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Publié par | Mage Publishers Inc. |
Date de parution | 27 janvier 2021 |
Nombre de lectures | 1 |
EAN13 | 9781949445275 |
Langue | English |
Poids de l'ouvrage | 372 Mo |
Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.
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food of life
2
MAGE PUBLISHERS
FOOD OF LIFE
ANCIENT PERSIAN AND MODERN IRANIAN COOKING AND CEREMONIES
NAJMIEH BATMANGLIJ
Copyright © 1986, 2021 Najmieh Batmanglij
Acknowledgments, Credits, and Permissions are on pages 622 and 623.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.
mage publishers inc.
chevy chase, md, usa
www.mage.com • as@mage.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Batmanglij, Najmieh, author.
Food of life : ancient Persian and modern Iranian cooking and ceremonies / Najmieh Batmanglij. — Fourth edition.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-933823-47-8 (fourth hardcover edition : alk. paper)
1. Cooking, Iranian. 2. Food habits—Iran. 3. Persian literature. 4. Iran—Social life and customs. I. Title.
TX725.I7B3713 2011
641.5955—dc22
2010042123
ISBN: 978-1-933823-47-8 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-1-949445-13-8 (Kindle)
ISBN: 978-1-949445-27-5 (ePub)
Hardcover Book Printed in Korea
To the memories of my mother and father and my past in Iran and to the future of my sons, Zal and Rostam
To fast and lead a frugal life
Was all I ever wished.
But the Food of Life’s temptation
Is too much—do not ask!
— Bos’haq Ata’meh, circa 1400
7
Please browse. I am very excited about this new edition. After thirty years of cooking outside of Iran, and in response to the input of my readers and fellow cooks, I have refined the structure of the book in general and each recipe in particular. With this edition I have unified, streamlined, and turned some of the recipes that began as my mother’s into my own. Most recipes now have a photograph of the finished dish facing them, and for some of the classics, such as saffron rice with golden crust, jeweled rice, fillet kabab or baklava, I have included step-by-step photos to guide you. I have also included vegetarian cooking variations for many of the recipes. Here and there are some of my food memories from my childhood in Iran. Colorful spreads with information about some classic Persian ingredients such as saffron, bitter orange (narenj), and the rose are scattered through the book. There are also some street food scenes from contemporary Iran. The first edition of Food of Life appeared when my sons, Zal and Rostam, were toddlers. Now, as grown men, they have inspired me to redesign the book and make it accessible for a new generation of readers and a broader audience.
None of the recipes requires cooking techniques that are unusual or difficult to learn. To help in planning, I’ve listed preparation and cooking times for each dish, indicated whether it can be made in advance, and noted how many people it will serve.
These days, almost all of the ingredients in the recipes are available at your local super- market—not the case in the 1980s. Those that might not be or that require preliminary preparations are marked with an asterisk, which indicates that they are discussed in How To Make and Store Kitchen Ingredients on page 529 and also in A Glossary of Ingre- dients, Terms and Persian Cooking Techniques on page 599. Please do check—even read through—the glossary: The entries describe the history of each ingredient and its use in Iran, and explain how to shop for it and how to prepare it. I suggest you try to find the original ingredients since they are widely available in the U.S. The guide to Iranian Stores and Restaurants on page 616 offers a comprehensive list of shops around the country that sell specialized ingredients. Several of them have a good Internet presence and can ship you whatever you need, wherever you are.
I want you to use this book to get together, to cook, to laugh, to tell jokes and stories, and to recite poetry, just as Iranians do. Nush-e Jan! literally “food of life”—a traditional wish in Iran that a dish will be enjoyed.
ask najmieh
Follow me on Instagram: @najmieh; or visit najmieh.com for current information; if you have any questions, you are welcome to e-mail me: cook@najmieh.com .
on using this book
9
9
on using this book . . . . . . . . 7
preface . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
a few tips before you start cooking . . . . 15
appetizers & side dishes . . . . . . . 17
soups, oshes & porridges . . . . . . 67
dolmehs & vegetables . . . . . . 115
kukus & egg dishes . . . . . . . 133
meat, chicken & fish . . . . . . . 159
rice dishes, chelows & polows . . . . 225
braises & khoreshes . . . . . . . 293
desserts, pastries & candies . . . . . 351
breads . . . . . . . . . . . 429
preserves & pickles . . . . . . . 453
hot & cold drinks . . . . . . . . 489
snacks & street food . . . . . . . 513
how to make & store kitchen ingredients . 529
ceremonies . . . . . . . . . 547
appendices & glossaries . . . . . . 591
A Few Thousand Years of Persian Cooking at a Glance . . . . 592
A Glossary of Ingredients & Techniques . 599
Useful Kitchen Ingredients . . . . . 608
Mother’s Classification of “Hot” & “Cold” . 609
Persian-English List of Ingredients . . . 610
English-Persian List of Ingredients . . . 612
Glossary of Iranian Trees & Plants . . . 614
Menu Suggestions . . . . . . . 615
Equivalent Measures . . . . . . 616
Iranian Stores and Restaurants . . . . 617
Pages for Notes . . . . . . . 618–20
acknowledgments & credits . . . 622–623
index . . . . . . . . . . . 624
stories
Old Clothes and New Clothes . . . . 22
The Story of Yogurt . . . . . . . 2 3
The Eggplant Story . . . . . . . 42
A Poetic Recipe for a Savory Sanbuseh . . . 53
Hot Soup in the Winter . . . . . . 72
Duck Soup . . . . . . . . . 77
The Chickpea Story . . . . . . . 88
Memories of Making Noodles . . . . 9 8
Eating Steam ; The Smell of a Thought . . 111
If a Pot Can Multiply . . . . . . . 127
H ow Iranians Became Meat Eaters . . . 17 2
Journeys in Persia & Kurdistan, 1891 . . . 17 7
Eating Matter & Reading Matter . . . . 184
The Story of Saffron . . . . . . . 222
Cat & Mouse . . . . . . . . . 2 28
The Travels of Jean Chardin, 1686 . . . 2 35
Grocery Shopping, 1001 Nights . . . . 2 52
T he Barber’s Sixth Brother, 1001 Nights . . 2 61
Fair Exchange . . . . . . . . . 291
Memories of Qormeh Sabzi . . . . . 29 9
A Sweet & Sour Story . . . . . . . 325
Verbal Contest between Date Palm & Goat . 328
The Story of the Rose . . . . . . . 379
An Uninvited Guest . . . . . . . 384
The Cure . . . . . . . . . . 434
Poetic Discourse about Bread . . . . 4 41
King Khosrow & His Knight . . . . . 45 0
Seven-Year-Old Pickle . . . . . . . 473
The Turquoise-Blue Dome . . . . . 479
Jamshid Shah & the Discovery of Wine . . 500
How the Persians Went from Wine to Sherbet 50 3
Wine Prohibition According to Rumi . . . 504
The Black Dome . . . . . . . . 553
CONTENTS
food of life
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Food of Life is the result of thirty years of collecting and testing recipes and creating new techniques for cooking Persian food in the West. Its intended audience are those new to Persian food and culture, those who enjoy having creative fun in the kitchen, and gourmet cooks.
I have revised and added many new recipes to the original book. I have also added more color photographs to show how Persian dishes are as colorful as our most beautiful carpets and textiles. For us, feasting our eyes is the first pleasure of a good meal. My objective in writing this book was not just to compile a collection of recipes, however delicious they might be, but to share my view of the best of Persian culture. I believe that the same qualities that govern the Persian arts—a particular feeling for the “delicate touch,” letafat —govern the art of Persian cuisine. I have tried to demonstrate this by including not only photographs of the dishes but also textiles, copper ware and pottery, miniatures, poetry, calligraphy, travelogues, and pieces from classical Persian literature, all related to food. I have tucked in among the recipes many pearls of Persian wisdom. I have explored the rich garden of Persian literature and art through the ages and have made a selection that ranges from a fourth-century Pahlavi language text describing a refined cuisine to the new, naturalistic poetry of Sohrab Sepehri.
I have described an Iranian wedding and some of our joyful holiday traditions—ancient ceremonies and rituals still maintained in various parts of Iran and now also continued by many Iranians living outside the country.
Persian food is a very important and integral part of Persian life and culture—so important that fruit and nuts are frequently used as metaphors for describing beauty. Farzaneh Milani tells us in her book Veils and Words, for example, “Moon-faced beauties have almond-shaped eyes, peachy complexions, pistachio-like mouths, jujube colored lips, hazelnut-like noses, red apple cheeks, and lemon- or pomegranate-like breasts—a mobile green grocery, if you will.”
The cuisine of any country i