12/20/2023 0 Comments Yasmin khan political commentator![]() ![]() When the butter has melted and is bubbling, add the dates and fry for 2 minutes. Put a frying pan over a low heat and let it get hot. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl with a pinch of salt and the milk. Stir well, put a lid on the pan and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, until the dates have softened. ![]() Place the dates, a pinch of cinnamon, the ground ginger and water in a small pan. ¼ cup pitted Iranian or Medjool dates, halved As the dark, sticky dates begin to caramelize in the cinnamon and ginger flavored butter, they will fill your kitchen with a deliciously sweet scent – a rather fine way to start the day, I’m sure you’ll agree. This sweet omelette, filled with dried fruit and warming spices, is incredibly soothing on a weekend morning, when all you want to do is snuggle up on the sofa with the newspapers. Tabriz is a city in the mountainous north-west of Iran, where winter temperatures rarely reach more than 2 or 3 degrees above freezing in the daytime and where the local food is hearty and filling. ![]() I first ate this dish on a chilly February morning at the home of Maman Betty, a lovable grandmother from Tabriz who sat me in her kitchen and fed me plate after plate of local delicacies until I could barely speak. Iranians, my mother would admit, have a lot of sayings, and one of them feels especially appropriate right now: “You can close the city gates, but you can't close the people's mouths.” The saltiness of the world’s current political climate cannot be overstated here now, look beyond it with a touch of something sweet: Her trek - funded on Kickstarter - produced a book that gives a Western audience a glimpse into a land that is largely closed off and often misunderstood one growing increasingly isolated after President Donald Trump ordered a ban on immigrants from six countries, including Iran. Khan’s first book, The Saffron Tales: Recipes from the Persian Kitchen, chronicles her journey as an adult through Iran’s countrysides and cities. That’s what this dish, from London-based author, cook, human rights activist, and political commentator Yasmin Khan, who is half-Iranian and half-Pakistani, achieves with little effort and a handful of ingredients that recall her childhood spent in Iran. Imagine all of the sweet foods that benefit from a pinch of salt - caramel, candied nuts, chocolate - and all of the salty foods enhanced by a touch of sugar. So an omelette filled with dried fruit and scented with warm spice never struck me as odd. Iranian desserts are literally drenched in sugar and honey syrups, and many recipes for otherwise savory, meaty stews call for a spoonful of fruit molasses for, cooks will say, balance. My mother - who was born in Iran but immigrated after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 - doesn’t put sugar in her tea she puts sugar cubes in her mouth and lets them melt on her tongue as she sips the hot, dark chai. ![]()
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