B orani, in the Iranian sense at least, is a rich, creamy, cooked vegetable salad that’s said to be named after a 7th-century Persian queen , AKA Pourandokht, who was, it is claimed, extremely fond of the yoghurt that is the dish’s defining ingredient. A millennium and a half later, her tastes live on in the form of this recipe, which is also popular in Turkey. To British eyes, borani looks most like what we’d call a dip, and indeed it does pair well with flatbreads as a starter or light lunch, but it’s also eaten as an accompaniment to grilled meats, rice dishes or other main courses.
As Nader Mehravari explains, “a Persian sofreh – the physical table setting, and the people gathered around it for a meal – is unthinkable without a bowl of some kind of yoghurt-based accompaniment”. Just ask Queen Pourandokht. The aubergine View image in fullscreen Margaret Shaida’s borani is ‘gloriously rich and silky’.
Thumbs taken on location by Felicity. Having bought 13 aubergines from my slightly perplexed local greengrocer, it’s time to work out the best way to cook them. Sadly, the simplest – pricking the skins and sticking them in a hottish oven for 15 minutes (as per Sally Butcher’s Snackistan), or for an hour (as in Najmieh Batmanglij ’s From Persia to Napa) – is also the least satisfactory: even after 25 minutes, they’re too firm to peel, and though giving them longer does render the aubergines soft enough to shred, they’re definitely more wrinkl.
