Salad Anar-o Khiar – Pomegranate and cucumber salad

Who doesn’t love a good salad? Particularly a sparkling one with crisp, bright colors and flavors, that celebrates the much-loved pomegranate. Pomegranates are native to the Middle East and quite significant in Persian cuisine. In Iran, pomegranates are served just as they are, or juiced, or cooked down to create pomegranate syrups and pastes. They…

Maast-o Khiar – Yogurt with dried mint, cucumber and raisins

Yogurt is no stranger to Persian cuisine and is frankly a mandatory side item on the table. Each region of Iran offers its own unique version of a yogurt dish to accompany a Persian meal. In the North by the Caspian Sea, the specialty is a garlic and shallot yogurt, which has an intoxicating quantity…

Salad-e seeb torsh ba kheeyar – Apple and cucumber salad with fresh herbs and lime

Persian cucumbers have ruined it for me! When you grow up eating cucumbers in the way that Americans eat apples and oranges, you are in for a disappointment the first time you cross paths with an ordinary cucumber. Persian cucumbers are delicate, high on cucumber flavor, and low on the chalky/bitterness factor. Their skins are…