how food from an old home makes you welcome in a new one + a Persian inspired sticky date pudding
Home Baked - Winter
Arad Niksefat is a force of nature. His enthusiasm for life immediately strikes me whenever I encounter Arad at his market stall. When you buy from his market stall, you can’t help but be inspired by his genuine love for what he sells and his desire to share his heritage with a larger audience. For Arad, the products at his Persia’s Pantry stall are a reminder of his origins and of his family. A market stall in Tasmania is a far cry from working as a pathologist in the southwestern province of Khuzestan in Iran, close to the border of Iraq. Arad and his family are members of the minority group Ahwarzi Arabic, which, according to Arad, is not quite Persian and not quite Arabic. They come from a small village, full of water, reeds and small islands in the south of Iran. They are Iranian but their culture is also informed by that of Jordan and Iraq. In 1980, as a result of the Iran-Iraq war, his family was forced to flee, walking for weeks with a small bag of belongings until they reached the city of Shiraz. His father went into the army, and his mother supported the family by selling homemade delicacies in the bazaar. The same products Arad now makes and sells at local markets in Tasmania.
In 2012, Arad was forced to flee for a second time after he was persecuted and imprisoned for writing about the plight of the Ahwarzi Arabic people. He left Indonesia at night along with 58 other people in a boat headed for Christmas Island and sought asylum in Australia. He spent 16 months in detention centres before being released into the community in Melbourne and then moving to Perth in 2016.
Arad’s qualifications as a pathologist weren’t recognised in Australia, so as his mother had done before him, Arad started making the Persian recipes passed to him by his mother and selling them at markets. He started with $200 of his own money, and newly found friends bought him a gazebo and table. They also spoke with the local church, asking if he could cook in their kitchen and helped him navigate the requirements for setting up a business.
In 2020, Arad moved to Cygnet in the Huon Valley, partly as a response to his visa requirements, which require him to live in a regional area but also in search of a location that reminded him of his village in Iran. He arrived during lockdown, knowing no one, was homeless and jobless, but with the support of the local community, managed to again start his Persia’s Pantry market stall.
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At his stall Arad sells a small range of Persian foods, made wherever possible with local ingredients. The Persian Love Dates are plump dates filled with Tasmanian walnuts and topped with pistachios, almonds and rose petals. Sweet Lips is a crunchy dessert with caramelized barberries and nuts. And the Persian Brekkie, a blend of nuts, seeds and grains with raisins and dried mulberries. My favourite is the Tira Syrup, date syrup mixed with toasted sesame seeds and rose, cardamom and cinnamon. Although I haven’t been to Iran, its flavour is the Iran of my imagination. I drizzle it on ice cream, use it in marinades or in dressings for salad or on roasted vegetables. It finds its way into cakes and desserts.
Our culture is all the richer for people such as Arad. Those who endure the most awful difficulties but who retain a zest for life and who manage to interweave their own memories and experiences into those of their new home. In Arad’s words, “When you see someone like me, who is very strange to you, approach him without judgement and listen to his story. Please respect him and share your smile with him.”
Sticky date pudding (or sticky toffee pudding in other parts of the world) is a classic recipe for a reason, and I’m sure you’ll find no shortage of people who nominate it as their favourite dessert. This is a version of sticky date pudding that is far more exotic, inspired by Arad’s Tira sauce and with a melange of flavours that, at first glance, seem not to go together but combine to produce a flavoursome complexity that is far removed from the standard sticky date pudding. This is a long list of ingredients, but I hope won’t deter you; the recipe isn’t complicated, and the result is worth it. This is quite a large recipe but the puddings freeze well, alternatively you can halve it.
Tira Sticky Date Puddings
Makes 12 Texas muffin size individual puddings or 1 x 23 cm cake tin
250 g dates, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons instant coffee
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoons honey
375 g boiling water
100 g spelt flour
150 g plain flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cardamom pods, seeds removed and crushed
125 g salted butter, softened
125 g dark brown sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon rose water
2 eggs
For the syrup:
100 ml date syrup
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon rose water
Grease the holes of 2 Texas muffin tins with a little butter, or use a spray oil to coat the holes. Alternatively, grease and line a 23 cm cake tin with baking paper.
Put the dates, bicarbonate of soda, instant coffee, pomegranate molasses and honey in a bowl. Cover with the boiling water and leave to stand for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Put the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom seeds into a bowl. Use a balloon whisk to mix everything together.
Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure to mix the first one well before adding the second. Add the date mixture, lemon zest and rose water. Mix gently on a low speed. Tip in the flour and, again, mix very gently. Pour the batter into the muffin holes and bake for 25-30 minutes (35-40 minutes for a large cake) or until the cakes spring back when touched lightly in the centre.
To make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together.
Leave the puddings to cool for 10 minutes before turning out. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of the syrup.
Next week: Meyer lemons + a lemon & juniper slice
Each week, I share the latest instalment of the book I am writing here on Substack, Home Baked: a Year of Seasonal Baking. A subscription will ensure you don’t miss any of the stories and recipes. I’m very grateful for the support of my paid subscribers. A paid subscription will give you access to previous recipes, as well as printer-friendly recipe cards and bonus material. There is also an additional newsletter on Friday, which is a mixed bag and touches on all manner of food topics. I’d love for you to be a part of it.
Paid subscribers will find the printer-friendly recipe card by clicking on the button, as well as a Tira syrup adjacent recipe and an ode to a favourite baking book.
What a fabulous and inspiring story! Thank you for sharing it Julia and thank you Arad for sharing your culture!
What a terrific story to share! I will attempt the pudding later this year when things cool down in Canada again.