This dish takes me way back to my childhood growing up in Tehran. I remember loving this dish for its flavor and simplicity, which clearly appealed to my teenage palate. A simple meatball dish with fried potatoes over steamed rice – how can you go wrong with that?

As I prepared this dish, I found myself struggling to make the meatballs look uniform and be the correct size. The term “Kal-leh Gonjishki” translates to “little bird’s head,” implying how small and delicate these meatballs should be.

Though I grew up in Iran, I have lived two-thirds of my life in the US, where my exposure to meatballs has mainly been to those American/Italian ones that could practically be the size of a baseball! So, I found myself once again balancing the tension between my childhood memories and what has now become familiar to me. And as I became impatient, the meatballs gradually grew in size!

Looking back on my childhood, I never had to think about how much care went into preparing this dish. Making it now, I’m humbled to think of how much effort and dedication my mother gave as she lovingly prepared dishes that created a sense of continuity in my life. It’s a good reminder of how hard parents work behind the scenes, often unrecognized, to make life easier and to remove unnecessary burdens from their children.

Gratitude!