Iran
Ab doogh khiar
آب دوغ خیار
Chilled yoghurt soup loosened with water and filled with bread, walnuts, raisins, cucumber and fresh herbs.
southern-asia
Iran
Explore 120 foods connected to Iran, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
120 foods12 leading categories5 Essentials guides
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Isfahan Essentials
4 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Iran.
120 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Iran
Abgoosht
آبگوشت
Lamb, chickpeas and potato cooked in a stone crock; the broth is poured off and drunk with bread, and the solids are pounded to a paste and eaten after.
Iran
Adas Polo
عدس پلو
Rice layered with lentils, fried raisins, dates and sometimes minced meat, sweet and savoury at once.
Iran
Advieh
ادویه
The Iranian spice blend — rose petals, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and turmeric in varying proportions — mixed differently in every region and household.
Iran
Albaloo Polo
آلبالو پلو
A Persian sweet-sour rice dish with sour cherries, saffron and chicken or meatballs, layered and steamed, a festive polo.
Gilan, Iran
Anar bij
اناربیج
Pomegranate seeds are dried, ground, and used as the sour backbone of Gilan stews and herb dishes.
Iran
Aragh Sagi
عرق سگی
Home-distilled raisin spirit, clear and rough, made illicitly and drunk quietly at private gatherings.
Ardabil, Iran
Ash-e Doogh
آش دوغ
Ardabil soup built on doogh, thickened with rice and chickpeas and heavy with mint and herbs, eaten hot or cold.
Iran
Ash-e jo
آش جو
Pearl barley, beans, herbs and yoghurt simmer together into a thick Iranian barley soup finished with fried mint.
Iran
Ash-e Reshteh
آش رشته
Thick soup of noodles, chickpeas, beans, lentils and herbs finished with kashk, fried mint and crisped onion and garlic.
Rasht, Iran
Baghali Ghatogh
باقالی قاتق
Gilan dish of broad beans stewed with dill, garlic and turmeric with eggs cracked in at the end.
Iran
Baghali Polo
باقالی پلو
Rice steamed in layers with fresh broad beans and a great deal of dill, served with lamb shank cooked separately.
Kerman, Iran
Bam Dates
خرمای بم
Mazafati dates from Bam in Kerman, dark, soft and wet, sold chilled because they do not keep at room temperature.
Iran
Barberries
زرشک
Small, intensely sour dried red berries from South Khorasan, fried briefly in butter and sugar and scattered over rice.
Iran
Bastani Sonnati
بستنی سنتی
Saffron and rose water ice cream thickened with salep, studded with frozen chunks of clotted cream and pistachio.
Isfahan, Iran
Beryani
بریانی
An Isfahani specialty of ground lamb and lamb lung cooked with tail fat and spices, served on sangak bread with garnishes of fresh herbs and onion.
Iran
Chelow Kabab
چلوکباب
Long-grain rice steamed to separate grains, served with grilled kabab, a raw egg yolk or lump of butter stirred through the rice, grilled tomato and sumac.
Khuzestan, Iran
Dande kabab
دنده کباب
Marinated lamb ribs are grilled over wood in Khuzestan, leaving a smoky crust and a juicy, fatty center.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dolma
دلمه
Vegetables such as peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, or zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with a mixture of rice, pine nuts, currants, and sometimes ground meat. The olive-oil vegetarian version (zeytinyağlı dolma) is served cold and is a staple of the Turkish meze table.
Iran
Dolmeh Barg-e Mo
دلمه برگ مو
Vine leaves rolled around rice, split peas, herbs and minced meat and simmered with a sweet-sour syrup of vinegar and sugar.
Afghanistan
Doogh
دوغ
Yogurt thinned with water, salted and flavoured with dried mint, often carbonated, drunk with kabab and rice.
Iran
Dried Limes
لیمو عمانی
Limes boiled in brine and dried in the sun until hollow and near-black, pierced and dropped whole into stews for a sour, faintly bitter depth.
Iran
Eshkeneh
اشکنه
Onion soup thickened with flour and fenugreek and finished with a beaten egg, sometimes soured with grape juice or dried lime.
Iran
Estanboli polo
استانبولی پلو
Rice is cooked with tomato, potato and minced meat into a Persian one-pot pilaf with a red, savoury crust.
Shiraz, Iran
Faloodeh
فالوده
Frozen dessert of thin starch noodles set in rose water and lime syrup, scraped into a bowl and eaten with more lime squeezed over.
Iran
Fesenjan
فسنجان
Ground walnuts cooked slowly with pomegranate molasses until the oil separates and the stew turns near-black, with duck, chicken or meatballs in it.
Isfahan, Iran
Gaz
گز
Nougat made from the sap of the angebin plant, whipped with egg white, rose water and pistachio and cut into rounds or blocks.
Khuzestan, Iran
Ghalyeh Mahi
قلیه ماهی
Southern fish stew from Khuzestan and Bushehr, thick with coriander, fenugreek, tamarind and chilli.
Iran
Gheimeh
قیمه
Yellow split peas and diced lamb stewed with tomato, dried lime and turmeric, topped with a heap of thin fried potato sticks.
Qazvin, Iran
Gheymeh Nesar
قیمه نثار
A luxurious Persian festive rice dish with diced lamb, orange peel, pistachios, almonds and barberries, a Qazvin wedding specialty.
Iran
Ghormeh Sabzi
قورمه سبزی
Herbs — parsley, coriander, fenugreek, chive — fried until nearly black, then stewed with lamb, kidney beans and dried limes into a deep green-brown khoresh.
Afghanistan
Gosh-e Fil
گوش فیل
Thin dough pinched into an elephant-ear shape, deep-fried and dusted with icing sugar, ground pistachio and cardamom.
Gilan, Iran
Hafte bijar torshi (Iranian pickles)
هفتبیجار
Haft bijar torshi, the Gilaki seven-vegetable pickle aged in vinegar, is a named regional preserve bought by the jar and distinct from generic torshi.
Iran
Halim
حلیم
Wheat and turkey or lamb beaten together for hours into a smooth, savoury porridge, served for breakfast with cinnamon, sugar and melted butter.
Iran
Halim Bademjan
حلیم بادمجان
A Persian eggplant and wheat porridge slow-cooked with lamb, garlic and mint, a rustic northern Iranian dish, similar to halim but with aubergine.
Iran
Halva
حلوا
Persian halva: a dense, saffron-scented sweet of flour, butter and sugar, pressed into a block.