Comments on: Iranian Food: A Culinary Travel Guide to What to Eat and Drink

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 12:44:27 +0000

In reply to Sara. Thank you, Sara. This is such an excellent list of Iranian vegetarian food options! I’d love to get a description of each of these dishes. I love the sound of Adas polo. And I know reshteh is good.

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 12:33:01 +0000

In reply to sam. Thanks for sharing your experience in Iran, Sam. For us, I suppose we just ended up forgetting about alcohol. Though I can imagine it’s possible (and even easy) to obtain if one wants it.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 10:50:44 +0000

Hello Dear Danielle. I’m from Tehran. I read your page last night and returned today to say for you about many Iranian vegetarian foods. You can’t usually see them I restaurant menues but I you be a guess in a family you can request them to cook for you. Some of vegetarian our foods that I remember this hour are: Do piazeh, Baghala-ghatogh, Yatimcheh, Khorak e loobia sabz, shekam pareh, khagineh, Adas polo (lentil and rice that you can eat with tomato or date), Albaloo polo (specially eating in houses, kind of restaurant is not so good), soup e reshteh, soup e joe, soup e shirt (milk soup), kinds of Ash, kinds of Abgoosht, Mirza ghasemi, Nargesi, omlette (tomato and egg), Ghormeh ghoosht (not ghormeh sabzi), Ghelieh kadoo halvaii (pumpkin), Dàm pokhtak, ghelieh dal adas, reshteh polo, dast-pich e morgh & sabzijat, Halim bademjan, Fereni (similar to shir berenj) and ect.
For during a day you can eat this foods that are like dessert: Hàlim (my Favorite ,with some sugar), Sholeh zard, Kachi, Adasi, Sambooseh, Khorak e Loobia, kinds of Ash, halva, Bàrãti (special bread that baked in Yazd), Shirmal (kind of a bread), and ext
Enjoy! Bona petit!

By: sam

sam — Tue, 22 Sep 2020 01:34:27 +0000

Although legally speaking there is suppose to be no alcohol allowed in Iran, you can find all kinds of alcoholic beverages in Iran everywhere, everyday. You just have to know somebody and keep it under the lid,
During my one month visit there with relatives I had some every day. And even had a bottle of Smirnof vodka with me on the train ride from Tehran to mashhad.

By: Audrey Scott

Audrey Scott — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 14:35:50 +0000

In reply to Mahnaz. Thanks, Mahnaz, for the additional details on the ingredients and process to make Fesenjen.

By: Mahnaz

Mahnaz — Sat, 12 Oct 2019 11:54:19 +0000

In reply to Daniel Noll. One of the main ingredients of Fesenjan is chopped walnut then we add pomegranate paste exactly one hour before it gets ready..we add a bit Saffron last...☺☺ I'm a cook from North of Iran..

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sat, 08 Jun 2019 11:39:46 +0000

In reply to Amin.

Great comment, Amin. Thanks.

Traditionally, it’s pomegranate that’s used in fesenjoon / fesenjan. However, other regional varieties of the dish may use different fruit to flavor the dish. That may depend on family recipe preference. As we note, northern Iranian versions of the dish are more sour and savory I would not be surprised to hear of varieties of the dish that use some kind of regional plum or sour plum to flavor it.

As for zereshk polo, our understanding is that the barberry defines the dish. However, as with other dishes, regional varieties may prevail.

If you find out the name of the actual fruits or berries your mom uses, please let us know.

By: Amin

Amin — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 02:27:47 +0000

Hmm, are you totally sure?? My mother is from Kasma (right outside of Rasht) and she has no idea what the name of the fruit is that they use for fesenjoon. She describes it like a small plum like fruit that they process down into a paste.

We make zereskh polo all the time, so I feel like she’d remember if it was a barberry… Could be wrong though!

By: Daniel Noll

Daniel Noll — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 08:14:58 +0000

In reply to Amin.

Good question, Amin. Fesenjoon (or fesenjan) uses barberry (or berberry, depending on the spelling).

Barberries are pictured in the photo of Zereskh Polo (literally, barberry rice) in this article…just above the fesenjan entry.

By: Amin

Amin — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 19:55:18 +0000

Does anyone know what fruit is used in Northern Iran for the savory version of fesenjoon?? I know it’s not pomegranate but I can’t figure out what it is. My family has the paste sent over from Iran.