“A collation of vegetarian delights”

Sally Butcher is a spice lover, shopkeeper-turned-café owner and prolific collector of recipes. Her second vegetarian cookbook, Persepolis, celebrates the creativity of cooks from the Middle East and beyond

PHOTOGRAPHS YUKI SUGIURA FOOD STYLING VALERIE BERRY STYLING WEI TANG

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Great swathes of the population are eschewing meat for the best part of the week in favour of vegetable-based alternatives. The appetite for ways to brighten your broccoli, add sparkle to your spinach and titillate your tomatoes has never been greater. This book is a celebration of the vegetable, the recipes gathered from the lands stretching east from Morocco, meandering through Egypt and down as far as Somalia, then up through the Levant and Turkey, across Central Asia and down into Arabia.

Armenian cheesy rice

Armenian cheesy rice

SERVES 4. HANDS-ON TIME 35 MIN

This is what’s called a pilaf/pilav/plov from the Persian word pulao, which can simply refer to a decorative rice dish. But more often, as here, it denotes the method of cooking: the rice is fried in butter or ghee, usually with vegetables and seasoning, then stock is added, the pan is covered and it’s left for 30 minutes or so to cook. Simpler pilafs can be accompaniments, but some are so rich and delish they’re a meal in themselves. Pilaf permutations are endless, so don’t be afraid to experiment with this recipe.

FOOD TEAM’S TIP

Crumbled feta would also work well stirred into the rice at the end.

• Ghee or rapeseed oil for frying

• 2 onions, roughly chopped

• 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

• 350g long-grain rice, rinsed and drained several times

• 2 tsp dried dill

• 750ml vegetable stock

• Finely grated zest and juice 1 lemon

• 200g spinach, shredded

• 250g halloumi, grated

• Big handful fresh flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped