Hi friend,

Are you feeling the back-to-school energy? Whether you have kids or not, chances are you've been a kid and probably remember the nervous energy around getting school supplies, cramming in last days of summer fun, only to hunker down into some form of a routine and a schedule.

On the upcoming Modern Persian Food podcast roster we will be doing a Back to School/ Back to Basics series breaking down a Persian meal that we are hoping will be easy to add to weekly meal plans. Stay tuned for more on that in the early fall.

Month 4 of vegan living:

It has been less of a challenge eating vegan amongst a houseful of meat eaters than I guessed. I've figured out how to keep a personal stock of beans, tofu, dark green leafy veggies, and cruciferous options handy.

In a nutshell I'm eating a lot of beans these days. All roads lead to faba... also known as beans - beans, beans, and more beans.

Aquafaba

Have you heard of aquafaba?

Faba is an old word meaning beans. Aqua of course is water.

It was a rare day that I found myself at home with an impending hurricane (you heard that right, southern California had a hurricane warning which waned into basically a day of steady, easy summer rain with occassional small bursts of wind).

It was a forced break from outdoor sunshine fun so I the opportunity to experiment with this aquafaba I had been hearing about in vegan circles. All I knew about the magic egg substitute was that it came from chickpeas.

What I didn't realize is that once you've drained the water from the chickpeas and beat them, they foam up into a lovely consistency quite similar to that of egg whites.

Now I see it! A perfect substitute for egg whites in recipes. I used whipped aquafaba in my recipe for Yazdi cupcakes.

​Yazdi Cupcake recipe​

I also subbed in some Cocoyo (coconut probiotic yogurt) for the yogurt, vegan butter for regular butter, and nut milk in the place of cow's milk. I skipped the beautiful buttercream rose frosting pictured above. Vegan-izing buttercream is an adventure for another day.

The result was a cupcake with Persian flavors of cardamom and rose, a bit heavier than the fluffy original recipe, with no detectible notes of chickpeas to be found.

I had plenty of the magical aquafaba to spare so I stored it in an airtight container and whipped it back to a foam the next morning. I used it in a delicious vegan French toast I made using Trader Joe's vegan brioche loaf. As is the case when I'm away from the main homestay, I didn't have all the usual ingredients to make French toast. This is when the creativity gets to kick in. I added the syrup of Persian sour cherry jam and a splash rose water. After frying up the toast, I dusting it with sifted powdered sugar, and serving it up on a big platter, vegan and non-vegan eaters alike devoured the French toast in a matter of minutes.

All this to say, aquafaba is here to stay.

On the Podcast

This week we wrap up our summer series covering up-and-coming Persian cookbook authors in an interesting chat with Saghar Setareh. Her cookbook is called Pomegranates and Artichokes; A Food Journal from Iran to Italy.

In this episode, Saghar shares her personal discovery of Italian cuisine and how she connects it with her own Iranian roots. Explore the unexpected similarities between Iranian & Italian cuisines through a historical lens.

Listen to the episode here:

​Episode 151: Sharing Culture through Food: A food journey from Iran to Italy with Author Saghar Setareh​

Speaking of Italy, I'll be off the radar for a couple of weeks, eating my way through Rome with a little stint on the Amalfi coast. We'll be taking a cooking class as a family so stay tuned for culinary adventures with a European twist. Hint, there is eggplant on the menu...

Arrivederci bellas,

Bita