Recipe: Make Persian Basket Kitchen & Bar’s Torshi
We have yet to get to Johns Creek to enjoy a meal at Persian Basket Kitchen & Bar, but recently we were treated to one of its new offerings: a prepared Persian meal they ship directly to your door. The five available menus rotate each week. Everything we sampled was delicious, but the thing we keep craving is the torshi that came in the Persian Mezza selection. A mixture of marinated vegetables with spices and herbs we couldn’t identify, we spooned every bit out of the container and wished we had more. Will they share the recipe? - Brenda O’Connor, Atlanta
Arezoo Armaghan was happy to share the recipe for this Persian-style vegetable chutney, but notes that there is a lot of chopping involved and some specialized ingredients you can only find at markets like Persian Basket.
Torshi is a mixture of chopped marinated pickled vegetables, and Armaghan says it is common in Arab, Turkish, Bosnian, Armenian and Iranian/Persian cuisine. “In some families, no meal is considered complete without a bowl of torshi on the table. It’s a dish traditionally prepared in the fall and then enjoyed throughout the winter when there was little access to fresh vegetables. It’s often made according to family recipes passed down from one generation to the next.”
In the storefront and in the online market, Persian Basket Kitchen & Bar sells over 50 varieties of torshi, but the most popular is the house-made version, and that’s the recipe she shares here. When making your own, you can find the nigella seeds and angelica flower slices there. In some versions of torshi, whole black peppercorns are traditional. Our recipe calls for ground pepper, but adapt according to your household preference.
Persian Basket Kitchen & Bar’s Torshi
- 2 cups 1/8-inch diced cauliflower
- 3/4 cup 1/8-inch dice carrots
- 1/2 cup 1/8-inch dice celery
- 1 small ripe jalapeno pepper, stem removed, cut into 1/8-inch dice, seeded if desired
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
- 1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1/4 cup minced garlic
- 1/4 pound red or yellow slicing tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups white or apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon nigella seeds
- 1 teaspoon sliced angelica flowers
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, carrots, celery, jalapeno, cilantro, parsley and garlic. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours.
- Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Cut a shallow X in the bottom of each tomato. Carefully lower tomatoes into water and boil 10 minutes, until skins have begun to peel back and tomatoes are softened. Remove tomatoes from water and drain. Discard water.
- When tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove skins, core tomatoes and return to saucepan. Smash tomatoes with a potato masher or wooden spoon and add vinegar, tomato paste, hot water and salt. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool.
- Stir tomato mixture into reserved vegetable/herb mixture, and add coriander seeds, nigella seeds, angelica flowers and black pepper. Refrigerate, covered, overnight.
- Transfer the torshi to glass jars, seal and refrigerate. Torshi will keep refrigerated up to 2 months.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4-cup serving: 26 calories (percent of calories from fat, 8), 1 gram protein, 5 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber, trace total fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 293 milligrams sodium.From the menu of . . . Persian Basket Kitchen & Bar, 2100 Ray Moss Connector, Johns Creek. 770-674-2779, www.persianbasketatl.com/ and persianbasket.com/.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
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