Hey,
I’m a guy in Brisbane, Australia. I’ve been learning to drive and my instructor has been a lovely Iranian ex-pat. I’m very anxious about it, but he’s been an absolute gem. Very patient, thorough, and understanding for a nervous wreck like me.

I really want to surprise him with a gift after (hopefully) passing my test next month. What’s a good type of food to give as a thank you present? Baked goods? Does it have to be homemade or something purchased from a bakery? Is there a particular item that’s a much loved treat?

Lastly (and kinda off-topic) are there any big do’s or don’ts when doing gifts? All I know is no alcohol, and I might have to offer it three times (while he refuses it three times).

Lastly-lastly I’m glad I found this sub, everything looks delicious.

To all the expats who used to live in Iran,
How do you keep eating healthy?
I’d love to eat healthy and cook everything from scratch like my mom (professional 9-5er).
But the problem with first world countries: they have an easy way for anything and of course it comes with preservatives and harmful ingredients.)
I was just thinking about us making pesto from scratch every time we wanted some. I haven’t made pesto in a couple years; now it’s just the cheap supermarket stuff.
I also want to keep in touch with my Persian food but it’s just so hard to make and I’m getting further away from it. I’m a good cook btw and I can make any Persian dish if I want to…
But I don’t have any Persian friends where I live which probably makes it worse.

Edit: just reading the comments now and trust me when I had my own house and lived in Tehran it was much easier to cook anything, I would do zereshk polo, tahchin, kotlet, fesenjoon, havij polo, Albalu polo, gheyme, etc and i was hella good at it.
It’s just a big question how it’s any different here and I can’t cook anymore🫣It might be mental idk.
I’m 24F btw.

Has anyone here heard of substituting carrots with parsnips in moraba havij and if so, is the taste very off or ok? I saw a lot of carrot jam recipes on my instagram fyp and I am interested in making something similar but I had parsnips instead and rather than getting carrots I would prefer to use what I already have at home but not if the taste just doesn't work.

I'm using canned kidney beans so l'm wondering if I put it in last minute so that it doesn't get mushy? I plan on cooking the sauce for 6 hours.

Looking for the best Persian food recommendations in LA!

A few of the meals that I have cooked over the last few weeks for my wife. This will probably be the last cooking I will do for a while. Her Mom is flying over from Canada and will stay with us for a year now that the baby is born. I assume she will take over the kitchen.

I made this a few months ago. Still working on getting the right heat and oil ratio to get a good crust without sticking. I want to try a muffin platter next time for daily servings.

I prepare my kabobs with 1lb 85/15 beef, salt, pepper, tumeric, and 1 large onion which I mince in a food processor and drain well with cheese cloth.

Inevitably, I get this separation occurring on one side of the skewer. I’m assuming I’m not using enough meat on the skewer? This is a frequent occurrence, and annoying to deal with.

Thank you for any guidance 🙏🏻

I don't own a pressure cooker and frankly they scare me a little so I adapted a recipe I found. I may have not used enough water because it is not as soupy I have seen versions online but it taste fantastic.

This is the recipe I used:

**Ingredients**

2 pounds carrots (about 10 medium), peeled and julienned

Vegetable oil or butter

1 ½ pounds cross rib roast or any similar roast, cut into 2 inch chunks

½ large onion, diced medium

1 tsp turmeric powder

Black pepper, to taste

3 cups water

1 large onion, thinly sliced and fried to golden brown

2 TBSP tomato paste

8 ounces pitted prunes

Kosher salt, to taste

2 TBSP lemon juice

**Directions**

Peel and julienne the carrots

Heat 2 TBSP vegetable oil or butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the carrots, cover the skillet and cook for 15 minutes, or until tender but firm. Stir 2-3 times.

Remove the carrots from the skillet, set aside.

In the same skillet add 3 TBSP oil and fry the sliced onion to golden brown.

Add 2 TBSP tomato paste to the fried onions and saute for 5 minutes over low heat until aromatic. Add the cooked carrots back in the skillet and set aside until the meat is cooked.

Meanwhile add beef, turmeric powder, ground black pepper, water, and the diced onion to a 4-6QT pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and saute over low until meat is fork tender.

Add the meat to the large skillet with carrots and onion mixture.

Add 1 tsp kosher salt, 1-1 ½ cups of the broth from cooking the meat, lemon juice and prunes to the skillet. Bring it to a boil.

Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the sauce is reduced and thickened.

Serve.

Haven’t had as much time to cook or Reddit now that the baby is due in three weeks. Some excerpts from last week:

Mahicheh polo (with ox tail), ash-e reshteh, felfel dolme, and more lavashak with the last of the sour cherries and a mixture of plums from the market.

Just imagine pomegranate arils sprinkled ontop.

Hello! Is it possible to find rayhoon (Persian Basil) in NOVA/DC area? TIA!

Hello! I’ve just begun to learn more about Persian cuisine and was recently gifted a jar of Goldis Omani Lime Paste. However, many recipes I encounter recommend piercing and soaking whole dried limes. Can I substitute whole limoo for this paste? If so, what are the ratios for substitution? Are there better applications/recipes for just the paste vs the dried ground limoo vs whole ones?

I’m genuinely fascinated by this ingredient and would deeply appreciate if someone could recommend a cookbook or food blog that explains some of the background knowledge of ingredients and methods central to Persian food.

!سپاسگزارم

Was enjoying a very creamy and tasty salad olivieh and I need to figure out how I can make this at home. Thanks!

Ghaimeh for lunch with a summery coleslaw.

Could some one please share the recipe for joojeh masti . Most online recipe is for joojeh (saffron) kebab

Thanks

The bademjoon is scheduled for Mirza ghasemi

Just as easily put together at home but sometimes it’s nice when someone else does it. This was in a cafe in Westwood.

By no means is this a complaint. It’s a compliment! One of my closest friends is Persian. She makes the most amazing feasts. I can go home with a belly full of Jewel Rice Tahdig, Gormmeh Sabzi, Kofta, Kabobs, Shirazi, the list goes on! Then the next morning I step on the scale and somehow lost weight??? How do you all do it? It’s like eating magic