Category: Rasht Local Foods

In the following, we are going to review the best and most famous dishes of Rasht. Because the variety of food in this city caused it to be registered as a creative city of food by UNESCO in 1994. Rasht’s food is very diverse, and whatever taste you have, you will definitely be treated to a delicious meal in the world of Rashti’s delicacies. So join us to check the list of Rashti dishes and take a tour of its yummy world;

1. Kateh Kabab

Kate Kebab or Rashti Polo Kebab is one of the popular and famous dishes of Gilan province. The locals use veal to prepare this delicious dish. To make it tastier they let it rest in yogurt, olive oil, and onion juice for about 24 hours before they grill it. This very delicious dish is always served with unique side dishes such as raw broad beans, local cucumbers, Ashpal (salty fish eggs), and of course, traditionally cooked rice.

2. Kabab Torsh or Sour Kebab

This dish is one of the most popular kebabs among the people of Gilan and Mazandaran. They make it with both veal and sheep meat. To prepare this dish, they add onions, garlic, pomegranate paste, and chopped walnuts to the meat. And to add a more sour taste to it they use pomegranate juice. They serve the Kebab with Kateh (traditionally cooked rice).

3. Gilani Morgh-e Torsh or Sour Chicken Stew

This very delicious stew is very different from Mazandarani sour chicken. additionally, like many other Iranian stews, they use legumes in it. In this dish, there are chicken, split peas, onions, aromatic vegetables (leek, parsley, coriander, mint, …), garlic, eggs, and a little orange juice. After the stew settles, they add scrambled eggs to it and after 10 minutes, they serve it next to cooked rice.

4. Mirza Ghasemi

Mirza Ghasemi is a delicious dish that you may have tasted many times. It is interesting to know that the inventor of this dish was a person named Mohammad Ghasem Khan Vali, the ambassador of Iran to Russia and the ruler of Gilan during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah.

He was very interested in cooking, and after his return from St. Petersburg to Iran, he made this dish popular in Rasht and, adopting his name, named it Mirza Ghasemi. This delicious dish is a combination of grilled eggplant, plenty of garlic, paste, fresh tomatoes, and eggs, served with both rice and bread.

5. Torsheh Tarreh

Gilani people prepare Torsheh Tareh with garlic, eggs, orange juice or water, and various aromatic vegetables (leek, parsley, coriander, spinach, and a little mint and blue eryngo). And finally, flour which is optional. They add ingredients. They eat this stew with rice or bread, along with smoked fish or salted fish and various Gilani side dishes such as white radish, garlic, broad beans, etc.

6. Shevid Ghormeh or Dill Stew

Shevid Qhormeh is basically a stew like Sabzi Qormeh, which they cook everywhere in Iran, with the big difference that the dill is fresh, and they use Reine Claude instead of dried key lime to make it sour. Minced meat, onions, spices, and red beans are the ingredients of this stew.

7. Aloo Mosamma

In preparing this very delicious stew, they use chicken or duck. However, chicken is more popular in Gilan. Eggplant, tomato, prune, black plum, tomato paste, sugar, and spices are other ingredients used to cook this dish. Sometimes they use fried eggplant and tomatoes to decorate it.

8. Fesenjan Stew

Rashti Fesenjan stew is one of Gilan’s famous and common stews that are prepared at weddings and official parties. They usually use chicken or duck to cook this dish. To prepare this stew, they boil grounded walnuts with pomegranate paste and then add chicken or duck until it cooks and the stew settles well. In order for this stew to settle, they give it enough time for the walnuts to release their oil, and sometimes they use a piece of ice or a little pumpkin for this purpose.

9. Vavishka

Vavishka is one of the non-native dishes of Gilan, which entered the food culture of the people during the Russian invasion. This dish is also known by the names Jaghur Baghur and Jazbaz in Tabriz. They prepare it with chicken liver, sheep’s heart, and even sheep’s intestines and lungs. Onions, spices, tomato paste, potatoes and eggs are the ingredients of this dish.

10. Anar Bij

This very delicious stew is prepared with meat shaped into balls, aromatic vegetables such as leeks, parsley, coriander, walnuts, pomegranate paste, and pomegranate seeds. The appearance of this stew looks like Fesenjan and it should be quite thick and settled. The flavor of Gilan rice next to this stew makes it more desirable.

11. Sir Ghelyeh

If we want to understand the main meaning of Ghelyeh, it is originally a stew with meat in it. Of course, there are different types of these stews. And perhaps the most famous of them is the southern Ghelyeh Mahi. However, with their art and initiative, the Gilanis have a delicious Ghelyeh on their table. And in fact, it is completely compatible with the food available in their area. Above all, fresh garlic (Sir) is the basis of it. Chicken or duck, garlic leaves, onions, split peas, spices, and eggs are the ingredients they use in preparing this stew. It is not bad to know that duck was much more common in Gilani cuisine in the past.

12. Kuii Tareh

This delicious dish looks like Mirza Ghasemi, But its main base is pumpkin instead of eggplant. Pumpkin, garlic, ground walnuts, sugar, pomegranate paste, tomatoes, and a little spice, especially Persian hogweed (Golpar), are the ingredients used in cooking this dish.

13. Mahi Fesenjan or Fish Fesenajan

The recipe for this delicious dish is almost similar to Fesenjan stew, with the difference that they use white fish instead of chicken or duck. Some people use sliced ​​white fish to make this very delicious, but it is more common among northerners to use the whole fish. Ground walnuts, pomegranate paste, and fried fish seasoned with salt are the ingredients you need to prepare this dish.

14. Kal-e Kebab

Kal-e Kebab is actually a delicious Gilani appetizer whose ingredients are pomegranate, walnuts, aromatic vegetables (flat sea holly, mint, …), grilled eggplant, pomegranate juice, salt, and Golpar. After preparing this dish, put it in the fridge for a few hours so that the ingredients mix well.

15. Baghla Ghatogh or Baqla Qatoq or Beens Stew

This dish is one of the most famous dishes of Gilani people, whose name you will hear a lot among the list of northern dishes. The basis of this dish, as its name suggests, is beans. To prepare this delicious dish, you need peeled beans, dried dill, crushed garlic, salt, turmeric, and eggs. They also add cinnamon and pepper to it.

16. Ghooreh Mosamma Stew

Sometimes this northern food is confused with eggplant stew. Ghooreh Mosamma is a colorful and delicious Gilan food that is prepared from the combination of eggplant with fried chicken, green sour grapes, tomatoes, and spices. Vegetables are a good option to serve next to this dish. They eat this yummy stew with rice.