Thoughts: Persian Food
I love Persian food. In the early 80s I fell in love with my project architect for Angeli and we were together for several years. Mahmood “Michele” Saee introduced me to the profound satisfaction of the intensely herbal, rice based cuisine. My very first experience was at the restaurant Shamshiri in Hollywood. (The immigration had just started. Tehrangeles had yet to coalesce.) Before we ordered, a server brought out a small white plate with a whole peeled onion on it accompanied by flat bread and butter. I remember laughing, “What are we supposed to do with that?” When he told me you simply eat the onion raw either biting into it like an apple or cut into slivers that you tuck into torn pieces of buttered bread, I thought to myself, I’m really going to love this food. Then the kebabs came to the table with a side plate piled high with herbs still on the stem. I watched him take a bite of meat then stuff some herbs into his mouth and begin to chew. Eating epiphany!
In time I learned that the cuisine combines raw elemental herbal flavors with a sophisticated elegance that’s created by the layering of massive quantities of herbs cooked in various ways. When people ask me what Persian food is like I say, think Indian food, only the herbs take center stage, not the spice. It turned out, to my great luck, that his mother Shari was the best cook in the family. Even more than that she makes the best Persian food I’ve had to this day. Every visit to their crowded apartment crammed with three generations of new immigrants was inflected with the smell of herbs and onions she was constantly chopping. There was always the aromatic biting freshness of dill in the air with a base of funky tumeric and top floral note of saffron. It took awhile, but finally Shari taught me to make rice. My obsession with pasta receded as the perfectly separate, expertly fluffed aromatic grains of aged basmati entered my consciousness. Making rice became a pleasure instead of a nightmare. And despite my knowledge that massive quantities of white rice is not the best thing for my health, sometimes a girl wants what a girl wants. And on this day I wanted a big plate of herbal rice accompanied by super fresh brown butter sautéed sea bass (from my fish CSA).
This “pilaf” or “pullao” or “polo” is a combo of Baghali Polo featuring favas and Sabzi Polo noted by the extravagant use of herbs. As always I didn’t shop specially for the recipe. I used what I had in the house, so it’s not “authentic” but perfect for this meal. Often when I make the rice dishes I don’t make the meat based stew traditionally used to layer into the rice before steaming.
If you want a cookbook mentor for making startlingly good Persian food you can’t do better than Najmieh Batmanglij. Her Food of Life was/is my bible. The food I made from it consistently surprised my new adopted family with wonder that I could make recognizable Persian food. Her Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey is more than a cookbook. Here’s a great New Yorker article about Ms. Batmanglij and her family that you might like to read.