Welcome to the first episode of 2024, where we’re embracing a fresh start with a healthy twist on Persian cuisine. Listen in as we, Bita and Bita, share our New Year’s resolutions, including being more present with our loved ones and pursuing exciting professional opportunities. We’re also thrilled about our new monthly podcast format, which allows us to create even richer content for our listeners. If you have a passion for Persian culture, join us on this journey—we’re on the lookout for an intern to help bring our vision to life.
This episode is a celebration of Persian food’s nutritious heart, especially post-holiday when many of us are looking to detox and achieve our health goals. Discover how dishes like khoresh and the traditional herb frittata kookoo (kuku) sabzi can be made healthier with simple cooking tweaks. We also explore the power of Persian spices, like saffron and turmeric, and how they can be integrated into our daily routines for their incredible health benefits. Plus, we answer a listener’s question about these spices, sharing personal insights and unique ways to incorporate them into our cooking. Tune in for a wholesome start to your year with us.
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Opening and closing music composed by Amir Etemadzadeh, www.amirschoolofmusic.com
Podcast production by Alvarez Audio
Transcription:
Intro:
This is Modern Persian Food, a culinary podcast for today’s food enthusiast. We talk about classic Persian flavors, modern recipes, and embracing culture and identity through food. I’m Bita. And I’m also Beata. Welcome to our show.
0:00:25 – Beata
Hello, hello. Welcome, everybody, to episode 162 of the Modern Persian Food podcast. Happy New Year. Happy 2024. I’m here with the lovely Bita joon, and we are going to be talking about health in the new year, Persian food specifically, how it is one of the nutritiously delicious cuisines and how we can incorporate those Persian flavors into a healthy lifestyle this year. Bita joon, before we get started, Happy New Year!
0:00:53 – Bita
Happy New Year! Hi everyone.
0:00:56 – Beata
You know, it’s always a great time of year to look forward and maybe set some intentions or resolutions for the year. Is there anything that you’re looking forward to accomplishing this year?
0:01:06 – Bita
Yeah, we just make goals. The resolutions or intentions, I think what the challenge is, is making them stick. Right? So how do you make your resolutions stick? And I think that has to do with actually, like, changing behaviors around it. So for me and my personal resolution, I think I’m really going to try to make an effort to give the people I’m with my undivided attention. And that means I put away the devices or the book or the thing and just kind of clear the mind and be present with the ones I’m with just realizing
My mom is getting older, my in-laws are getting older, even my girls are getting older to the point that they’re gonna leave us and go start their own wonderful lives, hopefully. And so, you know, every day’s a gift. So I think that’s my biggest one. But beyond that, I’ve got some exciting opportunities to get nationally board certified in health and wellness as a nutritionist.
And so I think I’m gonna take the plunge with that. It’s been on the back burner for a while, but there’s an opportunity that I think I can’t pass up. And then lastly, just around, you know what we’re doing with this podcast. It’s a lot of work, but I’m really excited with our new format in going monthly. We’re able to really give it the attention and make it even better with each one getting our full attention. And so I’m really excited for some of the content that we have planned and the events and in-person things that we have going this year. How about for you?
0:02:43 – Beata
Great. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing that. Yeah. For me too, being present. I think that’s a focus that I try to take that I recognized that I needed to take a little bit more this year. So I’m just going to try to fine tune that and really being present in whatever it is that I’m doing with my family, with the podcast, with different areas of my life to really kind of just be there and take it all in, which I’m excited about. I think that really leads to holding myself accountable to that and making sure that I hold myself to the standards that I set for myself. And hopefully I can be successful doing that and also health in general. I think that over the last few years, realizing that health definitely needs my attention as well. So I’m going to be working on building some bone density here and as always trying to drink more water. So those are definitely on my list in terms of the podcast. Yes, I’m enjoying the new format to really being able to focus more on the content that we’re doing, sharing what we have on social media and hopefully having a stronger product for our listeners to enjoy. And in that spirit, we are actually looking for an intern or someone who is interested in the Persian culture and in Persian food to help us spread news about the podcast and help us with some tasks that we have. So, if you or someone that you know is interested, please definitely let us know. We would love to bring someone on the team who shares the same passion as we do.
0:04:16 – Bita
Yeah, exactly. So with keeping in mind that we want to put our best effort into bringing you the content, some of the back-end things that are super important to our growth, we would like to work with an intern. So if you have a cousin, a daughter, a friend, a college student, maybe even a really savvy high school student who has a similar passion towards the Persian culture, we would love to speak to that person.
So without any further ado, let’s get into it. Persian food is so nutritious, inherently.
0: 04:56 – Bita
Persian food, as we kind of touched on many times in previous episodes, so good for you, so nutritious. Fresh, whole, clean, simple, plant-based ingredients are plentiful in our diet.
0:05:10 – Beata
Yeah, I agree. Persian food by nature has a ton of healthy elements to it. The fruits and vegetables and nuts and beans and legumes that are part of so many different recipes
give a lot of nutritional benefits to the meals and are very healthy and not only provide delicious flavor, but they have antioxidants and anti-inflammation properties and probiotics in them like the yogurt that just really make them super healthy and make having delicious meals even better because they are actually so good for you.
0:05:49 – Bita
Yeah, exactly. So we’re probably all ready to kind of detox from possible overindulgences including maybe some spirits or alcohol, maybe too many cookies. I know I’ve been munching on cookies and baking a lot and I’m ready to go clean. So, a lot of times this time of year I start having to green smoothie every day just to kind of get myself in that element. But you’re right, in Persian food naturally the khoresh has a lot of herbs and vegetables. It’s very plant and vegetable heavy and so healthy in nature. If it doesn’t come in a box or a bag, it’s probably from a tree, a branch or from the ground and good for you. That’s what we mean by plant-based, highly nutritional. And if it’s from a box or a bag, there’s probably a really long ingredients list. So the fewer ingredients, the better is for you, which hence if you’re creating it yourself, you know what you’re putting in it. And so we are encouraging you take some experiments in the kitchen, start cooking for yourself and trying some Persian dishes.
0:06:56 – Beata
Yeah, and the khoresh that you were talking about, the foundation of the khoresh is pretty much vegetable based. So, you start off with onions, and you have a ton of different, depending on what the khoresh is, vegetables. The eggplant khoresh, the khoresht bademjoon is all eggplant with tomatoes and onions. And you can actually sub in zucchini if you would like in that dish. Or the different khoresh like ghormeh sabzi is all the bunch of different kinds of herbs and it has kidney beans and lemons in there. And the foundation of the vegetables is great, but we’ve talked about adding meats. There’s a lot of variation that you can do. Put whatever type of meat that you feel like using, you know, if you want to use red meat, that’s totally fine. If you want to sub in some poultry or just make it vegan, you can totally do that with the Persian recipes because they are starting off with that vegetable foundation. You know, when we talk about dairy in Persian food, too, there’s yogurt, which plays a big role in the salads like mast-o-khiar or mast-o-musir, or just having plain yogurt on the side with so many different meals. But there isn’t such a strong call for dairy in Persian cuisine for people who want to kind of want to stay away from that. If we want to talk about rice too, that is naturally gluten-free for people who have those kinds of restrictions.
0:08:13 – Bita
Yeah, in terms of heart health, Persian food is similar. It’s not technically in the quote unquote Mediterranean diet, but it has a lot of similarities to Mediterranean food and it’s good for you and good for your heart in those senses, like you said, the dairy that we have is not really like fatty cheeses. Feta is not a fatty cheese. Yogurt has a lot of health benefits. That’s kind of the extent of our dairy. We don’t have a ton of dairy. Also related to the Mediterranean way of eating would be the vegetables and the fruit and the nuts and the berries. And then you can also alter our dishes to make them more Mediterranean-ish.
For example, the Mediterranean way of eating, which has been known to be super good for you since like the 1960s, doesn’t have a lot of red meat. So, what you can do is you can reduce red meat and add poultry and fish and substitute it in, or you can do without it altogether. You can also switch up cooking oil and use olive oil in many dishes. It sometimes changes the flavor.
Like I won’t use olive oil in rice. That’s one place I won’t use olive oil, but I will use it in just about everything else. And olive oil is a healthy fat. So there are healthy fats. By nature, the other thing related to Mediterranean we have eating would be spices. So to add flavor with spices versus adding flavor with adding fat or fatty meats or oil or sugar, enhancing a dish by delicious aromatic spices is a really healthy way of boosting that dish and still having it be delicious and really, really good for you.
0:09:55 – Beata
Yep, absolutely.
0:09:57 – Bita
The Persian cuisine and culture often chooses fruit for dessert and fresh fruits are a big part of the whole day. I know I put a ton in my morning oatmeal and we try to have fruit after dinner. In my daily coaching practice, I’m encouraging adding fresh fruits, adding fresh vegetables, trying something new versus taking away. So, we don’t really wanna use the word diet. Diet’s definition is to restrict yourself. Instead of restricting yourself, we want to add plentiful, beautiful, flavorful foods.
0:10:30 – Beata
Having fruit available throughout the day is definitely part of Persian culture.
0:10:36 – Bita
Yeah, and then a lot of our dishes have beans and legumes, so nutritious, healthy fibers, vitamins, minerals, they fill you up, ancient grains. Many of them which are naturally gluten free. And again, switching up how you prepare things, for example, the eggplant that you talked about, that doesn’t have to be deep fried, that could be baked and still be creating that traditional recipe with the good flavors but taking out some of the oils.
0:11:09 – Beata
Yeah, exactly. Another substitute to cut down on some oil, like when we make kookoo sabzi, the herb frittata, there’s some recipes I’ve seen that actually call for a ton of eggs in there.
I usually make my one pan frittata with just four eggs so you can kind of experiment with what works best. But traditionally that dish is fried in a pan with a bunch of oil and once you flip it, you have to actually use more oil. But I love actually baking it and you can bake it in little, like, cupcake molds and you can actually do like a spray oil. Or if you did wanna put it in a pan, you can also just line the pan with parchment paper. And that really cuts down on how much oil you need to use.
So there’s different alternatives to just make it a little healthier. So you’re not using so much oil. You’re not using so many eggs to still get that great flavor and get all the nutrition that comes in those dishes in a simple way.
0:11:58 – Bita
Yeah. Baking is a great way to cut down on oil. Good idea.
0:12:03 – Beata
Yeah, absolutely. Also nuts, there’s a lot of times on the side, of Persian food are at the table with the sabzi khordan, we have fresh herbs on the side. And a lot of times they have walnuts or almonds. You can make mini little like wraps with like a little piece of lavash, some feta cheese and some fresh herbs and some nuts in there. So the nuts are definitely brain foods. We have a dish called khoresh fesanjoon, which is all walnuts and pomegranate molasses, which is actually great from like a brain food standpoint, but it is pretty fatty. So, I think that one of the key things to talk about is portion control and balance and being able to really enjoy it and have the nutritional benefits of it but knowing that you can’t have a ton of khoresh fesanjoon just because it does have a lot of the fats that if you eat without balance, you may, like, overindulge in it.
0:12:55 – Bita
Yeah, good point. Balance is so key in all the aspects. And for sure when you’re eating yummy Persian food! I made fesanjoon a few days ago and I love it so much. But, yeah, very dense and it has pomegranate molasses, which has a lot of sugar. I love it so much. I started to eat it like soup. It’s just so delicious. And so finding that balance and add some salad, you know, add some greens and make that well rounded plate. Just the simplicity of Persian food, given an abundant garden, you could probably go out and pick a bunch of fresh herbs and spinach and grab some nuts and berries and create an amazing, delicious, nutritious dish with very simple, whole ingredients. I think that’s what I love most about it, that and the spices. Yeah, spices reminds me of our question of the day.
0:12:54 – Beata
Yeah, we are now ready for the Ask the Beat section where we ask our listeners to submit questions that they have regarding Persian food and culture. And today’s question comes from Lauren in the Bay Area, and she asks, “What is the most common Persian spice and what do you use it in?”
Do you want to go first, Bita joon?
0:14:13 – Bita
Oh, sure. The most common spice that comes to mind for me would be saffron. I use it the most. I know every home chef probably has a different most common one, but, I really love saffron spray in the modern version. So, it now comes marketed in spray form. So, I could just spray it on my rice and spray it on my onions that I’m cooking up. So, I think I use that one the most often for my Persian cooking. How about you?
0:14:43 – Beata
For me, turmeric is the spice that I use most often. I don’t use a ton of turmeric. I usually just use like a teaspoon when I’m sauteing onions for whatever Persian dish that I’m making. But pretty much the basis of every Persian dish that I make starts with frying onions and adding turmeric to it. And as I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I love having turmeric in some hot water with a little bit of black pepper every morning to start my day and giving me the anti inflammation and just protecting my body. And I’ve been doing that for maybe for eight to 10 months. So, it’s kind of like a newer thing that I’ve been doing. But I actually really enjoy it and it’s a nice little ritual for me to start my day. But saffron is great, too. I haven’t gotten into the saffron spray as much, primarily because I don’t have it. So, I have to get one actually.
0:15:32 – Bita
Yeah, I have to send you some.
0:15:34 – Beata
But yeah, I mean, I love saffron and adding it to obviously my tahdig when I’m just making tahdig, but I love actually blooming it and using it with seafood on salmon or sometimes if I’m making shrimp, I’ll just roast shrimp and then add a little bit of the saffron that’s bloomed in the hot water to it and it makes it delicious, but I agree that saffron is used a lot too.
0:15:54 – Bita
Nice. There’s a common thread between our favorite spices, the saffron and the turmeric. Both also have the ability to enhance the color. So, they provide not only flavor, but color.
0:16:09 – Beata
Oh, that’s right. Mhm.
0:16:10 – Bita
I’d say saffron gives a little bit more of a reddish orange where turmeric gives more of a yellow but they also color the food, which is cool. Saffron’s like a little bit of a sweeter flavor to me, whereas turmeric can sometimes have a bite, like you said, if you put too much. But sometimes I’ll use both.
0:16:28 – Beata
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of the dishes I will use both.
0:16:30 – Bita
They’re nice in combination.
0:16:32 – Beata
Yeah, and you’re right. You have to really kind of be careful when you’re cooking with it, that your apron or your dish towels or your hands don’t get completely stained.
0:16:40 – Bita
Yeah, and makes for a beautiful dish.
0:16:42 – Beata
Yeah, great. Well, thank you so much, Lauren.
And if anyone has any questions, please feel free to email us at hello@modernpersianfood.com or reply to any of our social media posts and we’d love to feature you guys in a future episode.
0:16:55 – Bita
Thank you, Bita. Here’s to a healthy, happy, hopeful year ahead!
0:17:02 – Beata
Yeah, cheers to you and to your family and to all our listeners. Happy New Year.
0:17:07 – Bita
Cheers. Happy New Year.
0:17:09 – Beata
Cheers.
0:17:12 – Beata
You’ve been listening to the Modern Persian Food podcast with Bita and Beata. Thanks for spending time with us. If you’ve enjoyed what you heard today, consider telling a friend or giving us a good rating. You can subscribe to our show for free on your favorite podcasting app, or find us online at modernpersianfood.com or on Instagram for the recipes and information we talked about today. We’d love to hear your thoughts and see you next time!
Key Word Definitions and Spellings
Fesanjoon, Fesanjan, Khoresh Fesanjoon, Khoresh Fesanjan, Khoresht Fesanjoon, Khoresh-e Fesanjoon, Khoresh-e Fesanjan – Pomegranate walnut stew
Ghormeh Sabzi, Khoresh-e Ghormeh Sabzi – Kidney Bean and Herb Stew
Khoresh, Khoresht – Stew
Khoresh Bademjan, Khoresh Bademjoon, Khoresht Bademjan, Khoresht Bademjoon, Khoreshteh Bademjoon, Khoreshteh Bademjan, Khoresh-e Bademjan, Khoresh-e Bademjoon – Eggplant stew
Kookoo Sabzi, Kuku Sabzi – Herb Frittata
Lavash – Thin Flatbread
Mast-o-khiar, Mast-o Khiar, Mast o Khiar, Maast o Musir – Yogurt with Cucumber and Mint
Mast-o-musir, Mast-o Musir, Mast O Musir, Maast o Musir – Yogurt with Shallot
Sabzi Khordan – Fresh Herb Platter
Tahdig, Tahdeeg – Crunchy bottom of the pot rice
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