Yoghurt and rice are natural companions and, given that rice appears at virtually all Persian meals, so does yoghurt. At its simplest it’s a bowl of thick, tangy natural yoghurt, but it’s also often maast-o khiar, which is a little reminiscent of Greek tzatziki, Turkish cacik and Indian raita. Like most Persian recipes, the variations for maast-o khiar are almost endless, sometimes it’s served as a soup, sometimes as a thick dip for scooping up with vegetables and bread. It can be just yoghurt, cucumber and salt sprinkled with a little dried mint, though it’s most often seen garnished with rose petals, a popular and distinctive Persian ingredient. Fresh herbs, including mint and dill, are often stirred through the yoghurt and sometimes raisins, chopped walnut, chopped green onion and garlic are added too. So, as always, feel free to take my recipe as a starting point to make your own maast-o khiar.
Serves 2–4 as a side dish
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