The basic ingredients of Persian cuisine

The geographical characteristics of each country influence directly the ingredients and the cuisine of that particular area, and Persian cuisine isn’t an exception.

Iran is vast, the 19th country in the world, and it has all four seasons. It has different ecosystems: deserts, mountains, lakes, gulf, and seas, and a wide variety of plants and animals are living in its territory. The recipes are so different from north to south, and east to west, but all of them start from a common base.

Here are basic ingredients of Persian cuisine. 

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Fat

Iran, in general, is a dry land – except the north, near the Caspian sea- and a few plants can grow in its climate, this isn’t the case for animals, therefore, the main fat of the traditional Persian cuisine is animal fat.

Which animal mainly sheep, there are sheep’s oil and butter.

In case you don’t have animal fat the clarified butter or as Persian call it: oil of butter (روغن کره) is the best choice for cooking traditional Persian cuisine (check out the recipe). In some cases, I use extra virgin olive oil which is the healthiest option among the vegetable oils.

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Proteins

Lamb, Almost all the stews (khoresh) & kebabs are made with lamb. Why? unlike cow that drinks loads of water, the sheep doesn’t. It’s more adapted for Iran’s conditions.

Fish for the cities that are near the coast of the Persian Gulf and south of the Caspian sea. It’s one of the main ingredients.

Chicken is a very popular protein in Iran.

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Carbs

1- Wheat: in from of bread ( = naan, nun) is very popular, no matter if you have rice in your dish the bread is always on the Persian tables (or better call it: sofreh سفره). There are four types of traditional bread in Iran which are the most popular:

• Sangak
• Taftoon
• Lavash
• Barbari (photo)

Also there are western types of bread called: Fantasy bread :))

• Toasts
• Baguettes
• Naan Bolki (Iranian version of chiabatta)

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2. Rice for Iranians is like pasta for Italians and the inseparable ingredient that comes always next to it is Saffron. It totally brings the flavor to another level, elegant and fragrant.

There are two main ways of cooking rice:

• Kateh style quicker to prepare, you don’t sieve the rice, and cook It for your close friends and family. (photo)
• Traditional Formal style The rice is drained, it is more laborious, and people mainly cook this type of rice for the formal occasions and for guests.

Some of the traditional Persian rices: ( = polo, پلو):

• Sabzi polo (rice with herbs)
• Adas polo (rice with lentils)
• Reshteh polo (rice with Iranian noodles)
• Baghali polo (rice with fava beans)
• Lubia polo (rice with green beans)
• Tahchin (crust of rice with egg, yogurt, and saffron)
• Tahchin Morgh (tahchin with chicken)
• Tahchin Bademjan (tahchin with eggplants)

and so many other!

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Herbs

Iranians love herbs, in traditional restaurants you may find fresh herbs on a small plate as the accompaniment of the dishes because people like to eat them with the main course.

In Iran, herbs are one of the main ingredients of the cuisine. They are very labor-intensive ingredients. Because they need to be cleaned, washed, and chopped, not a handful of herbs but in kilograms/pounds. So once this time-consuming job is done, most families store the “ready to use” herbs in the freezers.

Nowadays people buy herbs from specialized stores. Their service is just cleaning, washing, and chopping the herbs for people, and they are ready to cook!

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What are these herbs 

• Parsley
• Coriander
• Chives
• Dill
• Tarragon
• Mint
• Persian Basil (very different from its Italian and Thai cousins)

Some recipes with herbs:

• Ghormeh sabzi (stew of herbs): parsley, chives 
• Kuku sabzi (frittata of herbs): parsley, chives, dill
• Ash Reshteh (soup with reshteh): parsley chives coriander
• Sabzi polo (rice with herbs): parsley, chives, dill
• Baghali polo (rice with fava beans): dill 
• Shur (Pickles): dill, tarragon

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The base, to cook (almost any) Persian food

Every cuisine starts from a base. Like most of the Italian dishes starts with Italian soffritto (onion, carrot, and celery); or Thai dishes start with a paste made of: ginger, garlic, chili, lemongrass, and fish sauce (lol I know there are even more). 

The base of most dishes of Persian cuisine is onion & turmeric. First starting with frying onions (chopped) and when they are translucent, you add the turmeric and that is your starting point to cook Persian food. 

With these 2 ingredients, you can start almost any stew (khoresh) or soup (ash).

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Conclusion

As you noticed, Persian cuisine is not very spicy, there are spices but in the end, the food is mild and the taste of the ingredients should be dominant in your mouth. Almost all of the stews (khoresh) have a slow cooking process so better to be patient and have a pressure cooker in your kitchen!

If you are looking for new tastes, this cuisine might have some surprises for you! :))

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*This article of dr. axe for the healthy fats worth reading

*Check out the article of Time regarding the vegetable oils.