Mast-o-Khiar- Cucumber & Walnut Dip in the Persian Manner and My Birthday

Wednesday, October 12, 2011 By shayma 24 Comments

Mast-o-Khiar Cucumber Dip

That coral pink sludge we used to buy from the Sainsbury’s closest to our dorm was usually scooped up with salt and vinegar crisps. Taramosalata it was called. My Greek friend MM had introduced me to it, but I am sure it was quite different than the real stuff she was eating back home in Athens. We all loved it, we thought we were the ultimate gourmandes, eating in the common room together, bitching about that Italian Econometrics professor who didn’t really know what that damn Monte Carlo algorithm test was- and neither did we. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, appetiser, condiment, vegetables/vegetarian

Strawberry Yoghurt Parfait in the Persian Manner

Monday, June 13, 2011 By shayma 17 Comments

Yoghurt Strawberry Parfait

It was the sort of evening where dessert had to be eaten first. It was the end of June and the tiny, scarlet, sweet-as-jam wild strawberries, le fragoline di Nemi were in season. Baba was visiting me in Rome from Bucharest and on the weekend our dear friends, Uncle Iqi and Aunty Neeman graciously drove us up into the Castelli Romani to the small town of Nemi. They always knew where to take us for the best medium-rare steak or the crispiest-thinnest pizza in Rome. And this time, they invited us for early season porcini mushrooms and le fragoline in Nemi. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, Italy, breakfast, brunch, dessert/pudding

Ab Doogh Khiar- Cucumber Soup With Walnuts and Crunchy Shallots in the Persian Manner

Sunday, May 15, 2011 By shayma 15 Comments

Persian cucumber soup

Her name was Bridget but we called her Aunty Brige. Not pronounced ‘bridge’, like the one which connects two points across a river, but Brige, with a long ‘i’, as in liege. She was tall and wore lots of white, flowing dresses which looked beautiful with her crown of wavy, strawberry blonde hair. One could imagine her sitting elegantly next to a harp, with her fingers plucking at the strings. Aunty Brige had light eyes; I cannot remember if they were green or blue or hazel, and they were always hidden behind large spectacles. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, appetiser, brunch, soup, vegetables/vegetarian

Gosh-e-Feel: Baby Elephant Ears- Fried Pastry in the Afghan Manner

Monday, April 18, 2011 By shayma 22 Comments

gosh-e-feel elephant ear cookies

I first tried “gossip” when I lived in Rome. No, not that kind. I learned what gossip was in the kindergarten when my ‘husband’, Jamie and I paid Gina for a pound of tomatoes and instead of putting the two plastic yellow coins in the till, she put them in her pocket. And instead of tommies, she handed us bananas. By recess time, everyone knew about the dreadful thing Gina had done to us. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Afghan, Irani/Persian, dessert/pudding, tea time snacks

Sohan-e-Asali: Almond Saffron Brittle in the Persian Manner

Sunday, January 30, 2011 By shayma 39 Comments

Sohan-e-Asali

Bon Bons in Lahore

Mini Market in Gulberg was less than a kilometre away from our family home. On hot summer nights, after dinner, we would walk to the market with my parents, cousins- Saadiya & Ashi, my uncle- Kaka Tarik and my aunt- Aunty Shahla. With 10 rupees to call our own, Saadiya, Ashi and I  would buy a Polka mango flavour ice cream, the kind you eat out of the cup with the tiny wooden spatula. Then we’d move on to buy Mitchell’s bon bon sweeties from the nearby kiosk to add more sugar to the mix. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, confection, tea time snacks

Cooking with Aunty Mehrnaz-Cuisine from Gilan: Mirza Ghasemi and Baghala Ghatogh

Saturday, January 22, 2011 By shayma 37 Comments

Mirza Ghasemi

Mirza Ghasemi

We kicked off our snow-covered boots and entered my friend B’s parents’ home through the side entrance. Our feet found their way onto the rose pink carpet from Tabriz, intricately woven, just like the delicately embroidered shawls my Ami wears. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, mains, vegetables/vegetarian

The Spice Spoon Featured on The Kitchn

Tuesday, December 14, 2010 By shayma 11 Comments

I am featured on my favourite website this morning- The Kitchn. Click here.


Zain, my husband and I never go out for brunch on weekends — because Saturday and Sunday are the two days when he gets deep into the kitchen and prepares all sorts of omelettes for us. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Interviews / Features, Irani/Persian, Press, eggs, vegetables/vegetarian

Tah-Chin: Persian Rice Timbale with Savoury Saffron Chicken

Monday, December 6, 2010 By shayma 35 Comments

Photo by my husband, Z.

Below is my latest published piece for Edible Toronto’s Winter Issue. You can also view it on their website here. See end of post for recipes.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, Press, mains, rice

Borani Kadu: Roasted Butternut Squash Verrines in the Afghan Manner

Sunday, November 7, 2010 By shayma 23 Comments

Kadu Bharta.

Two words which sent shivers down my spine as a child-that Pakistani roasted squash dish which I just could not abide as a child. I don’t know whether it was the nursery food-like texture on my tongue of the cooked vegetable or the sight of it; one amorphous mound on my plate. I remember my parents scooping it all up with a chapati and adding spoonfuls of piquant mint chutney to the equation. It wasn’t for me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Afghan, Irani/Persian, appetiser, borani (yoghurt-based cold salad), mains, vegetables/vegetarian

A Fresh Irani Appetiser: Noon-o-Panir-o-Sabzi and Women In Food

Monday, October 4, 2010 By shayma 25 Comments

The Toronto air is so cold that it’s almost brittle. But it is familiar to me now. Just like the street outside my home with its pedestrian crossings or our neighbourhood Korean-owned Japanese restaurant which serves an insipid salmon roll, but a perfectly spicy kimchi soup. It is just the ticket for a cold evening.

Toronto is the place where, for the past year and a half, I have made a home with my husband and invited friends over for platters of basmati rice served with prawns drenched in fragrant coconut curry. It’s the place where thousands of dollars have been raised by my non-Pakistani colleagues at work when the floods struck Pakistan, my country of birth. The place where people are curious to know more about my culture and where I am from. The place where its people have welcomed my husband and I into their homes and their land. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Irani/Persian, appetiser
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