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Whenever I go to a country (or city), I try to eat just their traditional foods! So if you are like me, then this post is good for you, if not, just ignore it ;-)
P.S. this post will be updated whenever i travel to different cities to find out the tasty local foods!
First of all, some tips which you should be aware of them:
*It is not that common to have appetizer, main course and dessert separately, normally at house and also in the parties, you can see all in one table at the same time so don’t be surprised!
*Due to the range of culinary traditions across the Iranian provinces, food in Iran is extremely diverse. So each city or even village has its own traditional food although you may find all common Persian foods everywhere in Iran.
*Most of Persian foods are served with rice and we eat rice with spoon not fork ;-)
*There is no pork here. Lamb is Iran's favorite meat, but kid, beef and chicken can also be found. Fish and shrimp are common as well. Try lamb, the taste is good and different, don’t
be scared :D
First of all, learn some Persian
food terms:
*Chelow Kebab (rice served with roasted meat). If you go to restaurant, you always see many Kabab items!
*Khoresht (stew served Iranian rice: Ghormeh Sabzi, Gheimeh, Fesenjan, and others)
*Āsh (a thick soup: for example Āsh-e anār, Ash-e-Reshteh)
*Kuku (vegetable soufflé)
*Polo (rice alone or with addition of meat and/or vegetables and herbs, including Loobia Polo, Albaloo Polo, Sabzi Polo, Zereshk Polo, Baghali Polo and others)
*Abgusht or Dizi (a meat and vegetable broth served with liquid in one bowl and the other ingredients served separately).
Must to eat in general: *Kabab (there are many different types of lamb kabab)
*Juje kabab (grilled saffron chicken served with rice or bread)
*Khoresht-e-Ghorme sabzi=Herb & lamb (or beef) & bean stew served with rice.
*Dizi=Lamb shank stew served in special dishes with bread (usually hot bread)
*Kashk-e-Bademjan=Persian eggplant spread served with bread, as appetizer
*Ash-e- Reshteh=with beans, noodles, and herbs
*Tah Chin=an Iranian rice cake that includes rice, yogurt, saffron, pistachio, egg, and chicken fillets.
*Kuku-ye-Sabzi=traditional egg&herbs dish, served with bread
as appetizer
*Khoresht-e-Bademjan=made with eggplant and beef in a tomato based sauce served with rice.
*Khoresht-e-Fesenjoon=a casserole type dish with a sweet and tart sauce containing the two base ingredients, pomegranate molasses and ground walnuts cooked with chicken, duck, lamb or beef and served with rice.
*Zereshk-Polo-ba-Morgh=Barberry& Saffron rice with chicken
*Shevid Baghali-Polo-ba-Gosht-e-Gardan=Rice with broad beans and lambshank
*Kotlet= Persian beef cutlets served with bread and vegtables
For
breakfast, you can have the normal breakfast like egg, cheese, jam, butter and etc. but if you are in a small city or village i really recommend you to order the local ones which are perfect and it is 100%!o(MISSING)rganic! Also iranians eat Halim (there are several Halims based on city which you are) and also Kale&Pache (like a soup made of sheep's head, it may look strange but taste good) mainly on Fridays. breakfast are served with bread, you may find all types of bread here as well but we eat Barbari or Sangak or Lavash.
Yessssssssssss, now what are local foods of every city in Iran! Here is a list of traditional and tasty foods of each area
that you may find and try them for a change (after eating Kabab everyday :D )! And if you are interested, I can give you the name and address of some famous restaurants for these local foods. J There are more traditional foods but this lists are for dishes which you may find them in a restaurant of that city. Some of them are not fancy restaurants but quality is good and locals eat there. (I will update this post)
Isfahan= Beryooni (made of baked mutton & lungs with high amount of lamb fat, served with a kind of bread called Sangak and vegetables), Khoresht-e-Mast (
Beef Yogurt Dessert- made with yogurt, lamb/mutton or chicken, saffron, sugar and orange zest)
Kashan=Gheyme-Rize & Goosht-va-loobia
Yazd=Ash-e-Shooli (a soup containig alot of vegetabales and its seasoning is vinegar, but it can be replaced with pomegranate paste, or any other sour liquid)
Kerman=
Shiraz=Kalam-Polo (Cabbage herbed rice with meatballs), Ash-e-Sabzi (vegetable pottage), Ash-e-Anar (pomegranate soup)
North of Iran (Caspian sea’s area)=Morgh-e-Torsh (sour chicken stew served with rice),Mahi-ye-Sefid (fried fish with rice), Baghala-Ghatogh, Kabab-e-Torsh (sour lamb kabab served with rice), Mirza-Ghasemi, ...
South of Iran (Persian gulf’s area)=Ghalie-Mahi(Fish & Herb Stew),
Samboose (dill&onion samosa),...
Qazvin= Gheymeh-Nesar (lamb served with rice and pistachio and raw almond)
Tabriz (and other cities in Azarbayejan provinces)= Ash-e-Doogh (Yogurt herbed Soup), Koofte (herbed meat and rice balls),
Mashhad=Ash-e-Shole
***Each city had its own desserts and sweets.
Drinks:
- Don't forget to try
TEA in Iran! black tea is tea for us and we call it Chai. When you go to a restaurant, tea-shops (Chai-khaneh or Ghahveh-Khaneh) or cafe, they mainly have tea made with teabag like in Europe. ignore it and ask for
Chai Dami (steamed tea with its leaf) which its taste is very different from those tea bags and i am sure you will like it. try to drink tea in Chai-khaneh. there are many of them in every street. Try the traditional ones which locals also go there and you can have the real taste of tea! There are also
Chai Babooneh (Chamomile
Tea) and
Gol Gav Zaban (Borage
Tea).
*In Iran, when you go to meet your friends at their houses, the first thing if that they offer you to drink Chai-e-Dami with sweets and fruits later on.
* When you go to a restaurant, you can order cola, water or etc similar to Europe with drinking with your meal but most of Iranians order
Dough or
Delester.
‘
Dough’ is a very popular salty yoghurt-water drink which is similar to ‘Ayran’ (drunk in Turkey & Europe) but in Iran you may see different types of Dough with different flavor. If you are in a traditional restaurant, ask for Dough-e-Mahali (traditional dough) which is mixed with peppermint and some other herbs.
Delester is Islamic beer! I mean beer without alcohol! There are different flavor of Delester like Classic (bitter), strawberry, apple, grape, lemon, and etc. Alcohol is literally forbidden in Iran but you can fine and see everything here! the photos shown by media, are very different from real life of people.
- Sometimes, some restaurants have grape juice (from Shiraz) and also pomegranate juice. Don’t forget to try them. They are the best!
* **When you are in the street and you feel thirsty, there are many small shops which offer different juice and ice-cream, for sure try these ones:
*Saffron Ice-cream (Bastani-e-Saffron)
*Sharbat and Khak sheer are
the types of drink that is popular and famous in Iran (
Sharbat-e-Khakshir (Teff Drink),
Sharbat-e-
Limoo (Lemon/Lime Sharbet),
Sharbat-eTokhme Sharbati (Chia Seeds Drink),
Sekanjabin (Sweet &Sour Ancient Persian Syrup and Drink)
*Faloode (Cantaloupe Smoothie, similar to ice cream but like noodle+ice+lemon)
*Ab Havij-Bastani (fresh carrot juice with saffron ice-cream)
*Persian Majoon or Vitamineh (ice-cream+pistachio+milk+cream+walnut+sesame+banana+pineapple+almond+coconut)
P.S.1This post is not completed yet and I will add more about foods and traditional foods in every touristic city + TEA+desserts and drinks and etc
P.S.2 these foods are cooked by my mum or me :D
** These are all photos taken by me and I am not a good photographer! :D Sorry for that.
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