I felt in the mood for something with a Persian taste. A colleague of mine brings these wonderful stuffed vegetables - hollowed out potatoes and zucchini etc. - that his wife has made to potlucks at work, and I started looking for a recipe online. The only recipes I could find though were non-veg, stuffed with meat and egg, while my colleague's wife makes it with a pure veg stuffing.

Playing around on the Persian cooking sites, I did find a couple of other interesting recipes though. One of them was very appealing because I could almost taste the flavors on my tongue just from reading it. The problem was that it asked for something found only in Middle Eastern stores, and I had no idea where to start looking. So, I decided to adapt the recipe into its current form as something we can easily make at home.

I found it very difficult to make this soup; now don't misunderstand me - physically everything is supremely easy, but I needed to enter into a different mindset to make this. As I cooked, I kept wanting to add coriander or cumin, a chilli or two, some lemon juice. I had to keep fighting myself to stick only to the flavors in the recipe. Every time I would taste it, thinking that I might need to add something that I am more used to cooking with, and every time the taste would be so wonderful that I would leave it as it is. In the end, the only thing I did add was some more mint, and salt.

The recipe is quick, easy to make, delicious and full of protein; it is just the ticket for the evening when the family is asking for "something different."

Note: The recipe calls for dried mint. The flavor is more intense than that of fresh mint, and it has another intriguing fragrance in the dried form. If you only have fresh, you will need about a cup to replace the dried herb.