Iran
Persian cooking is the art of rice and slow-simmered stews — saffron-stained crusts, herb-deep khoresh, and charcoal kebabs. Here are twenty of its most iconic dishes, presented as Persian rather than blurred into neighboring traditions.
Mast-o-Khiar
Cool yogurt with cucumber, dried mint and rose petals — with walnuts and raisins for balance — the bowl that sits beside every Persian meal.
Kashke Bademjan
Silky mashed eggplant crowned with kashk, fried mint oil, walnuts and golden onions — Iran’s great warm appetizer.
Salad Shirazi
Tiny dice of cucumber, tomato and onion in lime and dried mint — the bright, crunchy counterpoint on every Iranian table.
Kabab Koobideh
Iran’s most beloved kebab — minced lamb and beef kneaded to a sticky paste, hand-pressed onto flat skewers and grilled over charcoal. The heart of chelo kabab.
Joojeh Kabab
Saffron-stained chicken kabab, char-edged and impossibly tender, with blistered tomatoes and sumac over buttered rice.
Ghormeh Sabzi
Widely called Iran’s national dish — a deep-green, slow-braised stew of sautéed herbs, beans and beef soured with dried Persian limes. Served over white rice.
Khoresh Fesenjan
A luxurious, dark, sweet-and-sour stew of finely ground walnuts simmered low and slow with pomegranate molasses and chicken (traditionally duck in its native Gilan).
Khoresh Gheimeh
Beef and yellow split peas in a limoo-amani tomato stew, buried at the last second under a crown of saffron fries.
Abgoosht
Lamb, chickpeas, white beans and potato simmered for hours, then eaten as two meals — the broth over torn bread, the solids pounded into goosht koobideh.
Kotlet
Iran’s everyday meat-and-potato patties — crisp-edged ovals eaten hot with fries and pickles tonight, and cold in a lavash sandwich tomorrow.
Kuku Sabzi
The deep-green herb kuku of Nowruz — minimum egg, maximum herbs, jeweled with walnuts and barberries, dark as a spring forest.
Tahdig
The golden, crackling crust at the bottom of every pot of Persian chelo — the most prized part of the rice, fought over at every table.
Tahchin
The saffron rice cake — yogurt-and-egg-bound basmati baked golden around a chicken heart, flipped, and crowned with glistening barberries.
Zereshk Polo ba Morgh
A festive party and wedding staple — fluffy rice layered with tart ruby barberries and butter-fried onions, served with saffron-tomato braised chicken.
Sabzi Polo
The green rice of the New Year — basmati folded with mountains of dill, chives, cilantro and parsley, steamed over a lettuce tahdig, served with fish.
Adas Polo
Lentils and saffron rice under sweet caramelized onions, raisins and dates — the everyday polo that needs no meat to feel complete.
Ash Reshteh
A thick, hearty herb-and-legume soup with flat wheat noodles, finished with tangy kashk, fried mint oil, and crispy onions and garlic. A Nowruz favorite.
Sholeh Zard
Saffron rice pudding perfumed with rose water, chilled in glass cups and decorated with cinnamon patterns and pistachios — the dessert Iranians cook to give away.
Persian Halva
Flour toasted slow and dark, enriched with butter and drowned in saffron-rose syrup — pressed into patterns and served in small, solemn, delicious pieces.
Doogh
The salted yogurt drink of the kabab table — cold, minty, sometimes fizzy, always in a pitcher full of ice.
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts.