Perfect Persian food

YASMIN Khan is taking Iran's image to task. A former human rights campaigner-turned-cookery writer, Khan spent much of her childhood in Birmingham, where she was raised on slow-cooked stews and sweet pomegranates – mealtime mainstays from her family's Persian heritage.

Her passion for Iranian food is such that she took to crowdfunding site Kickstarter to get her first book The Saffron Tales – about Persian cuisine – off the ground.

"You ask the average person what they think of Iran, and its bombs and chador-clad women," explains Khan, whose family hail from northern Iran. If you never heard about our music, our beautiful nature, our really cool artistic stuff, if you only heard about one aspect of a country, why would you know anything else? That's why I wanted to write the book; because I felt there isn't anything that showed that."

Clearly lots of people agreed with her; Khan achieved 100 per cent of her funding target within 24 hours, proving there's an "appetite to find out what Iran is like. Food is such a great window into a culture." The writer, who travelled extensively around Iran, taking in Tehran, Tabriz and Gilan, while researching for the book, adds: "We can all relate to sitting down over a good meal and enjoying it. It was so important to show the common thread of our humanity, from us in the UK to the people in Iran. That's what this book is about."

Growing up with a nutritionist mum, who "always cooked us a big meal", Khan and her family were spoiled at mealtimes.

"Iranian food is all about really fresh and bright flavours," she enthuses. "They use loads of fresh herbs, lots of citrus and nuts to flavour foods. It's not overpowering. It's delicate saffron or dried limes, or cinnamon or rose water... these evocative scents mixed with nuts and dried fruits. It's that sweet and sour flavour that best epitomises Iranian cooking."

Up until four years ago though, cooking was just a happy pastime. For a decade, work for Khan was running campaigns for international development charities, but she reconsidered her career options after taking a sabbatical.

"I had a really bad burnout," she admits. "I was working on issues to do with conflict zones and war. I had to do something positive and creative using the experience I have, so the book came out of that. Luckily I've recovered now, and I've got a book for it. Now I'm just really enjoying immersing myself in the kitchen."

If you fancy immersing yourself in the kitchen too, here are two lovely recipes from The Saffron Tales to try at home...

Fragrant mixed herb and flatbread salad

(Serves 4 as a starter)

100g Persian flatbread (or toasted tortillas or pitta bread)

50g walnuts, roughly chopped

100g feta cheese, crumbled

25g bunch mint, roughly chopped

25g bunch basil, roughly chopped

25g bunch tarragon, roughly chopped

3tbsp pomegranate seeds, to garnish

For the dressing:

2tbsp balsamic vinegar

3tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

¼tsp golpar (optional)

½tsp sea salt

½tsp black pepper

Using a pair of scissors, cut the flatbread into small jagged pieces and place them in a large bowl.

Toast the walnuts in a small pan over a medium heat for two minutes. Add them to the bowl, along with the crumbled cheese and chopped herbs.

To make the dressing, whisk the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and golpar (if you are using it) with the salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and then get your hands in there, giving the whole thing a good stir to evenly distribute it.

Leave the salad for 10 minutes for the flavours to soak into the bread, then taste and adjust the seasoning. Garnish with a generous sprinkling of pomegranate seeds just before serving.

Persian love cake

(Serves 6-8)

200g unsalted butter

150g caster sugar

4 medium eggs

12 cardamom pods

100g plain flour, sifted

275g ground almonds

Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon

1tbsp rose water

1tsp baking powder

A generous pinch of fine sea salt

For the drizzle topping:

2tbsp caster sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

½tbsp rose water

For the icing:

150g icing sugar

Juice of 3/4 lemon

2tsp cold water

To decorate:

2tsp sliced pistachios

2tsp dried rose petals (optional)

Pre-heat the oven to 160C/Gas 3. Grease a 22cm cake tin (with a removable base) and line it with baking parchment.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. When the mixture is thoroughly combined, beat in the eggs.

Place the cardamom pods in a mortar and work with a pestle to get the seeds out of the pods. Discard the pods and grind the seeds to a fine powder. Add them to the cake mixture, along with the flour, ground almonds, lemon zest and juice, rose water, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. To check if it's ready, stick a fork in the middle of the cake – it should come out dry.

Towards the end of the cooking time, make your drizzle topping. Place the caster sugar, lemon juice and rose water in a small pan over a low heat and heat until the sugar melts.

Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Poke holes all over the top of the warm cake and drizzle over the syrup.

When the cake is completely cool, make the icing by combining the icing sugar, lemon juice and a few teaspoons of water until you have a smooth, thick icing. Spoon the icing over the cake and finish with a sprinkling of sliced pistachios and, if you like, rose petals.

• The Saffron Tales by Yasmin Khan is published in hardback by Bloomsbury, priced £26. Available now