, you heard that right – hotdogs! And I'm excited to share why I chose this particular ingredient.

Hotdogs are one of my top foods, and I think they're amazing in every form. Whether it's a juicy, classic ballpark hot dog or a more adventurous version topped with unique ingredients, I love them all. So when I discovered sosis bandari, I knew I had to try it out – even if it meant using hotdogs instead of sausage. And trust me, it was a game-changer.

We're essentially making a glorified hash here, but it's so much more than that. By using potatoes, we're creating a dish that's not only delicious but also perfect for camping trips. Potatoes are an excellent choice because they pack well, travel well, and don't create any waste when cooked. Plus, they're a great way to use up leftovers from your trip. And the best part? It's incredibly easy to make.

To start off, we'll get some oil nice and hot in our cast iron skillet. I know it might seem like a lot of oil – just a quarter cup will do – but trust me, you want a good amount to prevent the potatoes from sticking. And the great news is that cast iron is naturally non-stick, so don't be afraid to get cooking. As we wait for the oil to heat up, let's talk about how I got into making sosis bandari in the first place.

It all started when my friend Medie, who's of Iranian descent, introduced me to this dish. I was working with his wife Felicia at the time, and she mentioned that her husband had told her about a traditional Iranian street food called sosis bandari. I was intrigued, so I asked him more about it, and he explained that it usually consisted of sausage. But then he said something unexpected – hotdogs were also commonly used in this dish. I was sold!

So, let's get back to cooking. We'll cut our hotdogs into nice little pieces on the bias. Don't worry if they're not perfect – we're going for a fun, casual vibe here. As we start browning our potatoes, remember that you want a good bit of oil, but don't go overboard. And don't be scared – cast iron is your friend.

Ah, look at those potatoes browned to perfection! Now it's time to add our hotdogs and get this hash cooking. We'll mix everything together, and before we know it, we'll have a delicious dish that's perfect for camping trips or any mealtime. And the best part? It's incredibly easy to make – just like me!

As we finish up our sosis bandari, I hope you've enjoyed this culinary adventure with me. Remember, cooking is all about experimentation and having fun, so don't be afraid to try new ingredients and techniques. Happy cooking, everyone!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en-Yo, it is windy as hell herein Joshua Tree,and we're going to cooksome sosis bandari.I'm Farideh, this isThe Cooking Show.And the wind stopped rightwhen I said that.The wind stopped,so we're going to keep goingbefore it gets windier.Guess what? We've been herefor a couple of days.We're still here,and now we're so hungry.So now we're going to cooksome more food.Sosis bandari isan Iranian dish.It's an Iranian street food.It comes from the south of Iran.Sosis bandari actuallymeans port sausage.So that's what we're goingwith here.Except we're not puttingsausage in here.We're putting the all-Americanhotdog up in here, okay?Because I like hotdogs.Hotdogs are maybe oneof my top foods, okay?Don't judge me.And I like a really good hotdog.I like a really crappy hotdog.I like a water dog.I like a dirty baseball dog.I like all the dogsin the world.They're great.All dogs are awesome, okay?We're making essentiallya glorified hash, all right?This is delicious.We're using potatoes.This is basically a reallygreat dishfor when you're camping because,you know, stuff like this,a potato, it packs really well.It travels well.There's no wasteto take out with you.It's a good way to use upleftovers when you're campingif you have a bunch of extrathings at the end of your tripand you need to cook.You can throw it all togetherand make a little potatohash over here.To start off, we're going to getsome oil nice and hot herein our cast iron.Son of a bitch!Ah!Well, that was fun.We're going to start browningour potatoes.And you do want a good bitof oil,not a whole bottle of oil,just a quarter cup of oil.But don't forget, cast ironis naturally nonstick,so you should bein good shape.Don't be scared.You should be scared ofthe elementswhen you're camping,not of cooking.Ahh!Okay.Okay, we're going to getour hotdogs out.Now as I mentioned, in Iran,in the south of Iran,this is street food.And they usually -sosis bandarimeans port sausage,so they're usuallyusing sausage,but oftentimes,hotdogs are used, as well.We're just cutting these,you can see,into nice little kind of,whoops, hotdog pieceson the bias.-Look like cut it upfor a toddler.-For a toddler?I know.So the first time I had thisor even heard of this dishwas when I was with my friendsMedie and Felicia.I used to work with Felicia,and her husband,Medie, is Iranian.I think the reason this came upwas becauseI was talking about my loveof hotdogs and he was like,\"Well, you must havehad sosis bandari.\"And I was like, \"I have no ideawhat you're talking about.\"My dad's from Tehranand that's just not a dishthat you eat there.We're going to make this todayas a sandwich.It's a very popular street foodas a sandwich.And I think that whenyou're camping, it's really nicebecause with a sandwich,you don't really need a plate.You know, all you need reallyis a bandana or a napkinto wipe your faceand you're fine.So sandwich it is.These are big pieces.I don't usually cut themthat big, but today.I like eating raw hotdogs.They're not really raw,but it's fine, whatever.Okay, so just keep on givingyour potatoesa little stir as you go.You're going to hear it cooking,sizzling away.You can already see it's alreadyit's nicely brown in places.But as we keep stirring it,the oil's going to coatthe potatoesand it's going to help itjust kind of fry.And --The tent is blowing away, okay?Be aware, this ishazardous conditions, people.All right, we're goingto dice up some onion in this.That can go right on in there.So it turns outI have one more hotdogand I got this little thing,so if you want to,you can cook your hotdogon your fire like this.Look.Cooking our hotdogand our potatoes.And this is multitaskingat its finest.All right.Time to eat this bad boy.Ah, yeah, it's perfect.And because I'm a toddler,according to Ian,I will cut itinto little pieces.Mm, this is delicious.You guys want a piece of hotdog,snacking hotdog?Holly, come here.Frankie.And Amanda, you get one, too.Oh, all right.Last one for me, cheers.Mm.Our potatoes are lookingreally beautiful.So hash basically means itderives from a French word.My French is really bad.So it derives fromthe French word H-A-C-H-R,hachr, hachr,and it means to chop.It's a way of using upleftovers,so that's what we're doing.It usually contains meat,potatoes, fried onions,and you can kind of add ontothat from there for yourself.So we're not only addingon onions,we're also going to put ina green bell pepper, okay?I love a green bell pepper.I think bell peppers overallare kind oflike a forgotten vegetablesometimes, you know.Like green bell peppers,people really just think of themas like a pizza topping,in my opinion.This is a very lonely vegetable,I find, but I like it.We're going to put itin here today, okay?So I'm just going to like kindof roughly chopour bell peppers, all right?Just like this and our miseen place is done.Beautiful.Now we're just waitingon our potatoes.This is like the easiest thing.And what you should be doingright nowis enjoying a nice little drinkwith your friendswhile you do this, having yourappetizers and cocktailsby the fire,looking for coyotes.That's what people doin the desert.So on the inside of the bread,we're going to do a combinationof labneh, lemon zest,and salt and pepper.So we've got our labneh ----and our feta.So we'll put the labnehon in this bowl and labneh'sjust like a thickand strained yogurt.You could just use plain yogurtif you wanted to.That's totally fine.We're going to add in somecrumbled up feta.Oh, beautiful.I love feta.When I was a kid, fetawas my favorite cheese.It still is.Ah, that's a lie.It's not my favorite cheese,but I love that cheese.Put in the zestin two lemons right on in.And save this lemon becausewe're going to use the juicefor our arugulaand herb salad.Put a salt in here, as well.And a little bit of pepper.There we go.Our potatoes are lookingreally good.We're going to push themto the side of the pan.And you know what?Because I can't not seasonthese potatoes right now.I'm just going to adda little bit of salt to them.Hotdogs are going in right thereand they're just going tocrisp up on the side.If you wanted to keep themwhole and dirty dogit like this, all right?Do what you want.It's totally fine.And the thing about campingis that you want theselike one pot kind of meals.You want minimal dishes and likethat's what you'rekind of getting with this.Did you guys know that JoshuaTree is not actually a tree?It's a cousinof the yucca plant.If I'm being really honest,it was named after my cousin,Brian, which is crazy.Okay, the hotdogs are niceand plumpedand they've gotsome golden color on them.We're going to mix itall together,and then we're going to addin our bell pepperand our yellow onion,and we're just goingto keep on cooking thisuntil the onionand the bell pepper soften.We'll season a little bitright now with some saltsjust to helpthe onion soften.Come here.Watch this, ready?There goes the saltover your left shoulder.So in most Iranian cooking,it's the food is not very spicy,but this is one of those recipesthat we actually do adda little bit of kick to it,all right?So we're going to addsome ground cumin,some turmeric powder,and then some cayenne,all right?Let's make sure I don'tblow it everywhere, first.Whoop, it's fine.It's fine.Most of it go in there.Cayenne right on in.And add some ground cumin.All right.Give that a little stir.Let those spices kind of toastin there, coat everything.Oh, it smells so good.Looking good.Next up, we're going to addsome tomato paste, okay?Let that cook.Kind of toast that upa little bit.We're going to add a splashof water to this, as well.That water is helping dispersethe tomato paste and coateverything really nicely.We're going to turn this guyoff, crack pepper on it,do a little of this salt.All right, we've gotour beautiful bread here.Oh, you hear that?No wind.Lovely.Okay, bread is there.We're going to getour arugula and herbs out.We've got some nice,fresh dill and parsley,and we're going to makea nice little herbsalad to go with this.I'm going to squeeze in somelemon juice, as well,a little bit of olive oil,and then justsome salt and pepper.We're going to put some of thisreally tangy feta labneh lemonspread onto our breadand we're going to pile some ofour sosis bandari on here.Ooh, herb saladon top of the bread.That is a really damn fine meal.Sosis bandari,classic Iranian street food,here in Joshua Treewhile we're camping.What could be better?Mm, the feta and the labnehis so tangy.The herb and roux with thatis super brightand the hashis really tangy.The potatoes are still a bitcrispy, and golden,and just soft,and it's delicious.This is honestly a delicioussandwich, highly recommend.For the recipe,click the link below.Go camping.Go home, make this, have fun.Peace.♪♪Mmm!♪♪♪♪\n"