A Taste of Iran

I have been inspired by the Middle East of late.... Syrian and Lebanese and the beautiful foods of Iran.

Having made some vegetarian Persian dishes in the past; notably tahdig many, many years ago for my university friends (now that is ancient history).  Now this was a total surprise for my Persian flat-mate..... I think one that this was this English girl making this classic Iranian dish and secondly that this is a dish for celebration; all made in a crummy halls of residence kitchen.  It was all worth it for the look on my Persian friend's face.   So thanks to Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian Cooking for introducing me to Persian cuisine (that is the book where I also learnt how to make the Japanese stock dashi from as well - a game changer for me).

Back to what I have recently been trying; the first is a bejewelled dip of pomegranate, green olives and walnuts - zeytoon parvardeh.  Recipe is courtesy of My Persian Kitchen.  I just served with some shop bought pitta bread as I did not have time to make my own lavash bread;  next time that is something I will definitely master.

This dish originated in northern Iran near the Caspian Sea in the Gilan Province, where locals make it with regional herbs like coriander and baby blue eryngo (locally called chuchagh) but you will probably need to substitute mint for that ingredient.  Now chuchagh is Erynagium Planum apparently but I could only find this reference in Eat the Weeds to a Erynagium as being edible and no mention of using as a herb. So that will be an interesting experiment someday if I can find and grow the correct plant!

Next up was a simple dish of aubergine and tomato stew with rice (Khoresh Bademjan) from The Spruce Eats. I served with some plant based yoghurt... the blend of cumin, turmeric cinnamon and saffron was divine with the aubergine. Using the pomegranate molasses really gave a sweet/sour pinch to the dish, which I love and is one of the essentials to Persian cuisine.  This is a recipe I will be coming back to.

"Persian cuisine is, above all, about balance - of tastes and flavors, textures and temperatures. In every meal, even on every plate, you'll find both sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, cooked and raw, hot and cold." 

Samin Nosrat