Wednesday, 02 September 2009
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Iranian/Persian Food & Desserts
Pistachio/Cranberry Cookie Photo from Sur La Table Cuisine
A few years ago, my boyfriend introduced me to an Iranian/Persian bakery he just walked into randomly. The thing is my BF is an adventurer. He'll try anything that looks good and the cookies looked great from afar. From my first experience with Iranian food, I'd say it has a few similarities with Indian food, as their countries are not that far away. But of course, Iranian food is unique all on its own.
Their unique ingredients for baking include cardamon, rosewater, and pistachio. There are more but I haven't really delved into the Iranian food-making process. of course, they use butter, flour, & honey. Let me show you some cookies from my favorite bakery:
The big one on the left is a walnut cookie. It's chewy on the inside & crispy on the outside. But you gotta eat them right away because they get hard after a day or so. The small clover-shaped ones are soft & melt-in-your-mouth, tasting mainly of pistachio. The one on the far right goes great w/ coffee & isn't sweet at all. just flaky.
The one that's completely in the picture is just a sandwich cookie with jam in the middle. The top is likely crushed pistachio, but it tastes great. Often, they also have the one below it, with chocolate stripes across.
The bird's nest isn't your typical bird's nest. I'd say it's the best bird's nest cookie I've ever eaten. The cookie crumbles so wonderfully and it isn't super sweet. Also, you can choose walnut-crusted or regular. What I like about Iranian cookies are they are not that sweet, they are flaky and they crumble so nicely. I haven't bought any cookies from another style of bakery since then. They also sell Turkish delight. If you like it, you have to try it fresh from an Iranian bakery.
There's actually also another specialty dessert of theirs I love: it's a napoleon made with custard. No, it's not your typical western yellow, milky custard. It's chewy and not that sweet. Only one bakery makes that but they don't seem to have it that often because there isn't much demand for it.
I also recently tried actual Iranian food, not just baked goods. Because it was fusion, they offered roti, dahl soup, salad and 2 types of long-grain rice (one of which contained raisins). Pureed squash, baked eggplant, & lamb kebab are some dishes you can find in that restaurant. They offered chai tea & other drinks featuring the common ingredients: pistachio, rosewater & cardamon. However, I've yet to try a strictly Iranian restaurant. I think the fusion is only necessary for people who are unfamiliar with their cuisine.
Have you ever tried Iranian food? What other international cuisines have you been pleasantly surprised by?
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- From: liquid_s@xanga
- About Me: I write about what happens in my life. My loves in life are afternoon tea, William Shakespeare, England, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, classical music, Michael Scofield, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Mattias Ohlund, the Canucks & Wang Lee Hom.
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Comments (24)
I LOVE Middle Eastern food, but I don't know if I've ever tried anything that was specifically Iranian. I'd like to, though. I've tried baked eggplant, but I don't know if that's just Iranian. I hear Afghan food is really good, too.
I was pleasantly surprised by Lebanese/Syrian food. My boyfriend introduced it to me a few years ago, and it was nothing like I've ever tasted before. I don't know what I'd do without it now! I could eat it every day. Thank goodness there are plenty of good places to buy it in the Detroit metro area (because of all the Middle Eastern immigrants we have). In fact, we're planning on going to a market today to pick up some authentic Lebanese food, most likely hummus, tabbouleh, pita bread, zatar bread, chicken shawarma and Lebanese-style spinach pies. I was also contemplating making some fattoush salad.
Interesting.
I have tried it and I love it. Those desserts look so good.
ooh, it looks good. :D
INDONESIAN FOOD = for the winnn
Gado Gado = epic. Someone needs to do a post on that ;)*mouth waters*
never tried it but everything you posted looks really good :)
mmm. looks delicious. i love Middle Eastern food
I'm hungry now, haha.
I love Iranian Food! It is amazing. Anything Middle Eastern/Indian/Paki is the way to go. There's a Persian restaurant about 40 minutes away from where I live and they serve the best koobidehs, saffron rice, and roasted tomatoes. I love beef and chicken koobidehs as well with lots of lemon and sumac.
As for the cookies, I haven't tried any Iranian desserts, but I have eaten Armenian pastries before. They're pretty much the epitome of awesome.
@methodElevated@xanga - I am incredibly jealous of what will most likely be your dinner tonight.
Pistachio/Cranberry Cookies look so good. Don't know where I can find them.
I've never tried Iranian/Persian food before but that cookie looks so good!!!
they look delicious, gosh i love bakeries.
I've never tried Iranian food. I would love to though. I really like trying foods from different countries!
Those look yummy!
it looks soo good
never tryed it though
*drool*
I used to live in the city where I could probably find this easily.
Now I live in the country and there's nothing except greasy burgers.
:(
I miss city food.
I'm Persian so I've obviously grown up eating Iranian foods. But I've never liked Persian sweets.. My mum bakes them a lot but I can't stand them.
@Blueberry_xh@xanga - you'd have to ask ireallylikefood for the recipe. the cranberry/pistach isn't my picture & i've never seen an iranian bakery use cranberry. sounds like a fusion thing.
@OpiumxRainbows@xanga - really? you're so lucky! i like persian sweets b/c they're NOT sweet!
@liquid_s@xanga - I had persian sweets once. They were really good. I'm trying to find a persian bakery in town.
pistachio/cranberry cookie looks good, mmmm...
All that sounds amazing! I wish the Iranian culture could be better preserved, I really just didn't know about stuff like this until a couple of years ago.
It's one of those things about living in the south I guess... growing up I just wasn't educated on middle eastern culture very much until 911 happened. and even then I did most of the research on my own even though I was only like, ten. But what you've listed sounds great!
As an Iranian, I am quite privileged to eat such delights frequently at home. The butter stick used for one pot's worth of rice might not be so good for me, though.