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Namaskar(am). As-salaam alaikum. Adaab. Sat sri akal. Vanakkam. Nomoskar. Salam! Hello from Northern California (USA). My name is Ronald N. Tan; I am a home cook (personal chef) with a laser-focused culinary interest in regional Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and provincial Iranian (Persian) cuisines. My aim is to foster and cultivate discussion while disseminating and sharing knowledge on sourcing rare, specialty spices and herbs—compulsory and outside of India—so that recipes from regional Indian cookbooks published in India can be reproduced 1:1, with viable substitutions and minimal omissions. I will be updating this post in “bite-sized” threads. Please consider following or watch this thread for updates and discussion. I am not affiliated with any of the merchants or online stores. In accordance with eGullet forum regulations, the provided links direct to the original sources. They are intended solely as references to expand and enrich our collective knowledge of the culinary arts! As this is my comprehensive and detailed source list, please perform your due diligence. I will not be responsible for any issues encountered, as individual shopping experiences may vary. Spices and herbs should be purchased in whole form whenever possible, stored in airtight glass containers, and kept away from light. To maximize spice potency, slow toast over low heat to activate their essential oils. To achieve finer grounds, sieve using the smallest mesh. Place the larger pieces back into any grinder and repeat as necessary. For handling harder spices and herbs, e.g. dried vetiver roots (Chrysopogon zizanioides / Vetiveria zizanioides), lesser galangal (Alpinia officinarum), or spiked ginger lily (Hedychium spicatum), a heavy-based granite mortar and pestle is necessary. Repeating (2) and (3) as necessary. Support your local South Asian (Desi) and Middle Eastern grocers. Their contribution to enhancing and diversifying our culinary culture is paramount and often understated—source common ingredients locally whenever possible. Establish relationships with the owners and managers of these stores, as they are invaluable sources of insight and can recommend the highest-quality products. Only resort to online sources when local options have been exhausted.

I will start this topic with books on Ashpazi-ye Irani (Persian Cuisine) that are in my personal library. Then, in subsequent posts (where applicable), I'll mention the books that I've borrowed from my local library or returned purchases because the content(s) of the book(s) don't align with my cooking style, e.g. too "Americanized" or "overly simplified". Although those books might not fit for me—they might be what you're after and matches with your Persian cooking goals. Alikhani, Nasim, and Theresa Gambacorta. Sofreh: A Contemporary Approach to Classic Persian Cuisine. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2023. Batmanglij, Najmieh. Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies. 4th ed. Chevy Chase, MD: Mage Publishers, 2021. Batmanglij, Najmieh. Cooking in Iran: Regional Recipes & Kitchen Secrets. 2nd Updated ed. Chevy Chase, MD: Mage Publishers, 2022. Consider Najmieh Batmanglij to be the "Julia Child" of traditional Persian cooking. Her famous magnum opus Food of life debuted in 1986. From recent news, Najmieh Batmanglij opened restaurant alongside Michelin-starred chef Christopher Morgan called Joon based in Vienna, Virginia. Nasim Alikhani is the chef and owner of the Persian restaurant of the same namesake—Sofreh—in Brooklyn, New York. In contrast to Najmieh's traditional Persian cooking, Chef Nasim's book is modernized and offers a contemporary interpretation of classic Persian foods.