The rice should have a mild saffron flavor, with the saffron mixed into the rice just before serving. Alternately, it may be served alongside lamb on the bone. The dish is flecked with green dill and favas, and is often cooked with very tender chunks of lamb. This polo is particularly good in the spring, when fava beans are young and tender and dill is in season. Polo can be made with herbs, vegetables, beans, nuts, dried fruit, meat and even noodles, and acts as the centerpiece of the meal. But just as often, it’s cooked with other ingredients and called polo. In Iranian cooking, rice can be prepared simply with butter and saffron, known as chelo. Baghali Polo (Rice With Dill And Fava Beans) Like all Persian stews, bademjan is thick and meant to be eaten over rice with a fork.Ī simple rice dish, Baghali Polo is made with saffron, green dill and fava beans. Slightly tart, with the tang of tomatoes, lemon juice, and sometimes the juice of unripe grapes, its tanginess is kept in check by the eggplant, which is first fried on its own until golden-brown, then cooked with onions, lamb and the tomatoes and seasoning. This stew has the shimmering red-gold color of tomatoes cooked with turmeric, with a sheen of oil on top, a prized characteristic in Persian food cooking that shows a stew has been cooked long enough for the oils to rise up. They included walnuts, poultry and pomegranate preserves, the key ingredients in fesenjan. At the ruins of Persepolis, the ancient ritual capital of the Persian Empire, archaeologists found inscribed stone tablets from as far back as 515 B.C., which listed pantry staples of the early Iranians. Sometimes saffron and cinnamon are added, and maybe a pinch of sugar to balance the acid. Ground walnuts, pomegranate paste and onions are slowly simmered to make a thick sauce. This iconic stew, an essential part of every Persian wedding menu, pairs tart pomegranate with chicken or duck. Noosh-e jan! (Yes, that’s Farsi for “bon appétit.”) 1. A bright, sensuous, fruit-and-herb filled cuisine was born.Ī core curriculum of classic Persian favorites can be found on most Persian-American restaurant menus. Iran has a variable climate with four distinct seasons, and unlike other parts of the Middle East, where the dry terrain limited what food could be grown, the ancient Persians transformed vast stretches of arid land into fertile oases via underground aquifers that drew melted snow water into the desert. Many coveted ingredients are native to Iran, including pistachios, almonds, walnuts, saffron, mint, oranges, pomegranates and grapes. ![]() Think Russian-style borscht with cumin and cilantro and Chinese noodles in a soup of beans, herbs and sour fermented whey. ![]() While Iranians already had a well-developed food identity before these invasions, they assimilated what the outsiders brought in. What’s more, the ancient warrior-king of Greece, Alexander the Great, conquered the Persian Empire back in the 4th century, and later it was invaded by Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Uzbeks. ![]() Although Iran is part of the Middle East, it has close ties to Europe, the Far East and Africa, owing to its central place on the Silk Road trade route. ![]() Once the center of the Persian Empire, Iran neighbors the former Soviet Union countries, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Arab states and Turkey. Take a look at Iran’s place on the map and it’s easy to understand why the scope of native foods is so wide. Between the familiar kebab and the decidedly outré grilled lamb’s testicles, there’s a vast spectrum of foods: caviar, pickle, and smoked fish in the north samosas, falafel and hot and sour shrimp in the south noodles, flatbread and rosewater-scented ice cream across the country. ( Originally published in )Ī visit to Iran yields a stunning variety of culinary delights. Louisa Shafia, author of The New Persian Kitchen, guides us through the basics and highlights of Iranian Dishes and the Persian food. That’s because of the country’s unique history and geography, which translates to a diverse mix of cultural influences on the cuisine.
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