My grandmother was famous for her chocolate cake. Some relatives joked that the secret ingredient was cigarette ashes, but I'm here to tell you that's not the case. When she died, many of her loved ones still had her cakes stowed away in the freezer. One passover, my sister found what she thought was the... Continue Reading →
Prayer Goes Out; Food Goes In: Plum Chicken with Bibi Kasrai
The day I spoke with the author of The Spice Whisperer, Bibi Kasrai, she was busy with her new enterprise, a cooking camp for children. She had left a career as a corporate executive to do what she loves: cooking and teaching. That day the children were making hummus, croque-monsieurs, and popsicles. It’s this mix... Continue Reading →
Taste of Iran: Lari Kebab Made as a Stew
I loved the concise flavors of this dish, but learned that in order to replicate them I had to have the best ingredients. Taste of Iran: Lari kebab recipe Iranian student in Italy recreates a traditional dish – with a twist Lari kebab served with salad and jasminebasmati rice. Photograph: Tori Egherman The Leaning Tower... Continue Reading →
Cooking Aubergine Stew with Halleh Ghorashi
(Or as we Americans call it: Eggplant) Before going to Iran, I had eaten only stale, tasteless turmeric that added colour rather than flavour. On my first full day in Iran, I had a dish of eggplant stuffed with ground lamb, topped with unripe grapes, and seasoned with turmeric. I thought it was cinnamon, even... Continue Reading →
Too Much Is Never Enough: Making Ghelye Mahi
Every time we had people over for dinner, my husband would say to me, "Tori, we didn't make enough food."