How to Decipher a Persian Menu

Middle Eastern foods tend to be very similar, so knowing what you're ordering at a Persian restaurant will help you order at other restaurants.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Find a local Persian restaurant.

2. Don't be intimidated by the menu. Even though it will be in Farsi, there's sure to be an English section. If not, follow the steps below and you'll sound knowledgeable enough to pass.

3. Try dolmeh: grape leaves stuffed with seasoned beef and rice.

4. Consider ordering hommos: garbanzo beans ground down to a paste.

5. Taste badmejan. A few dishes contain badmejan, which is eggplant. You can have it stuffed or stewed.

6. Sample mast-o-khiar: sliced cucumber in yogurt with seasoning. It's eaten with rice or bread, like chips and salsa. Mast-o-mosir is yogurt and seasoning with spinach.

7. Keep in mind that the main course will revolve around the kabob: skewered meat that is grilled or barbecued. Your meat selection and cut determine what kind of meal you get (beef, chicken or lamb).

8. Remember some common terms: shish means the skewer - it's the prime cut of meat. Koobideh, also known as lula, is ground meat. Chenjeh is stew meat. Pyaleh means that everything is cooked in one pan.

9. Serve yourself heaping amounts of an Indian rice called basmati, made with plenty of butter. The meat selection is usually served over a large plate of rice with grilled vegetables (onions, tomatoes or bell peppers) on the side.

10. Order dessert. You can have fresh fruit - often melon - or opt for pastries such as baklava and faloodeh. Baklava is layered phyllo dough with syrup and nuts between the layers; it's very sweet. Faloodeh is a cold, ribbon-like pastry with a sweet syrup.

Tips & Warnings

• For bread, expect to see pita bread (round Arabian bread) or lahvosh (cracker bread) to eat with your meal.
• Your drink selection will be the same as any other restaurant with the addition of dough, a yogurt drink. It's either homemade or bottled.
• If you enjoyed your meal and service, then by all means leave a healthy tip.
• Don't fill up on the appetizers; entree portions are usually large.

[pulses]

on 3/13/2009 As an Iranian, firstly I appreciate the very helpful guide to Persian menu. There are points, however, that I would add to the article;1. Although Iran is part of the Middle East, but the dishes are not similar to other places so much that one can generalise menus from other nations to Persoian one. Persian food (and even desserts and drinks) tend to have a sour taste; bread, a wide variety of pickles, main courses such as bademjun and ghorme sabzi, the manner the kebabs are made ready (lemon juice is one of the ingredients to make meat tender and ready to make a nice kebab), mast o khiar, dough (=kumis) and much more. As far I have personaly tried, none of dishes of neghboring countries have such tendencies in their taste. (or perhaps I have been unlucky to find one)2. items such as mast o khiar are apetisers. Bademjon and so on could be separate main courses3. Other than these points,

on 2/28/2006 Persians are the kings of making just the best Kabob, so make sure you know which one you are ordering.
One of the most favorite Kabobs of all times is "Barg" which is a very thin and flat meat, served with rice and other appetizers. Make sure to always order the plain rice if you don't want to have nuts or anything else in your rice. Start your dish with "Mast-o-Moosir", which is a thick yogurt with seasoning (such as garlic). If you want to be able to finish your Kabob dish, do not fill yourself up with the extra buttery bread.