Sofreh: A Contemporary Approach to Classic Persian Cuisine: A Cookbook

Amazing food recipes

This cookbook, authored by chef Nasim Alikhani, is a true gem for anyone interested in Persian cuisine. The recipes are precise, making it easy to recreate delicious Iranian dishes at home. It also includes some of the iconic recipes from Sofreh, Nasim’s renowned restaurant in New York. I highly recommend this book—you won’t regret adding it to your collection!

Please do not salt the eggplant for the warm eggplant dip and whey... (bademjoon) - an incredible waste of organic eggplants and onion and all the other things I had to put together in order to get this ready for Thanksgiving. I'm a seasoned chef and my chefs had always told me 'not' to waste my time salting but something in the way she romantically describes salting made me do it for the sake of this recipe. I followed to the letter and a huge mistake to throw out this inedible dish. If you fry these correctly you will have no problems. I am making other dishes from here and don't expect the same issues. It is unsightly to fry eggplants that have all the water leached out from them and today's eggplants especially do not need you to. Try it both ways and I'm guessing which one will be tossed.

I love this book so much, my picky child absolutely devoured the chicken in prune sauce at Softeh so I had* to buy the book, delicious recipes, beautiful pictures and great supporting a place I hope to always be able to visit when in NY!

I was reluctant to buy yet another Persian cookbook since I have so many, but I'm so glad I did!The recipes are fantastic and I loved reading about the author’s journey.I texted my friends and told them to buy Sofreh now!It has incredible pictures with popular recipes from different regions of Iran and secrets on how to make them taste just like back home. Highly recommend

I’ve eaten at Sofreh few times since opening. I am a big fan of her culinary tryst of flavors. Now I can bring some of that home for my partner.

I haven’t yet use this cookbook personally. I purchased it for my daughter who is a fabulous Cook. She has used some of the recipes and absolutely loves this cookbook.

You'll often see the suffix "-joon" throughout the review. This is a Persian (Farsi) etiquette to show respect and personal endearment towards an individual.A star is deducted for "slightly too much talk" in the book. Otherwise, I enjoyed reading chef-author Nasim-joon's light hearted stories about her life growing up in Iran and her life of hard work all leading up to the realization of her Brooklyn-based Sofreh Restaurant.This cookery book I am reviewing is the namesake of Chef Nasim Alikhani joon's restaurant located at 75 St Marks Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217.First, let's address the reviews mentioning "too much salt." Chef Nasim-joon's recipes exclusively call for ***kosher salt.*** This means that if you have fine-grained iodized or table salt, the ratio is 1 part table/iodized salt to 2 parts kosher salt. This is a rough and general rule of thumb for salt conversion ratio. You'll have to test and adjust for your own salt(s) and taste preferences. If the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons kosher salt, use only 1 tablespoon of iodized/table salt. When safe to taste, evaluate and re-adjust the seasoning(s) to personal tastes. No one should be following any recipes blindly! As cooks/chefs—it is our sole responsibility to taste as we cook along. No exceptions and/or buts.Having "Food of Life" and "Cooking in Iran" from chef-author Najmieh Batmanglij joon raises the bar for what is considered an excellent and exceptional Persian cookery book. "Sofreh" comes close. "Food of Life" is 500+ pages, while "Cooking in Iran" is 600+ pages. These two are comprehensive "manuals on Persian cooking."I am super happy that Nasim-joon provided her recipes for Koobideh, Kabab-e Barg, and Joojeh Kabab. These foods items are ubiquitous in Iran and all socio-economic individuals enjoy these stalwarts of Ashpazi-e Irani.Having address the "too much salt" criticisms, I can personally recommend and suggest "Sofreh" be added into your cookbook collection to learn and explore Persian food. Obviously, with 400-page book, this is nowhere near as comprehensive to books from Najmieh-joon. "Food of Life" came out in 1986 and has never gone out of print. The 25th Anniversary Edition (4th Edition) was published in 2020.Going forward, I truly want cooking books to be about relevant cooking instructions, tips, and tricks from chef-authors. It's wonderful to read some personal thoughts from the chef-authors in small doses and light-moderations. Either allocate more pages or trim/excise on "too much talk" memoir portions. I buy cooking books to read ***recipes.*** I want to learn how to cook and gather information and actually enjoy the food(s) in my home kitchen.Happy Cooking!Nush-e Joon!نوش جانRonald N. Tan @ "Tan Can Cook"November 24, 2023Vacaville, California, USA

There are so many traditional, and nice recipes for those who love to taste different flavors and flavors.

The book is written in a very friendly way. With some short stories which help paint the picture. As a persian, i find the recipes very good as well. The book was bought as a gift and i am happy with it and am sure she will be too

Thoroughly enjoyed this book , not only to learn a lot about Nasim's past and her journey to becoming a chef but also the many many great recipes that are included. It's a complete guide to Iranian cooking and a fantastic homage to Nasim's heritage