Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond: The 1st book from the bestselling author of Sirocco, Feasts, Bazaar and Simply

Top positive review

A trip to Iran lead me to ‘Persiana’.......

Reviewed in Australia on 20 October 2019

An excellent cook book. Clear instructions and good photographs of each recipe plus some very useful tips. Every dish I’ve tried has proved a great success and inspired me to try yet another.

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Marian Shaw

Most recipes are meat based

Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2020

I thought that I could substitute vegetarian 'mince' for lamb recipes, but almost all the meals are made with meat, I thought there would be plenty of vegetable ones too. Nice cake recipe though.

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From Australia

Elizabeth Herbert

A trip to Iran lead me to ‘Persiana’.......

Reviewed in Australia on 20 October 2019

Verified Purchase

An excellent cook book. Clear instructions and good photographs of each recipe plus some very useful tips. Every dish I’ve tried has proved a great success and inspired me to try yet another.

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Marian Shaw

Most recipes are meat based

Reviewed in Australia on 18 July 2020

Verified Purchase

I thought that I could substitute vegetarian 'mince' for lamb recipes, but almost all the meals are made with meat, I thought there would be plenty of vegetable ones too. Nice cake recipe though.

One person found this helpful

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Eve

Persianish

Reviewed in Australia on 18 August 2021

Verified Purchase

Like this book but I hoped for more deep dive into traditional foods and less westernised edits.

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Robert Burgess

One of the very best cookbooks in the world

Reviewed in Australia on 5 September 2020

Verified Purchase

All recipes are amazing, don't do shortcuts, follow them for perfection.

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Ben Nazari

Worst recipes i have ever seen.

Reviewed in Australia on 6 December 2020

Verified Purchase

Not many Persian recipes in the book. book is kind of worthless.

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Pamela Humble-Crofts

Four Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 5 May 2015

Verified Purchase

Very interesting and delicious recipes

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From other countries

M. D.

Excellent, fresh Middle Eastern recipes with a focus on Persian flavours.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 May 2016

Verified Purchase

This review references the Kindle version of this book, though of course the content is identical to the print versions. I've had the book for several months now and have cooked several recipes from it (multiple times, as below).

Summary:
Excellent Middle Eastern cookbook with a focus on (but not exclusive to) modern Persian recipes. Instructions are clear & results are dependable.

Full Review:
I picked up Ms Ghayour's book in Kindle format after downloading the free sample and liking the available content. I'll admit that I was initially drawn in by the gorgeous photography, as I already have a fairly hefty collection of Middle Eastern cookery books, and several that are specific to Iranian food.

The Kindle version features interactive tables of content (so critical for a cookery book and yet often missing, especially from older Kindle books) arranged by course (ie appetisers, mains, desserts etc) and then individually broken down with links to each recipe contained within that section. The layout is simple to use across devices (tested on iPad, Win & Mac desktop, Android).

The photos which accompany each dish are compelling and bright, without being over-styled: in essence, getting your dish to look like the one pictured is actually attainable without a Michelin star to your name. Each recipe has a photo and the book doesn't contain excess 'ingredient' photos (you know the type; the macro shots of a lemon, scattered cloves, etc etc) which makes it very usable indeed.

To date, I've made the following:

Batinjan al Rahib, a (very!) garlicky eggplant dip that goes perfectly alongside rich/fatty meat dishes, with a nice play on texture between the soft eggplant and the crisp peppers;

Cacik, a Turkish staple, fantastically fresh with loads of herbs;

Spiced Lamb Kefta, which smell as amazing as they taste, with sweet notes from the currants (try these with the Cacik, as we did all three times we made them);

Butternut Squash with Pistachio Pesto & Feta, which makes a really gorgeous vegetarian main but is (as with any recipe, of course) very dependent on excellent butternut squash (the first time it was so-so, the second time fantastic) and very ripe, sweet pomegranate;

Karniyarik, stuffed eggplant, have become a staple in our home, the flavour combination is amazing and while they take a long time from start to finish, you can make a big batch and they keep very well in the fridge for several days; top with plenty of labneh or Greek yoghurt and try to convince yourself going back for thirds is a bad idea... (it isn't);

Spice-Perfumed Shoulder of Lamb is gorgeous and so, so simple; I did find I needed to turn down the oven slightly to cook for an extra hour at a lower temperature for fall-off-the-bone texture (while retaining moisture), but this of course is a commentary on my oven rather than the recipe;

Blood Orange and Radicchio salad, a beautiful flavour combination of sweet, tart & bitter; goes very well with the lamb shoulder and would stand up well to any robust meat dish, with the hint of fresh dill really elevating it above a simple salad (do yourself a favour and track down a good pomegranate molasses with only 'pomegranates' listed in the ingredients, as often the syrups available are too sweet).

I would honestly happily pay the price of the book for just the karniyarik recipe, but I'm really pleased with this purchase, and look forward to trying many more dishes. This really is a fantastic, accessible cookery book and should appeal to a broad range of palates. As evident by the answers, comments & other reviews, Ms Ghayour is very responsive to questions that may crop up; while I've not asked any myself, I always find it reassuring when an author (or publisher) makes an effort to provide assistance.

Highly recommended.

95 people found this helpful

Purpleheart

I predict it will become one of your favourite cookbooks

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 September 2017

Verified Purchase

I live around the corner from the original Ottolenghi and their first book inspired me to start cooking Middle Eastern foods, which is one of my favourite cuisines. The Ottolenghi books are superb but the dishes often require many ingredients and can be labour intensive. They are not for the amateur cook. I have found Sabrina Ghaynour's Middle Eastern cook books deliver great flavour and are very straightforward to use.

Persiana is truly inspirational - with foods such as soups, mezze, breads, soups, tagines, grills and salads. Her puddings are also a triumph. She tends to provide a modern twist on some classic and also becomes your go to recipe for standards such as hummus and jewelled rice. You will find that Perisana recipes make their way into your regular repertoire - delicious food for daily fare of for dinner parties and feasts alike.

51 people found this helpful

Zoe Y.

Lots of lamb

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 December 2019

Verified Purchase

Sent back for a refund. I was expecting a mix of recipes for all types of meat, the majority was lamb, which I don’t eat, so over half the book would have been pointless to me.
There were a few recipes I would have liked to try but not enough to justify the price

28 people found this helpful

Kevin

A superb book full of do-able recipes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 April 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is no fuss and do-able.

All of the ingredients are easily bough in a good supermarket.

I don't know how authentic the recipes are, but the ones I have cooked taste great.

One thing I find that most cooks get wrong are the bread recipes. There are two in this book. They will work. However if making the 'Eastern-Style Focaccia' the dough will be a little too dry, just work a little water in if you need to.

Great book.

16 people found this helpful

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