Sabrina Ghayour: spice up Christmas with a taste of the Middle East

Our growing interest in Middle-Eastern cookery has brought spice and tang to our kitchens, but with new ingredients – such as za’atar, sumac and pomegranate molasses – comes a sometimes bewildering jostle of flavour.

Sabrina Ghayour, author of three bestselling cookbooks, understands better than most how to harness this culinary menagerie – and how to add a touch of the Middle East to your Christmas table. Born in Tehran, Ghayour was brought to England, aged two, by her mother and grandmother when the revolution struck.

All that is left of their former life is a handful of photographs of her grandmother, a beauty in the Vivien Leigh mould. The silk gowns and jewels she was wearing have vanished. “Your houses were seized,” explained Ghayour, when I met her for lunch. “You just left.”

Ghayour has the glossy, liquorice-black hair, dark eyes and generous smile of her grandmother, whom she describes...

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