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Persian cooking relies on a handful of special ingredients that give it its distinctive sweet, sour and fragrant flavours. Outside Iran, the best place to buy them is a Persian or Middle Eastern grocer, but almost all can now be ordered online. Here is our guide to stocking a Persian pantry, with links to buy each item.
The essentials.
- Saffron: the soul of Persian rice, kebabs and desserts. Buy whole threads, grind a pinch with sugar in a pestle and mortar and steep it in hot water.
- Basmati rice: the closest widely available match to Iranian rice for chelow and polo.
- Turmeric: used in almost every stew and meat dish.
- Advieh: a fragrant spice mix of rose petals, cinnamon, cardamom and cumin, used in rice dishes and stews.
Sour and fruity.
- Dried limes (limoo amani): essential for ghormeh sabzi and gheymeh.
- Barberries (zereshk): tiny, tart red berries for zereshk polo and kuku.
- Pomegranate molasses: the sweet-sour base of fesenjoon and zeytoon parvardeh.
- Sumac: sprinkled over kebabs and rice.
- Verjuice (abghooreh): sour grape juice used in salads and stews.
Herbs and flavourings.
- Dried ghormeh sabzi herbs: a ready-mixed blend for Iran’s favourite stew.
- Dried fenugreek leaves, dried dill and dried mint.
- Golpar (ground angelica seed): sprinkled on broad beans, pomegranates and pickles.
- Rose water and dried rose petals: for sweets, sharbat and advieh.
- Kashk: tangy whey for kashk-e bademjan and ash.
Store cupboard and kit. Yellow split peas for gheymeh and koofteh, vine leaves for dolmeh, and a Persian rice cooker if you want perfect tahdig every time.
Start cooking. See our Persian recipes, including ghormeh sabzi, fesenjoon and tahdig.
Cookbooks to go with the cupboard. Once you have stocked up, our pick of the best Persian cookbooks in English will give you plenty to cook, and our guide to making Persian tea covers the drink that follows every meal.
