Neshat Khanoom

"Jila: The first book I’d like to mention is an old Persian cookery book which is unfortunately not translated into English – but it’s the book we really started getting our ideas from. It’s called Neshat Khanoom and is by a lady who worked at the royal court in the early 20th century. Her father was a cook there. Shahrzad: No, but given that we don’t have that many old cookery books in Iran, this is one of the few that you could refer to for traditional ways of cooking. “My mother was a brilliant cook but she could never give you a recipe. I just looked and learnt.” Jila: The thing about the Neshat Khanoom is that it’s the first time you come across somebody who gives some measurements in their recipes. Of course, the measurements are incredibly large, for court consumption, but still you can get some idea how much of different things to use. Before her there are recipes but they don’t give you measurements at all. Shahrzad: Everything. From sweets to drinks, stews, rices… everything. Jila: One recipe I found very interesting in that book was a spin on a traditional aash – a thick soup with herbs that she cooks with noodles, and it’s delicious. It’s a meal on its own and it would be interesting to vegetarians because you add noodles and it’s sort of like a version of minestrone. Jila: Yes, there’s a recipe for Shirin Polo: rice with almonds, pistachio, saffron and sugar as a syrup. They make it for celebrations like weddings or other important events. Shahrzad: This is probably one of the few books that has a substantial part of it devoted to sweets, cakes and biscuity-type things. We have these metal frames, like lacy frames, that you dip into a batter, then dip into oil and then dip into syrup. She has quite a few of these lattice window cakes. She goes on to sweets made with honey, biscuits, cakes. Jila: Our New Year is March 21st and making sweets at home is a traditional thing to do; this book is good to use for that. You can make the honey sweets with almonds and pistachio – an important sweet for New Year. Jila: Exactly. The family structure was very strong and people used to live together and would get together in the kitchen and tell stories and talk, and daughters learnt from their aunts and mothers. My mother was a brilliant cook but she could never give you a recipe. I just looked and learnt, and when I came here thirty years ago I started trying to develop these recipes with some kind of measurement. Jila: The saffron chicken, which is in our book, with barberry rice. Jila: You did? That was one of her favourites and she made that very well. The other one that was fantastic was the morello cherry rice – sometimes with chicken and sometimes with tiny meatballs. Again, that’s in the book. Shahrzad: That’s one of my mother’s favourites! It’s more of an Azeri dish. It’s very delicious. Shahrzad: The trick there is that it’s quick and easy to make. Meatballs have a tendency to fall apart, but because you’re dropping them into the boiling sauce, they very rarely disintegrate. Shahrzad: You usually serve them with bread. Jila: Yes, they’re much nicer with bread. You can of course use potatoes as well, but in Iran we do it with bread."