When I was in Iran, I really wanted to buy a cookbook.  I can think of no better souvenir from a country than a nice thick tome on their fare.  But alas, the only English written cookbook I found was the Australian Women’s Weekly More Slow Cooking.  I am afraid that wasn’t what I had in mind.

When I got home, I did a bit of research and found the book that everyone agreed was the best Iranian cookbook, Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij, so I ordered it.  And I must say, it is a jack pot.  I have already cooked three recipes from it, all of which have been a success.  And I have my eye on another.  Tomorrow night’s dinner, in fact.

There are a few ingredients I don’t have, including dried limes.  The same dried limes the quarantine man confiscated from me at Perth Airport.  Luckily, I have seen them at Kakulas Sister in Nollamara.  Another ingredient I didn’t have is ‘golpar’, which I had never heard of.  I went on-line and only got one hit in Australia.  Zaffron Grocery, West Fairfield, NSW, had it, but in 240g packets, which is a lot of golpar when I will probably only ever use one teaspoon.  I bought it anyway and … paid $10.00 for the postage.  What the hell? You only live once! 🙂

Of course, today’s recipe is from this lovely book.  It is huge, 640 pages and with beautiful photos.  If you are interested in cooking from this part of the world, I highly recommend it.

The quantity in the header photo is one third of the published recipe.  I have given these quantities as this is more than enough to serve as part of a starter for six.

Ingredients:

• 1 Lebanese cucumber, diced very finely or shredded and drained
• 25g Iranian sultanas, chopped.  Australian sultanas will do but Iranian sultanas are really yummy – If you are in Perth, Kakulas Sister in Nollamara sells them.
• 2 cups of yoghurt, drained overnight, which should produce about 1 cup of drained yoghurt.
• 2 tsp chives or spring onion, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh dill, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped
• 1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 10g walnuts, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

Garnish

• dried rose petals
• Iranian sultanas
• walnuts
• herbs of your choice

Method:

1. Place the cucumber, sultanas, drained yoghurt, chopped herbs, garlic and chopped walnuts in a bowl.
2. Stir then season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover and refrigerate until serving.
4. When ready to serve, garnish and serve with lavash.