My kitchen is … new. I recently had it renovated – we knocked a wall down and painted the walls sunshine yellow. I’m just beginning to settle into it, still deciding on what goes where. There are endless jars of things on long, open oak shelves, a little wrought-iron breakfast table with a very large fruit bowl – that’s an Iranian thing. I travel a lot, so the kitchen is full of little mementos: a turquoise and navy handpainted dish from Isfahan on the wall, a framed print of little elephants from Thailand, a little fish tile from Nazareth. My cookbooks don’t fit in here – they’re in the living room. I have a very big collection. I’m addicted.
My favourite kitchen tool is … my mini food processor. It’s always out on the counter. I use it almost every other day, for pestos, smoothies, chopping fresh herbs and grinding nuts – staple techniques in Iranian cooking.
My storecupboard staple is … rice. I come from a rice-farming family. My grandfather could eat rice three times a day. When he first came to the UK, in 1997, he brought with him a 5kg bag – he was worried the rice wouldn’t be good enough here. It’s my comfort food.
When I’m starving I … have peanut butter, straight out of the jar. I always have a jar on me. It’s my constant snack – salty, nutty, filling.
My culinary inspiration is … the people and ideas I come across on my travels. I just got back from Israel and the West Bank, where I spent time cooking with Palestinian families – so everything I’m making at the moment has freekeh and allspice in it. Cooking in people’s homes is the best: you learn things you don’t get through TV or a cookbook.
My best-kept kitchen secret is … pomegranate molasses. I use it in traditional Iranian food, but also whenever I need something sweet and sharp: in Asian-style stir-fries, Indian-style curries, bolognese sauce. It works the same way as balsamic vinegar, accentuating sweetness with acidity.
When I’m invited to dinner I always take … whatever I’m recipe-testing at the time. My friends are my guinea pigs. Tomorrow I’m going to someone’s house with three kinds of baklava.
Everything tastes better with … stories. Finding out about what an ingredient is, its history and provenance, is my big passion. Knowing makes food better.
When I go shopping I … am a geek. I’m a list person, although my downfall is always the exotic fruit section. Papayas, guavas, mangosteens, honeydew Pakistani mangoes … I just can’t help myself.
For dinner tonight … I’m making a batch of kukus – Iranian frittatas. It’s what you make when you have a glut of anything. I’m doing one with caramelised onions, chopped french beans and turmeric, and another with butternut squash and barberries.
- Yasmin Khan is an Anglo-Iranian food blogger, cookbook writer and author of The Saffron Tales; @yasmin_khan
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