Happy Norooz! Last week ushered in the two week-long Iranian new year, a time for celebration, time spent around loved ones, and sweets. Lots of sweets. Most Iranian sweets are too strong for my taste, but I can never say no to sholeh zard. Traditionally prepared as alms during religious festivals in Iran, this dish [...]
The first time I cooked with tapioca pearls a few years ago, I ended up with a giant mess. I was trying to recreate boba tea, and I overcooked the small, translucent spheres and the whole thing dissolved into a gelatinous blob that adhered itself to the pot. After that experience, I stayed away from [...]
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but when I set out this past Christmas to make everyone gift baskets of food goodies, I knew I wanted to include caramel popcorn. It’s salty, crunchy, sweet, and healthy (okay, maybe not healthy). It’s also astonishingly easy to make, but make sure to have a huge [...]
Winter is the season for baking, and well, I’m not the best baker out there. Half the time when I make bread, it’s more or less a disaster, and my biscuits could use some work too. But when I tried baking these muffins, I couldn’t believe how deliciously moist and fluffy these came out. Plus, [...]
I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I make an exception with a lot of Iranian desserts like bakhlava and zoolbiya. Still, my favorites tend to veer towards the lighter sweets, like faloodeh. So when I tried fereni, a rosewater-inflected rice pudding for the first time a few months ago, I was pleasantly [...]