For breakfast, Iranians typically consume large quantities of bread and cheese (similar to feta cheese or cream cheese), accompanied by sweetened (by sugar) tea.

NEGI RK Thursday, November 12, 2020

For breakfast, Iranians typically consume large quantities of bread and cheese (similar to feta cheese or cream cheese), accompanied by sweetened (by sugar) tea.

That is the default breakfast though. Eggs, butter, jam, honey, and anything else that exists around the world is also consumed.

For lunch and dinner, the Iranian dish typically consists of large quantities of rice or bread. The following are photos of Iranian rice (which is different from the majority of rice prepared around the world) and Iranian bread (which does not involve much rising):

Plain [Saffron] Rice

Rice is typically accompanied by a little saffron (brewed and mixed with some of the rice, then added to the top), hence the yellow topping.

It is also typically accompanied by TahDig (literally meaning the bottom of the pot), which can be bread, rice or potato slices put on the bottom of the pot to cook to crisp, then rice on top of it.

Mixed Rices

The rice is mixed with other ingredients for different dishes. For example, in this photo it is mixed with Berberies and typically with chicken.

Notice that rice is not mixed at all in the Iranian dish, it has to be long grains, separate and flavorful.

Iranian Breads

The first candidate is the tasty Barbari bread (originally from Afghanistan). Barbari bread rises a little, has small traces of egg on it, and is very delicious and crispy.

Then there's the Lavash flatbread which is now famous all around the world. This bread is prepared very fast and baked quickly. Typically used as a wrap or for smaller portions of bread.

There's Taftoon bread which is the more prepared brother of Lavash bread. It has more texture and substance, and is much tastier than Lavash.

And then there's Sangak bread, the king of all breads, which is a whole grain wheat bread with a lot of substance and is baked in stone ovens over a few thousand tiny stones (the stoney texture). This is more expensive and also larger, typically about $1 PPP.

An Iranian bread portion would typically involve half (or one full) Sangak or Barbari (they are comparable in portions), or 2-4 Taftoons or a few Lavashs, but usually only one of them.

The rice portion would be a full dish of rice (150-300 grams).

Either bread or rice are then consumed with curries, kebabs or different food.

P.S: Here goes a list of some famous Iranian dishes, as well as some of the culture accompanying it:

First, one must know that traditionally Iranians eat on the ground, together (at least one family, most of the time more than one family), and around a big flat cloth called Sofreh:

(Note: Iranians do not wear shoes inside, and almost all ground is covered with artisan carpets, and is kept very sanitary)

Gheymeh, a very famous and popular Iranian dish, served with saffron rice, is a curry made of a few lamb (or beef) cubes, sautéed with small-chopped onions, fried potatoes, yellow split peas, dried limes and tomato paste, plus the typical Iranian spices.

Although the dish has very distinct flavor, it is not spicy and does not have a very strong flavor, and is likable to the stranger.

Ghormeh Sabzi (literally Gourmet Vegetables), is probably the most popular Iranian dish. It is a mixture of vegetables that are hard to find outside Iran, all chopped down and sautéed slightly, then mixed with red beans and meat cubes.

The distinct flavor of this dish, is reminiscence of all Iranian cuisine for any Iranian.

The dish might look scary, but it actually tastes very simple and straightforward. Again, served with saffron rice.

Ash Reshteh (a type of noodle soup?) is also a very famous, typically vegetarian dish. Ash is not the same as soup, but there are no words for it in English.

It's ingredients are a particular noodle, a mix of vegetables, chickpeas and beans. It is typically decorated with curd and fried chopped onions.

This dish is very common in northern areas of Tehran, among the mountain cafes, as it is served hot and is very tasty:

Ash Reshteh and Abgoosht as sold and served in Iranian cafes.

A typical mountain-cafe in Tehran, Darband.

And then there was Abgoosht (literally meat juice/water meat), a very tasty and popular Iranian dish. This dish is very flavorful and simple, but is a little hard on the stomach so is not frequently eaten.

Typically on the weekends (which are Thursday/Friday in Iran) as launch, and the Goosht Koobideh (literally beaten meat) leftover as dinner.

The dish consists of lamb and chickpeas cooked patiently in water for hours (or an hour in a pressure cooker), with a considerable amount of fat attached to the meat, which will dissolve in the water over time. Half a potato is added later, and sometimes a tomato as well to the pot.

The dish is consumed specifically. The water is first separated from the rest of the ingredients, and then some good bread is cut down by hand piece by piece, and added to the meat-water, creating a mixture called Tilit.

At the same time, a mighty warrior will mash the rest of the ingredients (the top bowl in the image) in their separate bowl, into a mixture called Goosht Koobideh, until it looks like this:

I know it doesn't look great, but it tastes great.

Tilit is consumed while Goosht Koobideh is being prepared. Abgoosht is typically consumed with a lot of customized sides, e.g whole onions, garlic, olives, etc.

Doogh (a kind of diluted salty yogurt drink) is also drank with Abgoosht frequently:

(Yes it looks like milk, but doesn't taste like milk at all)

And then there were Kebobs (called Kabaab in Iran). Kabobs do not have a strange flavor and are consumed by almost everyone in Iran. Since meat is a little expensive in Iran, Kabobs are a kind of a delicacy (specially the more lamby ones).

Kabobs are made in all shapes and types, but the most famous three are Joojeh Kabob (literally chicken kabob), Koobideh (lit. mashed) which is made with ground beef and/or lamb, and Barg (lit. leaf) which is made with beef or lamb tenderloin:

Koobideh, the least expensive of all kabobs. It has a good amount of fat in it when ground, and requires a master kabob maker to make it look intact and taste good.

It is common to find Koobideh that is not very well made, and that would not be the best thing to eat. That's why even though thousands of Koobideh places exist in Iran, in every neighborhood only a few are popular and enjoy long queues!

Joojeh Kabob, typically served with grilled whole tomatoes (just like all other types of kabob), is made of marinated chunks of chicken breast or leg (depending on the customer order). It can be consumed either with bread or rice (or even on its own!).