The Aroma Of Rice And Barberries Takes Her Back Home To Iran
When Yasaman Alavi misses Iran, she puts up a pot of rice and adds saffron water and barberries for a Persian twist. The smell of zereshk polow makes her feel as if she's back home.
Yasaman Alavi grew up in Iran, a country with a vibrant food culture. "Food is a big part of life in Iran," says Alavi, a psychotherapist who now lives in Washington, D.C. She says her mother and aunt were excellent cooks who often prepared big feasts for family gatherings.
But as a young woman in Iran, she didn't bother to learn their culinary tricks. "I didn't really like cooking that much," she says.
That changed once she moved to the United States in 2008. "I missed the Persian dishes," she says. "So that's what motivated me to cook more and more."
In this video, she shows us how she makes the Farsi name for a rice dish with raisins and barberries — a tart fruit like the cranberry —.
