Khoresh Fesenjun

Some time ago, I conducted a cooking demonstration at one of Seattle’s annual cultural festivals. As I walked through the steps to prepare khoresh fesenjun, I described my mother spending hours in the kitchen making this dish. Lacking a food processor, she prepared the walnuts by hand—choosing each walnut one by one, placing it on a wooden tray, and carefully smashing it with a hefty river rock before moving on to the next nut.

As I spoke, I noticed tears welling up in the eyes of o