International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 54 | Page 6

BARBERRIES
By Ly nn Nichols on

To really enjoy cooking you need to experiment, seek out new tastes
and flavours. Without leaving your front door you can transport
yourself to anywhere in the world as your house fills with delicious
aromas from exotic herbs and spices.
I have to admit that I will seek out new ingredients with absolutely
no idea what to do with them and then partake in the pleasure of
research to understand their uses. It works the same in reverse, I
love to flick through recipe books and discover an ingredient I have
never heard of and then go in search of said ingredient and so the
cycle continues.
This was the process with Barberries. I saw them mentioned in a
Persian recipe book and so went straight to Steenbergs website
and found them, which did not surprise me they have everything
and had a pack sent to me.
They are small, dark and dried when they arrive in their sealed pack
and need to be soaked in cold water for about 10 minutes before
using them.
I then simply sauteed them in a little olive oil until they started to
swell and then set aside to cool a little before chopping them up with
some toasted pine nuts, some toasted pistachios, golden raisins
(although any will do) added some cardamon and a little saffron
(which had been soaked in some warm water for about 10 minutes)
and some chopped fresh coriander, zest of one orange, you could
also add a little finely chopped chili too if you wish, and then I gave it
a mix in a little more oil and the oil I used for the barberries and then
stirred it through some cooked rice along with some maldon sea salt
and lots of freshly milled black pepper.
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