Persian Food from the Non-persian Bride: And Other Sephardic Kosher Recipes You Will Love [Hardcover]

Reyna Simnegar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2011

This new Kosher cookbook is unlike anything you have seen before. It offers an enticing collection of Persian and Middle Eastern recipes, from simple snacks to a full-blown feast! With over 100 stunning color photos and clear step-by-step instructions, you will be able to produce with ease a lavish spread of dishes from traditional well known Persian favorites to outright exotic. This book also offers sample Persian menus for all Jewish holidays and customs (minhagim) Persian Jews practice.

More than just a cookbook, Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride is the odyssey of a Venezuelan woman venturing into the unknown and mysterious world of Persian Jewry through marriage.

This book is full of hilarious, and at times ironic, accounts of what happens when soul mates are not from the same origin.

This book is a celebration of Jewish cultural diversity.

This book will inspire you, make you laugh and make you an incredible exotic kosher cook!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Philipp Feldheim (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583303251
• ISBN-13: 978-1583303252
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #836,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Please visit www.KosherPersianFood.com to purchase this cookbook at its original price of $35. Thanks!

Reyna Simnegar was born in Caracas, Venezuela. Her family history dates back to the Spanish Inquisition when her family fled from Spain changing their last name and living as hidden Jews for centuries. Reyna grew up Catholic but inspired by her family heritage, converted to Judaism.

In her teenage years Reyna ventured in the world of modeling, advertizing and beauty pageants. She was featured in several television ads, especially toothpaste adds! She also modeled for several catalogs including La Perla. She enrolled in the Miss Venezuela beauty pageant to later be disqualified for being 3 inches too short! She enrolled in Venezuela's Universidad Metropolitana to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering.

Tired of being the only girl in class and having to bat-her-lashes to get good grades, Reyna moved to the United States in 1995 to pursue two dreams: becoming an interior designer and a Jew! She enrolled in UCLA and got a job in Taco Bell on campus. It was in Taco Bell where she met an unsatisfied customer that later became her destined life-partner.


When her future husband moved to New York City to attend graduate school, Reyna moved there to be closer to him. However, before Reyna left Los Angeles, Sammy's mother, who was afraid Sammy would starve in New York without authentic Persian food, hosted her for a week and taught her the intimate secrets of Persian cuisine so she could cook for Sammy. (This was a super investment for Sammy's mom, because it obviated the need to FedEx frozen Persian food to New York!)

In New York, Reyna pursued a career in advertising, studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She lived across the street from the restaurant made famous on Seinfeld, and practiced her Persian recipes on friends, with great success.

Although Reyna started her personal quest toward becoming a religious Jew after discovering her family were Anusim (Marranos, or Crypto Jews) at the young age of 12, it was not until much later, while living in New York, that she was finally able to realize her dream of living the spiritual life she had always aspired to live. At the same time, Sammy (obviously inspired by...ahem...Reyna) started a personal spiritual quest of his own. Just like in a Hollywood movie--only this time it happened in Manhattan--they both became religious Jews, walking different paths but dancing to the same tune and toward the same goal: Truth. In the end, that was really the beginning, against all odds and in spite of the tribulations of being from two completely different cultures, they married according to the laws of the Torah, and managed to stay alive to be able to tell you about it!

Reyna is the author of "Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride" (Feldheim, 2011) He recipes are lavish, rich, and enticing; the photographs are divine; the details in this cookbook make it magnificent; Persian calligraphy graces each page, along with Reyna's personal anecdotes about integrating into a Persian family. Whether you hail from Iran, Indiana, Israel, or anywhere around the globe, this cookbook is a must! She has appeared in several TV appearances nationwide including ABC and NBC networks. She also has her own YouTube channel and Blog.
Her hobbies include preparing and cooking for Shabbat and entertaining guests. She also looks forward to performing makeovers on her friends, decorating their homes without charge, teaching cooking and inspirational classes for women through Aish Boston and Chabad.

She is very happily married and lives with her wonderful husband and five lively boys in Brookline, MA. And by the way, she did earn her Bachelors Degree in International Management and Economics--with honors--from the University of Massachusetts.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a splendid cookbook March 15, 2011

By Israel Drazin TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

This beautiful and comprehensive book will delight meat eaters and vegetarians, Jews and non-Jews, Persians and non-Persians, in fact everybody who enjoys good foods offered with class. The book has enchanting pictures on every other page, with dozens and dozens of recipes, divided into six sections: appetizers and side dishes; fish and soups; poultry and meat; Persian rice; dairy foods, egg dishes, and snacks; and Persian beverages and deserts.

Reyna Simnegar is not Persian, but when she married her "dear husband," who is Persian, he insisted that she learn how to cook Persian foods. "Persians," she writes, "love their food" and "their music." She soon became "enamored with Persian culture. I loved all the Middle Eastern flavors, the smell, the music, the color.... I had no idea that this people with such a vibrant culture existed." She introduces the book with a description of Iranian Jews, how this book is kosher, six pages of what things the non-Persian woman must have in her Persian kitchen, and a page on "It's my kitchen and I'll marinate if I want to!"

In her section on appetizers, for example, she gives recipes for three Persian breads, seven dips, and fourteen salads. All are tasty, all are nourishing. Each recipe is introduced by a paragraph or two with general information. Eggplant, for instance, is to Persian Jews what potatoes are to non-Persians. As with potatoes, salt should be added to release flavor. In this paragraph about babaganoush, she shows her breezy writing style. "Yes, you can totally buy babaganoush at the grocery store, but once you have made your own (which, by the way, is `easy-shmeezy'). You will never be able to go back to the mass-produced variety." Then she proves her point: "My husband loves this so much that if it were up to him he would use it instead of tooth paste." She continues, as she does for all her recipes, with a section describing the ingredients followed by a step by step procedure on how to combine them and produce the desired dip. Her presentation is clear that even a non-cook can follow it. The ingredients that she mentions are easy to obtain. She presents many of her recipes as if she were telling stories in the Persian Thousand and One Nights.

Some of the recipes have an additional section on the side such as "Tricks of the trade," You are what you eat," and "Tools of the trade." She concludes with about thirty pages on "Persian Holiday Tutorial" and "Other Persian Peculiarities I happen to Love."

In sum, this is a delightful book, put together with artistic flourish, with savory recipes. There is a tradition that the biblical Garden of Eden was situated in Persia. This book gives the Garden of Eden of foods.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Scrumptious Recipes March 16, 2011

By Lorraine M. Weston

Format:Hardcover

I love cooking, and was sent a review copy of Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride, and other Kosher Sephardic Recipes You Will Love, by Reyna Simnegar.

I cant' begin to describe how lovely the cookbook is from the recipes to beautiful photographs to the format, I am absolutely in love with this book! There are tables/charts (that include descriptions, kosher Status, and where to find the item) which show "Spices and Seeds used in Persian cooking, Herbs used in Persian cooking, Most Vegetables and Fruits used in this book, Persian and Middle Eastern Gadgets, and Persian and Middle Eastern Products". Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride holds a plethora of information between the pages.

The recipes are categorized as such, within the sections:
"Appetizers and Side Dishes"
"Fish and Soups"
"Poultry and Meat"
"Persian Stews"
"Persian Rice"
"Egg Dishes"
"Dairy Foods"
"Persian Snacks""Persian Beverages and Desserts"
"Persian Holiday Tutorial", which includes not only suggested foods, but also particular Jewish holidays and suggested foods for that holiday.

The recipes are delicious sounding, and I made the Chicken in Tomato Sauce and Saffron recipe. I have to tell you that it was outstanding! Take a look at the recipe:

2 whole chickens or 2 chickens cut in pieces or 1 whole turkey

Marinade:
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon saffron powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder pr 3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 lime juiced or 3 tablespoons lime concentrate

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In small bowl combine all ingredients
3. Rub some marinade inside cavity of whole birds. Rub outside of poultry with marinade
4. Bake, uncovered for one hour. Cover with with foil to avoid burning sauce, and bake for 45 more minutes or until thermometer reads160 F

It will yield 8 to 10 servings of delicious chicken!

The cookbook is filled with rich recipes and wonderful photographs, recipes that everyone will enjoy, no matter your background. The ease and delight of Persian cooking is amazingly presented in a user-friendly style, appropriate for beginning cook to more advanced. I highly recommend Persian Food from the Non-Persian Bride to everyone. Reyna Simnegar has brought Persian food to the world in this incredible cookbook. There are recipes in there that all a will enjoy making and eating.

Thank you, Stuart Schnee, PR, for sending me this delightful and deliciously beautiful cookbook, published by Feldheim Publishers.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a book!!!! March 10, 2011

By Tova R

Format:Hardcover

If you (like me) love to read cookbooks for pleasure and inspiration you must get a copy of this book! It's full of incredible photos and funny real life stories. Five Stars!