A cookbook about Persian food! Ugh, that’s nice! I am curious about The Persian Kitchen by Yasmin Kahn. After our trip in Iran, we were incredibly curious about Iranian recipes. And yes, they are all in there. Like our favorite (we were still eating vegetarian then) kurku-ye-sabzi (spinach frittata) and kurku-ye sibzameeni (potato dish) and Aash e- reshte (soup with lentils). But it also contains many vegetarian and vegan salads, as well as delicious soups.
All time favorite Aash
Aash soup is a special soup for Iranians. Almost every Iranian has eaten it at one time or another. In Isfahan, we were summoned by the owner of our hotel (Hotel Iran) to taste this typical Iranian soup at the Abassi Hotel. Not wanting to disappoint the best man, of course we had to taste these. What a beautiful hotel that is! One of the most luxurious we have seen in Iran. It turns out, according to the owner of our hotel, to be the oldest hotel in the world.
Eehmmm yeah…whether that’s true or not, the soup tasted…gross! What turned out, on this Aash is kashk, a kind of fermented whey. Ieew that was gross, at least we thought so. When I had spooned that away, it was delicious. Kind of like pea soup, but different. I was so happy that this book contains the recipe for aash e-reshte. Now, of course, I’ve geveganized these, but that’s very easy. No dirty kashk, just plain soy yogurt.
Stories from Iran
What is striking about The Persian Kitchen are all the back stories about Iran. Having been there, it is a delight to read. Also, the photos in the book are really like the Iran we know from our trip. The Persian Kitchen also tells you how to make the typical Iranian rice. This is a precise job and takes some practice. Most importantly, have a pan with a thick bottom.
Ratio of meat recipes to vega recipes
So, unfortunately, there are also meat recipes in The Persian Kitchen. Such a shame! In fact, if the author of this also made a vega(n) variant, we would recommend this book immediately. I just quickly scrolled through to the veggie dishes. And there are plenty of those, too. By the way, with a little imagination, you can also make the meat dishes veg with meat substitutes. Or use beans to stew for a long time. If you are really looking for a vegetarian cookbook, there are better books like Vegalicious and if you want a vegan cookbook, Vegan is a winner.
Are you, like us, interested in Persian food? Then this is definitely a fun cookbook to get some inspiration. Unfortunately, you then have to fast-forward when a fish or meat dish is listed. It’s up to you whether you find that a problem or not. Want a cookbook to make Middle Eastern dishes? Maybe Veggistan is a good one for you then! Also a very nice book with lots of great vegetarian recipes.
Persian Cuisine
Yasmin Kahn
Fontaine Publishers
€ 24,95