#persianate

I have lived around the corner from an Afghan restaurant for almost two years and I thought what better excuse to try a new restaurant than to learn more about the Persianate world and try its delicious cuisine? And it did not disappoint! On Friday evening, I took my husband and brother to the restaurant “Ariana,” located on Chestnut and 3rdstreet in the Old City. Ariana, according to Encyclopedia Iranica was the name of ancient Afghanistan.

The restaurant is charmingly decorated with many odes to Afghanistan. The furniture was colorful, with lush rugs, and a lovely corner for floor seating. I immediately felt very at home with the atmosphere and the feel of the place reminded me of the Middle East, so much so that my husband remarked that he felt like we were in a place back home.

We were quite hungry when we arrived, so we got down to the business of ordering. We shared a trio of appetizers: bulanee kachalou (turnover stuffed with potatoes, onions and spices), bulannee gandana (turnover stuffed with scallions, herbs and spices) and aashak (steamed scallion filled dumpling topped with yogurt and meat sauce). For the main dishes we shared a kabob combination of lamb, chicken, and beef with basmati rice, the lamb kabuli palow (lamb over rice with carrots, pistachios, raisins and almonds) and the dal chalow (red lentils with chicken over white rice).

Our waiter was very kind and with the main dishes we were given salads with an addictive white yogurt sauce, that was just so delicious we had to order more sauce for the meats. Everything was quite delicious. The turnovers were tasty, crispy on the outside with a good amount of filling. My favorite were the dumplings with the yogurt and meat sauce, they were pillow-like and just melted in your mouth. Of course, as with all food from the Persianate world, the rice is the star of the show, every grain perfectly fluffed and buttered. The meats were well-seasoned and paired very well with the rice and yogurt side.

While eating, I especially enjoyed the wonderful pictures hung around the restaurant like these two lovely ladies enjoying a water pipe:

Overall, it was a lovely and delicious evening that made me appreciate further the incredible diversity of the cultures in the Persianate world and the impressive variety in cuisine from region to region. Best of all was that feeling even for a brief moment of being back home in a restaurant in Cairo or Beirut just enjoying some delicious food with family. It is always comforting to know that no matter how far from home and how different the cultures are across the Middle East there is always something that brings us together and gives us that sense of familiarity.

Humayun (r. 1530 – 1540; 1555 – 1556) conversing with his father and the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Babur (r. as padishah 1526 – 1530) , from the Late Shah Jahan Album, India, c. 1640. Smithsonian Babur was not defined solely by his prowess as a warrior and conqueror. He was also a deeply devoted father. Of all his sons, his greatest affection was reserved for Humayun, his heir and the future second Mughal emperor. When Humayun was still young, he fell gravely ill, his condition worsening with each passing day. The finest hakims (physicians) from across the empire were summoned, but all their efforts proved futile. Watching his son suffer, Babur was consumed by grief and despair.

At this moment, a holy man came to Babur and declared that only a great sacrifice—the offering of something most precious—could save the boy’s life. Babur reflected inwardly and concluded that nothing could be more precious to him than his own life. Acting upon this conviction, he folded his hands and circumambulated his son’s sickbed three times, offering prayers to Allah. He implored: “O Allah, I am told to offer You my most precious possession so that my son may live. I have nothing dearer than my own life. Take it in place of his. Let me die so that he may be spared.”

According to tradition, upon completing the third circuit, Humayun rose from his bed, fully restored. At that same moment, Babur himself fell ill. Humayun, overwhelmed with gratitude and love, prayed in turn, acknowledging his father’s boundless devotion and unwavering faith in divine mercy.

Alamshah cleaving asunder the chain of the wheel, from volume 11 of a Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza), c. 1560s–70s, Mughal India, court of Akbar (r. 1556–1605). Cleveland Museum of Art (ID: 1976.74) The hero, Alamshah the Greek, perches on a cliff above a rushing torrent of water. He has just slain the villain who raised the massive bronze plug on the dam in order to wash away the camp of Alamshah’s father, Hamza. 

Hunting with falcons in a landscape; verso, calligraphy of Chaghatai Turkish poems in praise of wine, calligraphy by Sultan Muhammad Nur (Persian, c. 1472–1536) and Mirza Muhammad (probably Persian, active c. 1520s), painting by Abd al-Samad. Cleveland Museum of Art (ID: 2013.292). The Mughals hunted on horseback with falcons. The hunting party would ride out into the wild and flush the prey. Then, its hood removed, the falcon would chase the prey and bring it down. From childhood Akbar loved hunting, and this painting may be a rare depiction of Akbar as a youth at the lower left, with the black feather in his white turban. The falcon that has caught a duck has been hooded and is being passed between the young man and his bearded companion. This important work was painted by one of the Persian artists Akbar’s father brought to India from Iran. The inscription at the upper right gives the name of one of the other Persian artists, but it is probably an erroneous later addition.