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"A classic cookbook made even better...Gorgeous expanded edition."
RUSS PARSONS, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"One of the most exciting cookbooks I've seen in a while."
YOTAM OTTOLENGHI, THE GUARDIAN
"Divine cookbook...stunningly beautiful!"
ALICE
WATERS, CHEZ PANISSE
"I love Persian Food....Exceptional cookbook, full, heavy, and good." [See
video clip here]
MARTHA STEWART
EXPANDED, UPDATED & REDESIGNED
Completely redesigned for today’s generation of cooks and food enthusiasts, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies by Najmieh Batmanglij (Mage; $54.95 640 pages); provides a treasure trove of recipes, along with an immersive cultural experience for those seeking to understand this ancient and timeless cuisine. This edition is a more user-friendly edition of the award-winning and critically acclaimed cookbook series which began in 1986. Food of Life provides 330 classical and regional Iranian recipes as well as an introduction to Persian art, history and culture. The book’s hundreds of full color photographs are intertwined with descriptions of ancient and modern Persian ceremonies, poetry, folktales, travelogue excerpts and anecdotes. The 2011 Edition of Food of Life is a labor of love. The book began in exile after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 as a love letter to Batmanglij’s children. Today, as accomplished adults in their own fields, her two sons, Zal and Rostam, encouraged her to redesign the book for their generation.
Food of Life propels Persian cooking into the 21st Century, even as it honors venerable traditions and centuries of artistic expression. It is the result of 30 years of collecting, testing and adapting authentic and traditional Persian recipes for the American kitchen. Most of its ingredients are readily available throughout the U.S. enabling anyone from a master chef to a novice to reproduce the refined tastes, textures, and beauty of Persian cuisine. Food-related pieces from such classics as the 10th century Book of Kings, and 1,001 Nights to the miniatures of Mir Mosavvar and Aq Mirak, from the poetry of Omar Khayyam and Sohrab Sepehri to the humor of Mulla Nasruddin are all included. Each recipe is presented with steps that are logical and easy to follow. Readers learn how to simply yet deliciously cook rice, the jewel of Persian cooking, which, when combined with a little meat, fowl, or fish, vegetables, fruits, and herbs, provides the perfect balanced diet.
The full-color Food of Life 25th Anniversary
Edition contains
50% more pages than its 2009 predecessor and special added features:
*New Recipes adapted from Sixteenth-Century Persian cookbooks
*Added vegetarian section for most recipes
*Comprehensive dictionary of all ingredients
*A glance at a few thousand years of the history of Persian Cooking
*Master recipes with photos illustrating the steps.
*Color photos of most recipes with tips on presentation
*Updated section on Persian stores and Internet suppliers
*Fahrenheit and Centigrade temperatures for all recipes
*Choices for cooking recipes such as “kuku” in oven or on stovetop.
*Encourages use of seasonal and local ingredients from farmers markets,
Community Supported
Agriculture (CSAs) sources or one’s own backyard
Batmanglij’s cookbooks reflect the tradition and culture of her Persian background and the multi-tasking demands of a busy mother and professional. She views preparing a meal not only as a culinary experience, but also as a means to bring family and friends together. She encourages her readers to do as she was taught in Iran: to cook, to laugh, to tell jokes and stories, and to recite poetry. Over the past quarter century, Batmanglij’s books have acted as both a beacon and a bible to Iranian-American and mixed-ethnicity families in the English-speaking world. Food of Life is one of the few volumes whose breadth ranges from the exacting measures that go into cooking a perfect bowl of rice to the intricacies of a traditional ancient Persian marriage ceremony. Her life and her work meet at the vortex of feminism, tradition, ceremony, and the nourishment of body and mind, proving that none of these concepts need be foreign to one another.
ABOUT PERSIAN
FOOD
You know more about Persian food than you might think. When you ask for
oranges, pistachios, spinach, or saffron, you are using words derived
from Persian that refer to foods either originating in the region or
introduced from there, for Persia was a great entrepôt of the ancient
and medieval worlds. The land was the first home of many common herbs,
including basil cilantro, and spices such as fenugreek and cumin, as
well as vegetables that include fava beans and chickpeas. Iran was also
home to scores of familiar preparations, including sweet and sour sauces,
kababs, noodles, marzipan, and baklava. Such preparations are most delicious
in their original forms, which you will find in the recipes in this book.
ABOUT THE PERSIAN NEW YEAR
The publication of this book coincides with the arrival of the Persian
new year, Nowruz. Nowruz is the most important holiday
for Iranians all over the world. Nowruz ceremonies consist of
a series of symbolic rituals dating back to pre-Islamic ancient times. Nowruz is
not a religious holiday but a celebration of the earth, which everyone
can enjoy wherever they are and whatever their religion may be. The Nowruz celebrationalways
begins on the first day of spring marked by the vernal equinox, or Tahvil, when
the sun crosses the celestial equator. This year Nowruz falls
on March 20 at 7:21 PM Eastern DST.
To welcome the new year, Iranians thoroughly clean and rearrange their
homes. They buy new clothes, bake pastries, germinate seeds, color eggs,
and prepare a menu of green dishes as signs of renewal. Troubadours, called Haji
Firuz or “heralds of rebirth,” disguised with makeup and
wearing red outfits, sing and dance through the streets with tambourines,
kettle drums, and trumpets to spread good cheer and the news of the coming
new year. In every Iranian household a ceremonial setting called sofreh-ye
haft sinn is spread to symbolize rebirth and renewal, and to welcome
the arrival of the new year (see page 562).
ABOUT THE USE OF PERSIAN AND IRANIAN IN FOOD OF LIFE
All the recipes come from the land Europeans have long called Persia. That
name is the Hellenized form of Pars, the southwestern province that was
the homeland of the rulers of the first Persian Empire. They, however,
called themselves Iranians and their country Iran, the name of their
ancestral tribes. Nowadays the words are used interchangeably, describing
a people whose civilization and cuisine are ancient indeed. Cooking plays
important roles in every culture, but Persian cuisine can claim a relationship
to its native land that is uniquely deep and intricate. This book celebrates
the central place of food in the life of Iran, a story extending back
almost 4,000 years, when recipes were first recorded in a cuneiform script
on clay tablets.
ABOUT THE
BOOK’S TITLE
Food of Life, the title of the book, comes from the Persian words nush-e
jan, literally “food of life”—a traditional
wish in Iran that a dish will be enjoyed. For the updated 1993 edition
the title was changed to New Food of Life. Now,
for the 25th anniversary edition the title returns to its original name, Food of Life.
LA Timest: By Russ Parsons
March 29, 2011
Times Food editor Russ Parsons on 'Food of Life': A classic cookbook made even better
When Najmieh Batmanglij’s “Food of Life” was first published back in the mid-1980s, it was probably ahead of its time. American cooks were still concentrating on the cooking of France and Italy, and even Indian cooking was somewhat on the fringe. Let’s face it, we probably were not ready politically for an Iranian cookbook in those days, either. The book got a few really good reviews, but remained something of an obscurity.
Times have changed, though, and thankfully because Batmanglij has just republished the book in a gorgeous expanded edition. If you’ve ever been curious about Persian cooking -- and that means just about anyone who has ever tasted it -- this is the perfect introduction.
Rice is at the heart of Persian cooking and there are 60 pages devoted to it in the book. This may seem excessive for those whose idea of rice cookery is limited to boiling a bit of basmati. But if you’ve ever tasted a perfectly made tah-dig (fluffy rice served with a delicious cap of crusty golden fried rice), you’ll appreciate the care and artistry that is required.
Here's a very brief summary: First, the rice has to be rinsed thoroughly. Cook it briefly in a lot of boiling water, then drain and rinse again. Combine part of the rice with a yogurt-saffron mixture and spread it across the bottom of the pot. Carefully spoon in the rest of the rice. Cook briefly over medium-high heat to get the crust started, then reduce the heat and cook for 70 minutes more, with the lid wrapped in cloth to absorb extra moisture. And then you get the process for unmolding.
For the faint of heart, there are also half a dozen “cheater” tah-digs –- crusts made with lavash, potatoes or just plain rice stained with saffron. And in this updated version of “Food of Life” there are also instructions for preparing many of the dishes in a rice cooker.
"Persian food guru updates master cookbook"
The Washington Post: By Bonnie S. Benwick
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
It is the kind of late-February afternoon that hints at spring. Najmieh
Batmanglij is in her element - cooking in the large room graced with tones
of honeyed oak, smooth stone relics and the sunlight from a wall of windows
at the back of her Georgetown home. She likes the CD of Iranian music turned
way up; the aromatics are already at full volume. Wafts of burbling basmati
rice and saffron-infused rosewater draw guests close to the long butcher-block
counter, where bowls of bitter oranges and round trays of sprouted lentils
herald the approach of Nowruz, the Persian new year.
The Iranian native says it's time for her to make some noise - two grown
children, more than three decades and several cookbooks after she and her
husband, Mohammad, came to America in exile. Naj, as she is affectionately
known, wants more Persian food in more home kitchens.
Washington's fooderati and its Iranian community recognize Batmanglij as
a premier advocate of Persian food. There are perhaps a dozen other Iranian
cookbook authors alive today whose recipes appear in English, she estimates,
and hundreds of people in the States have taken her cooking classes. Yet
Batmanglij remains a low-key sensation, making what she says is the world's
most influential, least understood cuisine. She wishes Iranian culture could
be viewed apart from Iranian politics.
"I can tell you the things Westerners don't know" about Persian
food, she says. "We do not overpower our food with spices. Its flavors
are subtle and delicate. It juxtaposes small, refined elements, like the
designs in a Persian carpet or miniature painting. It uses a lot of fruits
and flowers; more vegetables than meats. And it is delicious."
Chefs are at the forefront of Batmanglij's fan base. They know what's good,
and they are inspired by the ingredients and techniques she brings to the
table. It is why she has been asked to teach for the past 10 years at the
Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in Napa Valley, Calif., during
the weeklong World of Flavors Conference.
Chef-restaurateur Jose Andres first met Batmanglij more than a decade ago.
They were introduced by Lidia Bastianich, a fellow member of Les Dames d'Escoffier
("she's so warm; a soul mate," Batmanglij says). When local cookbook
author Joan Nathan threw a party for the celebrity chefs who volunteered
to cook a series of inaugural dinner fundraisers in 2009, she enlisted Batmanglij
to make Persian wedding rice studded with fruits, nuts and spices. It was
the hit of the night.
Andres has invited Batmanglij to teach dishes to the kitchen staff at Zaytinya,
his Mediterranean restaurant in Penn Quarter.
"Is paella not a cousin of pilau?" Andres asks. "Najmieh has
been a wonderful guide to the Persian kitchen and has helped so many to understand
this rich culture through its cooking. Persian culture has touched so many
other peoples over the centuries - influencing, sharing, adopting, changing
. . . those links are everywhere."
Rice is the jewel of Persian cookery, Batmanglij says. It is grown in Iran's
northern Caspian provinces. She makes some every day, in ways that elevate
it. They can be as simple as simmering it with a sachet of crushed cardamom
pods and a splash of rose water, or as involved as steaming it with saffron
and creating a golden crust (see step-by-step guide at washingtonpost.com/food).
Batmanglij powers through the prep of simultaneous dishes like a seasoned
instructor, explaining the steps for terrific pistachio and pomegranate meatballs
and an herby, frittata-like kuku. But when she describes the allure of fresh
fenugreek or the symbolism of eggs and fish and sweets for the new year,
the 62-year-old morphs into her younger self, filled with passion. Like the
stunning images of the woman with flowing dark hair, in family photos hung
around the room.
When she was a girl, her mother would not allow her in the kitchen: "She
said, 'Go to university. You'll have plenty of time to cook.' So I came to
the United States. Got a master's in education. Then she allowed me in the
kitchen." The daughter, one of five girls, cooked with her for three
years. (Her sisters eventually followed her to Washington and are all good
cooks, she says.)
Batmanglij learned her mother's dishes well and took notes at the elbow of
her aunt, a pastry chef. When the Iranian revolution occurred in 1979, she
and her husband fled to Vence, France. She took cooking classes there and
began translating her mother's recipes into French. At her neighbors' urging
and with their help, she put together a compilation of 50 recipes, her first,
called "Ma Cuisine d'Iran" (1984).During that time she began researching
and saving string for what would become "Food of Life" and "New
Food of Life," the latter of which was featured in a 1993 Post Food
section article.
"In exile," in America, she was quoted, "you become so much
more conscious of your culture, and ours is so beautiful." She saw the
book as a love letter to her sons, who she figured might never see the Iran
she knew.
Last year, Zal the filmmaker, 30, and Rostam the indie rocker, 26, encouraged
her to update the book for their generation. So their mother added recipes
and series of instructional photos, lots of tips and an expanded glossary
of ingredients. She came up with vegetarian alternatives and substitutions,
testing the 330 recipes at least three times each.
The result: a handsome 25th anniversary edition supplemented with more stories
of tradition, more poetry and Persian illustrations. Batmanglij was able
to translate many 16th-century Persian recipes and bring them to life.
"My other books have had my mother's recipes. These are my recipes," she
says. "And now I want people to know about it. I am calling in favors
I have done for others, something that does not come easily to me."
So in the weeks before this year's Nowruz, her favorite time of year, Batmanglij
has even more reason to be happy. The lentils she sprouted will grow by inches;
they are ornamental signs of rebirth for the holiday that officially begins
with the vernal equinox. She will help plan celebrations for Iranian students
at George Washington University and prepare to lead a culinary tour of Rockville's
Yekta market and restaurant in April.
Late last week, her plan to get wider notice got a big boost. Folks from "The
Martha Stewart Show" called to book her for an appearance on March 16. "I'm
excited and honored," she says. "To be recognized by Martha! I
identify with her. She worked hard for a long time, and it really paid off."
3rd Edition (1993)
Los Angeles Times: "The
definitive book on Persian cooking: not just a recipe collection but a fond introduction
to a culture and a fascinating cuisine."
The Washington Post: "A
jewel of a book."
The New York Times: "Too
delightful to miss."
Chicago Sun-Times: "A
stunning cookbook."
USA Today: "A
beautiful introduction to Persian cuisine and culture."
Booklist: "Modern
Iranian cooking fits perfectly with today's lighter eating styles. Recipes
are presented in an easily followed style."
World of Cookbooks: "Persian-Iranian
cuisine can have no better introduction than this book."
The Toronto Star: "A
fabulous new cookbook.... The glossy tome-an array of elegant recipes peppered
with lavish color photos of food; Persian miniatures and artwork-is the result
of 12 years of painstaking research."
Publishers Weekly: "Effectively
weaves Iranian cookery with ancient Persian legends and poetry and descriptions
of traditional ceremonies and holidays."
The Baltimore Sun: "[Mrs.
Batmanglij] has been careful to keep the recipes authentic."
Middle East Studies Journal: "For
those who find ethnic cookbooks a bit daunting and pretentious, here's one
that holds true on what it promises, plus much much more.... suggests in book
form what Babette's Feast and Like Water For Chocolate did through film....
this book will meet if not surpass your expectations."
{Full text of all reviews>>}
return to top
on using this book - 7
preface - 11
a few tips before you start cooking - 15
appetizers & side dishes - 17
soups, oshes & porridges - 67
dolmehs & vegetables - 115
kukus & egg dishes - 133
meat, chicken & fish - 159
rice dishes, chelows & polows - 225
braises & khoreshes - 293
desserts, pastries & candies - 351
breads - 429
preserves & pickles - 453
hot & cold drinks - 489
snacks & street food - 513
how to make & store kitchen ingredients - 529
ceremonies - 547
appendices & glossaries - 591
A Few Thousand Years of
Persian Cooking at a Glance - 592
A Glossary of Ingredients & Techniques - 599
Useful Kitchen Ingredients - 608
My Mother’s Classification of “Hot” & “Cold” - 609
Persian-English List of Ingredients - 610
English-Persian List of Ingredients- 612
Glossary of Iranian Trees & Plants - 614
Menu Suggestions - 615
Iranian Stores and Restaurants - 616
Equivalent Measures - 621
acknowledgments & credits - 622–623
index - 624
Stories
Cat & Mouse - 22
The Story of Yogurt - 23
The Eggplant Story - 42
A Poetic Recipe for Sanbuseh - 53
Eating Matter & Reading Matter - 55
Duck Soup - 72
Hot Soup in the Winter - 88
The Smell of a Thought - 88
Memories of Making Noodles - 98
The Chickpea Story - 106
Eating Steam - 111
If a Pot Can Multiply - 127
How Iranians Became Meat Eaters - 172
Journeys in Persia & Kurdistan, - 1891 177
The Story of Saffron - 222
The Food of the Cloak - 228
The Travels of Jean Chardin, - 1686 235
The Barber’s Sixth Brother - 261
A Fair Exchange - 275
Memories of Qormeh Sabzi - 299
The Turquoise-Blue Dome - 320
A Sweet & Sour Story - 325
A Verbal Contest between a Date Palm & a Goat - 328
The Story of the Rose - 379
An Uninvited Guest - 384
Poetic Discourse about Bread - 441
King Khosrow & His Knight - 450
Seven-Year-Old Pickle- 473
Jamshid Shah & the Discovery of Wine - 500
How Persians Went from Wine to Sherbet - 503
Wine Prohibition According to Rumi - 504
NAJMIEH BATMANGLIJ, hailed as “the guru of Persian
cuisine” by The Washington Post, has spent the past 30 years cooking,
traveling, and adapting authentic Persian recipes to tastes and techniques
in the West. Her book Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian
Journey was selected
as “One of the 10 best vegetarian cookbooks of the year” by The
New York Times; and her From Persia to
Napa: Wine at the Persian Table won
the Gourmand
Cookbook Award for the world’s best wine history book of 2007. She is
a member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and lives in Washington, DC, where
she teaches Persian and Silk Road cooking, and consults with restaurants around
the world. Her most recent book is Happy Nowruz: Cooking with Children to Celebrate
the Persian New Year.
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