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	<title>Oyster Food and Culture &#187; Iran</title>
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	<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com</link>
	<description>a place to exchange ideas and learn about culture through food</description>
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		<title>Special Ingredients:  Asafetida</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/09/15/special-ingredients-asafetida/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/09/15/special-ingredients-asafetida/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:47:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Huh Foods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Special Ingredients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[region]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spices]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterculture.wordpress.com/?p=3173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had read about Asafetida in Madhur Japher&#8217;s tome on Indian cooking and seen it referenced in many other Indian recipes and so confidently picked up a container so that my future Indian cooking endeavors might taste that much more authentic.  However, I was unprepared for what was to come&#8230;. What is It? According to my trusty Lord Krishna&#8217;s Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking, Asafetida, known as hing in India, is a dry gum resin.  It is obtained from several species of the ferula (fennel and carrot related plants)  the plants are cut and the sap is drained and sun-dried into a solid mass.  The intensity of flavor and color varies with the source, but typically fresh resin is pearly tanish in color and darkens as it ages.  In its natural state it is slightly sticky to the touch and as dense as a block of wood. When the solid resin is ground it releases a strong overpowering smell (author&#8217;s aside:  the nickname for this stuff is &#8220;Devil&#8217;s Dung&#8221; &#8211; does that give you a hint?)  Most home cooks know to immediately double wrap the container least strong sulferous odiferous assults occur.  The smell has been describe as [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Tricky Stuff: Salad Olivieh</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/09/01/tricky-stuff-salade-olivieh/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/09/01/tricky-stuff-salade-olivieh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:33:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tricky Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterfoodandculture.com/?p=5318</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the longest time I though Salad Oliveh was  Persian dish, and strongly resisted any suggestion to the contrary &#8211; those impostors!  I could not wrap my mind around the possibility that it might be a popular dish to most of the world, and by sheer luck I stumbled across it as an adult.  I swear this dish changed my perspective on potato salad forever.  I never thought I claim a life transforming experience because of a potato salad, but there it is.  My Persian friend, Sepideh, invited me for lunch, and her grandmother who was also visiting, shared our meal.  Her grandmother spoke little English, and I spoke less Persian.  Ok, I spoke no Persian, and my subsequent attempts have been mixed.  They had prepared a wonderful repast of all sorts of tasty dishes, a few that I had never tried before; one of which was Salad Oliveh. I took a small portion to accompany the rest of my meal, and had to go back for seconds&#8230;thirds.  I am deeply ashamed to admit that I stopped counting after five return visits.  I could not help myself, I was possessed by some potato fever and lost self control and self [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/09/01/tricky-stuff-salade-olivieh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>25</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Special Ingredients: Mahlab</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/08/08/special-ingredients-mahlab/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/08/08/special-ingredients-mahlab/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:29:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Special Ingredients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[region]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spices]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterculture.wordpress.com/?p=3171</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Mahlab was another one of those purchases I made because I was very intrigued yet knew nothing little about when I purchased a bag of this spice.  However, after my first experience with mahlab, I was determined to learn more about this wonderful new addition to my spice repitoire.   I love being pleasantly surprised by my impulse spice purchases, because I usually give myself a 50/50 chance at achieving a happy outcome with this approach, and have suffered my share of disappointments.  This experiment was definitely a highlight in my ongoing games of chance. Foods Containing Mahlab Mahlab is the pit of the sour cherry, and has been popular in Middle East cooking; specifically in Turkey and Syria for centuries.  The pit of the mahaleb cherry, thin-fleshed and tiny (~ 1 cm), yield this unusual spice with both a delicate fragrance, and pronounced bitterness.  It is primarily found in sweet breads and candies.  In Greece, the kernels are loved in specialties like tsoureki, a brioche-type braided sweet bread, traditionally baked for Easter.  Mahaleb is also used in Greece for yeast cakes or cookies (vasilopita [βασιλόπιτα]) and for a special type of Easter cheese pie or cheese cake on Cyprus (flaounes).  In [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>26</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Persian New Year &#8211; Nowruz (a celebration of life)</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/03/15/persian-new-year-nowruz-a-celebration-of-life/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/03/15/persian-new-year-nowruz-a-celebration-of-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:50:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[celebrations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[friendship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[no ruz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nowruz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shiraz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tehran]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterculture.wordpress.com/?p=1002</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sepideh and I met our freshman year in college and have been fast friends ever since.  Two greener girls you have yet to see; one from Minnesota and the other from Tehran.  We&#8217;ve maintained our close friendship despite both moving in seemingly opposite directions and traveling extensively around the globe.  She is an incredible friend who encourages my interests in food and culture, and patiently answers all my questions about the many customs and traditions of Iran.  One tradition I was eager to learn about is Nowruz or the Persian New Year. My first encounter with Nowruz was a rather impromptu dinner with Sepideh in McLean, VA, where after our meal we struck out for the George Washington Parkway, to find a suitable overlook to accomplish our mission.  You see, she was about to introduce me to one of the traditions of her new year and required access to a river (don&#8217;t worry, you&#8217;ll understand by the end of the post) to launch some wheat grass that we hope would find its into the Potomac River.  If you were sitting in your car, at that same overlook on GW Parkway that night, lullled by watching the meandering Potomac, the lovely view of Georgetown, and saw two girls leap from their car and hurl what looked to be [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/03/15/persian-new-year-nowruz-a-celebration-of-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>19</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Special Ingredients: Barberries</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/02/17/special-ingredients-barberries/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/02/17/special-ingredients-barberries/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:53:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Special Ingredients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[barberries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[confiture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[England]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persian]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterculture.wordpress.com/?p=1055</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have many reasons to thank my friend Sepideh, and perhaps at, or near the top of that list, I am forever in her debt for introducing me to barberries.  These little flavor bursts of goodness are wonderful, especially paired with the ingredients that compliment the tartness that these little berries provide.  My first impression of the taste was of tamarind, or cranberries.  The berries are common in Persian and Afghan cuisine (my introduction to them) but have also seen action in European and American cooking, so you may have tried them without knowing.  Barberries also answer to: Agracejo (Spanish) Berberis (Arabic) Epine Vinette (French) Zeresk (Farsi) European Berberry Holly Thorn Sowberry Pipperbridge bush The Italians named the barberry the Holy Thorn, because it is thought to have been part of the crown of thorns made for Jesus&#8217; Crucifixion.  The Arabs name of berberis means shell, which linguists speculate is because the leaves are glossy, like the inside of an oyster shell. You can find barberries as ornamental bushes in the UK, and parts of Europe, as well as North Africa and temperate Asia.  Animals such as cows, goats and sheep will eat barberries, horses and pigs turn up their noses, and birds [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Special Ingredients: Sumac</title>
		<link>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/02/11/special-ingredients-sumac/</link>
		<comments>http://oysterfoodandculture.com/2009/02/11/special-ingredients-sumac/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:16:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Special Ingredients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chelo kebab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lebanon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nowrooz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Persian New Year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sumac]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syria]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Turkey]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://oysterculture.wordpress.com/?p=968</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first time sumac and I were introduced was at Moby Dick&#8217;s House of Kabob  in Washington, DC, the location in Georgetown, if you must know.  I was having dinner with my friend, Sepideh, when she shook a liberal quantity onto her chelo kebab.  Not knowing what was in the shaker, it looked like ground pepper flakes, I proceeded with caution.  This meal was early in my eating adventures, and I was still smarting from my introduction to wasabi, that someone (a very evil person) told me was mashed avocado.  However, I knew my friend had an aversion to all things spicy hot, so I gave it a go.  I shook some on my chicken kabob, took a bite, and quickly added more&#8230; and more.  This stuff is tart, and kicks up the flavors like squeezing a lemon over your food.  For tasty surprises like this, I implicitly trust Sepideh with all things Persian, and especially kabobs. Part of my reluctance stemmed from suspicion that sumac was poisonous.  Some sumac is, especially the variety grown in the United States as an ornamental plant &#8211; its highly toxic, and has white berries.  The kind found in Middle Eastern cooking, most definitely is not.  Although with over 250 varieties of sumac you&#8217;re bound [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
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