Iran - Andrew Burke [55]
As you travel, you’ll see the balance in dishes such as fesenjun (sauce of grated pomegranate, walnuts, eggplant and cardamom served over roast chicken and rice), where the pomegranate (cold) is balanced by the walnuts (hot). You’ll also see this balance on the table, where mast (yogurt), cheese, radishes and greens – all cold – are served with ‘hot’ kababs (opposite), chicken and sweets. Getting the balance right is what is most important. Too much ‘cold’ food is thought to be particularly unhealthy. We were told of one man in his 30s who, in an effort to lose weight, ate only yogurt for dinner for six months. When he ate watermelon after his yogurt one night he promptly died of a heart attack (yes, he might just have had a dicky ticker). ‘Hot’ foods are apparently not so dangerous: too much of ‘hot’ and you might end up with a cold sore, if you’re prone to them.
So think twice before ordering dugh (churned sour milk or yogurt mixed with water) with your fish meal, unless the dugh comes with chopped herbs to balance it out. And be careful with that watermelon!
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STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
Almost every meal in Iran is accompanied by nun (bread) and/or berenj (rice). Nun is dirt cheap and usually fresh. There are four main varieties: lavash is common for breakfast and is flat and thin (it’s mouthwatering when fresh but soon turns cardboard-like); barbari is crisp and salty and more like Turkish bread (and is often covered with sesame seeds); sangak is the elite of Iranian breads, long and thick and baked on a bed of stones to give it its characteristic dimpled appearance (check carefully for rogue chunks of gravel); and taftun is crisp with a ribbed surface.
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New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, by Najmieh Khalili Batmanglij, is so good – clear, concise and accurate – it’s on the gift table at almost every Iranian wedding in the US.
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Chelo (boiled or steamed rice) forms the base of many an Iranian meal, and especially at lunch is served in vast helpings. Rice cooked with other ingredients, such as nuts, spices or barberry (small, red berries), is called polo and is worth asking for specifically. Saffron (za’feran) is frequently used to add flavour and colour. If rice is served with a knob of butter on top, blend this in as the Iranians do. Tahdig, the crunchy, savoury crust at the bottom of the pan, sometimes served with slices of potato, is the favourite of almost every Iranian.
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IRANIAN MEALS
STARTERS
A standard Iranian meal starts with a basic, prefabricated green salad, radioactive-pink dressing and ash-e jo (soup of pearl barley). Some places include these in a total set-meal price but usually they are charged separately.
MAINS
Even in a restaurant with a long menu, 90% of the main-dish options are likely to be kababs. These are served either on bread (preferably hot from the tandir clay oven) or as chelo kabab (on a mound of rice) with a pair of grilled tomatoes. Contrasting with the greasy doner kebabs inhaled after rough nights in the West, Iranian kababs are tasty, healthy and cooked shish-style over hot charcoals. The cheapest, standard version is kubide (literally, ‘ground’) kabab, made out of pressed, minced meat mixed with a variable proportion of breadcrumbs. Kabab-e barg (literally, ‘leaf kabab’) is thinner and more variable in quality, and fille kabab uses lamb fillet, while juje kabab are chunks of marinated chicken. Kababs are usually sprinkled with spicy somaq (sumac; dried extract from fruits of the rhus genus) and accompanied by