Wonderful seasonings – be a little adventurous, dare to try, you will not be disappointed!
Today, I still remember when our chef came to the living room with a small bowl and spoon and asked my mother to taste the food they were cooking in the kitchen. There were always two questions that the chef wanted to be answered: – is salting enough? How is the acidity?
Later, when I learned to cook in Sweden, the questions were different; no one asked for acidity. It is insidious – Swedish food lacks sharpness, and of course, it depends on the climate.
Persian food is not “strong” but delicious. Iranians also use herbs in their food to a reasonably high degree in comparison with, for example, Swedish cooking. In the ’70s, when my parents were visiting Sweden, they brought dried herbs in large quantities from Iran.
Started cooking Persian food in Sweden, where an incredible number of ingredients were missing, then all these dried herbs and lime came in handy. It was only in the 80’s that we got access to these ingredients in Sweden, thanks to the various immigrant groups who opened grocery stores and began to have a more exotic range of spices and ingredients.
In Iran, you mix your own spices – here, you get some recipes for the standard spice mixtures in Persian cuisine.
| Ingredients | For rice dishes | For stew | For meat | For soup |
| Persian name | Advieh Polo | Advieh Khoresht | Advieh Gosht | Advieh Ash |
| Rose petals | 2 Tbsp ground | 1 Tbsp ground | ||
| Cumin | 1 Tbsp ground | 2 tsp ground | 3 tsp ground | 2 Tbsp ground |
| Coriander | 1 tsp ground | 1 tsp ground | 2 Tbsp ground | |
| Ginger | 1 tsp ground | 1 tsp ground | ||
| Black pepper | 1 tsp ground | 1 tsp ground | 0,5 Tbsp ground | |
| Turmeric | 1 Tbsp ground | 2 Tbsp ground | ||
| Cardamom | 2 Tbsp ground | 1 tsp ground | 3/4 tsp ground | |
| Cinnamon | 2 Tbsp ground | 2 Tbsp ground | 1,5 tsp ground | 0,5 tsp ground |
| Angelica (Golpar) | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp* | 1 tsp ground | 0,5 tsp ground | |
| Dried Lime | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Clove | 1 tsp* | 1/4 tsp ground | 1/4 tsp ground | 0,5 tsp ground |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Bay leave | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Dried leaves from fenugreek | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Paprika powder | 1 tsp ground | |||
| Gives about | 1,1 dl | 0,5 dl | 0,5 dl | 0,8 dl |
| Mililiter | 110 ml | 1106 ml | 46,25 ml | 147,5 ml |
| *Use either cloves or nutmeg | ||||
Enjoy!
