Saturday 27 April 2013

Presepolis ...For a little taste of Persia

I have recently become obsessed with Middle Eastern & Persian food ......Lebanese, Turkish( ok I know Turkey is not a middle eastern but a European country ), Morrocan food!

 They all seem to have a common focus ......exotic and fresh ingredients ....lots of dry fruits, nuts , spices , sea food , colorful dips , honey .....the best olives and olive oil and just about everything pickled .....

Juicy kebabs moist and tender served on beds of aromatic rice with fragrant mint and cool slices of cucumber and tomatoes ....

And let me not even start about the dessert and pastries they are a work of art! Flaky Baklava drenched in sugar syrup dates stuffed with almonds .....fragrant cakes soaked in orange blossom water.....so many cookies all gently dusted with magical green pistachio powder!

So to learn more about the food and ways of Persia I decided to visit a corner shop in London called Presipolis ...it was voted as one of Londons best shops by Time Out!




Its not just any corner shop it has so much character and makes u feel like u went on a little holiday to Iran ....you can find just about everything you need here from cooking ingredients to cooking equipment to Backgammon boards ( a sort of board game )....to drums and fancy Iranian crystal ware and Hookas , evil eyes....hell even a Persian Broom...dont ask me how its different from any other regular broom :))

So let me take you with me and show you everything I saw .....

Tins filled with Iranian sweets

Gaz - Persian Nougat






Persian Broom - Jahroo ....thats what its called :))
                                     

















Falooda 















Books section



Dry Fruits 

And some more dry fruits ....they really love their dries fruit in Iran 

Backgammon Boards to while away afternoons while sipping on sickeningly sweet mint tea

Tea ...a huge variety of Gun powder tea used to make traditional  Mint Tea



Umm......cookies!

More cookies....

Fillo Pastry dessert



Gaz and Tulip bulbs 

Assorted Persian Sweets 


Individual serve Baby Stock Pots ....

Fantastic selection of Olive Oil

Odds & Ends 



Safed Mahie - Mahi Mahi fish cured and dried enjoyed as a delicacy after its scaled and steamed on special occasions like weddings etc

Bread- Lavaash & Taftoon 

The treats I came home with for the husband ...okay not really.......... all for me he dosent like anything sweet! Good for me I dont like sharing my food anyway!!



Pistachio Baklava ....layer after layer of perfect flaky pastry stuffed till it bursts with pistachios and then soaked in sugar syrup.....pure genius whoever came up with this!

:))
Stay Tuned for more!!






                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     






4 comments:

  1. Wow.. that is some food find. In the second pic are those kettles or just a tin for the Iranian sweets? What such an amazing loot around what did u pick up?

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  2. Thanks so much for introducing me to this gorgeous store! However, it makes me miss London even more! In Cambridge/Boston, where I live, there is an Iranian film festival and I can buy the spices I need for cooking Persian dishes at an Indian store, so it is alright but could never be compared to London, with all its lectures, exhibitions, movie screenings and other events focused on Iranian topics!

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  3. Very nice and informative blog Aditi!!

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