Persian Thanksgiving!

They don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Iran,but I will never ever pass up an invitation to a Persian Thanksgiving (or any Persian meal for that matter!).  I discovered a few new Persian dishes that taste very unique and flavorful.  I have already played around with making Fesenjan and I posted my master recipe for Khoresh Fesenjan.  I am currently working at mastering a few new recipes for Persian food,so stay tuned.

Our delicious Persian Thanksgiving took place in Long Island (Syosset,New York) at my friend Naomi’s home.  Instead of American-style hors d’œuvres (like pigs in blankets) and some of the other delicious appetizers from Williams Sonoma that we had at our Greenwich Thanksgiving,we had a Persian dish called Ash e Reshteh to begin our Thanksgiving Meal.  Ash Reshteh or Ash e Reshteh is made of various beans (red kidney beans,navy beans,chickpeas),lentils,dill,parsley,spinach and special Persian noodles called Reshteh.  It tastes very clean and fresh,this was my very favorite new discovery (I will post a fabulous recipe for this soon that has been passed down for many generations and until now has been a top secret!):

As Naomi’s mother began to set out the food,the room filled with the exotic smells of Persian food,with a slight hint of Thanksgiving (they had turkey and stuffing in addition to all of the fabulous Persian dishes!).  Another dish that I have had before,and that my husband LOVES is Fesenjan and my recent recipe for Khoresh Fesenjan comes from hints and tips from Naomi and her mother:

There was another Persian dish that tasted fabulous,but I do not know the name of it…I will have to get it from Naomi and update everyone (unless one of my readers knows the name of this dish? Please comment below!)!

Here is a what the whole table of Persian Thanksgiving food looked like.  You can see in the background how everyone is seated in a circle in the living room.  It was a very cozy,warm and intimate way to enjoy a meal together:

After dinner,they had joke hour. The Persian community is very talented in joke and story telling.  They went around in the circle we were sitting in and everyone took a turn telling a hilarious joke.  Most of the jokes were making fun of one Persian community.  Here is the overview of what I picked up as the stigmas among Persians:Meshadi’s are stubborn,Shirazi’s are lazy,Ishfahani’s are clever and skilled,Rashti’s are simple and stupid,Tehrani’s love pleasure and are social,and Yazdi’s are religious,honest and cheap.

Then came dessert…homemade Saffrom Ice Cream is a Persian speciality (the yellow tinted cream below),along with baklava and Persian halvah (the orange tinted paste of rosewater,saffron and flour):

And if that was not enough dessert,there was an entire table full of Persian sweets and treats:

And dessert was of course followed by strong coffee and lots of fabulous conversation.  Thank you so much to Naomi and her whole family for this wonderful experience and out-of-this world Persian cuisine!!!