country Essentials · 12 foods
Iran Essentials
A considered first route through Iran: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Iran foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
12 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Iran
Chelow Kabab
چلوکباب
Steamed rice and grilled meat on separate plates, with butter into the rice and sumac on the meat.
Iran
Ghormeh Sabzi
قورمه سبزی
Herbs fried until nearly black, then stewed with lamb, beans and pierced dried limes.
Iran
Fesenjan
فسنجان
Ground walnut and pomegranate cooked until the oil separates and the ishtu turns almost black.
Iran
Tahdig
تهدیگ
The rice crust lifted from the pot in golden sheets, and the piece a host gives away first.
Iran
Abgoosht
آبگوشت
One crock, two courses: the broth poured off for bread, the rest pounded to paste at the table.
Iran
Ash-e Reshteh
آش رشته
Noodles, beans and herbs under swirls of kashk and fried mint, sold from vast street pots.
Iran
Sangak
سنگک
Wholemeal bread baked on hot pebbles, so the underside comes out dimpled and occasionally stony.
Shiraz, Iran
Faloodeh
فالوده
Frozen starch noodles in rose and lime syrup, eaten in Shiraz with more lime squeezed over.
Iran
Kashk-e Bademjan
کشک بادمجان
Fried aubergine mashed with garlic and fried mint, finished with whey swirled on at the end.
Iran
Persian Tea
چای
Samovar tea in a small glass, drunk through a sugar lump held between the teeth.
Iran
Zereshk Polo
زرشک پلو
Saffron rice under barberries fried in butter — sour, red and the standard celebration plate.
Iran
Bastani Sonnati
بستنی سنتی
Saffron and rose ice cream with frozen chunks of clotted cream worked through it.