Vegetarian recipes from Iran

Iranian cooking without meat rests on a precise balance of rice, pulses and fresh herbs, used by the bunch as a main ingredient rather than as a garnish. Chopped greens — parsley, coriander, chives, fenugreek — make up the body of herb and bean stew and of herb kookoo. The fat is oil or clarified butter, and the sourness comes from dried lime, verjuice or raisins rather than vinegar. Flavour is built in layers: onion fried to brown, turmeric dropped into the hot fat, then a slow cook that lets the herbs darken and lose their bitterness.

A meal is organised around one stew and rice served apart, with cool plates set in the middle: raw herbs, cheese, yoghurt, and finely diced cucumber and tomato salad. Pulses are not a substitute here but an old staple: noodle and pulse ash brings chickpeas, beans and lentils together in a thick soup finished with kashk and fried onion. Aubergine plays the steady second role, charred over a flame then crushed with garlic and egg in charred aubergine with tomato.