Cuz I'm an intern!
- J
- Jun 28, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 5, 2022
Long time no post! I've been very very busy in my life recently, meeting new people and doing lots of exciting things for my book and career!
My experiments with chutney have not progressed past Mr Slater so far, but that is definitely on my very, very overwhelming to do list! I've been putting my energy into things beyond chutney believe it or not! I have started an internship!
An internship?! Please, explain!
Okay dear reader, I shall. It all started a few weeks back.
I did an internship with a small catering company called The Gavin Sisters, helping them cater for a wellness event held in a very cool Downton Abbey esque house. I wasn't doing anything too fancy, just helping out here and there. I have to do 100 hours of intern work for my course you see. 9 hours down, only 91 to go. And this is when Cyrus came to my rescue.
Cyrus owns a beautiful little Persian restaurant near Shepherds Bush called Sufi. He makes authentic Persian cuisine and I met him at my school. He asked me if I'd like to do my internship at his work, making vegan specials every week for his customers to try. This is what I want to do. My career choice at the moment is to write, develop and test recipes and this is the exact job role I've been given. I've tried applying to jobs and I've been turned away as I lack experience. This internship might just be my way into the big bad world of recipe development.
In my meeting with Cyrus to discuss what the plan was he made my day. Not only were the ideas of our internship fantastic but he sent me home with fresh bread, their best selling dip and a massive pot of hummus! Instantly, I knew this was the smartest choice for me.
For this internship we decided that once a week I will come to his restaurant before opening times and we would both work on adding vegan specials to his weekend menu. Each dish had to be persian themed, vegan and healthy ( so as to not upset my school). I do not have much knowledge in Persian cuisine so this was an excellent challenge to get started with!
We have worked together 3 times so far, collaborating and creating really beautiful and delicious dishes that have been received very well by his customers. My favorite dish we have made so far is called Khoresh Fessenjan which is a pomegranate stew. Holy. Moly. For those who have never had this dish, run to your nearest Persian restaurant. This stew is tart, warming and extremely moreish. I was not at all surprised when he told me it was his best seller. We combined ideas when making this dish. I showed him how simple it was to turn this beautiful stew vegan and in return he showed me little tips and tricks on how to balance the flavors and the traditional way of making it. The recipe he uses is his sister's.
He told me that when he was being taught how to create all of these authentic persian dishes no one could get the pomegranate stew you spot on . So he ended up asking his sister to teach him how she made it as it was the best version of it he'd had and wanted his dishes to be as perfect and tasty as possible, so she was his saving grace in teaching how to make the best pomegranate stew.
I'm extremely grateful that this family dish has been passed on to me and away and I've been able to add to it even more .
He told me two days after we made the stew ready for the Friday and Saturday specials that it sold out almost instantly . And there's a very high chance that he will put that on his menu permanently . A dish I helped make that combines my style of cooking with traditional Persian cooking is potentially going to be on a London restaurant menu . How amazing is that?!
We do this internship recipe creating extravaganza pretty much every friday so if you're ever in london near Shepherd's Bush I will link his website below and his address so you can actually come and taste the food that we make or just try his already tasty dishes!
So far we've made a kale falafel with gluten-free herb flatbread, spiced potato cakes , a sweet potato and herb souffle and this week I made tofu kebabs using a vegan versions of a yogurt marinade
that he makes for his chicken kebabs that's going to be charged grilled with veggies and served with rice. If you're in London on July first it’s going to be a summer salad party at Sufi’s!
I think this internship was probably the smartest choice for me because we are really helping each other. Cyrus doesn't know an awful lot about vegan cooking and I have very limited knowledge in Persian cuisine so it has been very eye opening and fun for both of us. We basically just swap information, expanding each other's culinary knowledge.
It's making me realize that this kind of work is something that I definitely want to do. Recipe development and creating dishes is definitely the path that I am going for the moment. It has been very insightful to have a go and see what it's like before I try and find a job in that area. It's also really handy because I will actually have experience in this area so hopefully that means less people will turn me away! This experience is also very helpful for dealing with imposter syndrome. Cyrus is extremely enthusiastic about my ideas and is very excited to learn and teach me which gives me confidence that this is the right path for me!
Also, big shout out to the pharmacy man! There is a regular customer that keeps coming in on a Friday to try my dishes! The week of the beautiful Pomegranate stew, he came back after having it and brought more to take home! If that doesn't prove how fantastic the stew was, I don’t know what will!!
In conclusion, I love hummus. I think I know what I want to do career wise and everyone who can should definitely come to this restaurant. The food is made by a very passionate man who is excited about the food he makes in his small restaurant. And you know what they say, when someone is excited about their own food, it's always going to taste brilliant!
(Also they have a lot of hummus here and if that's not the main thing that gets you down to Sufi’s then there must be something wrong with you.)
SUFI RESTURANT
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