Ayoub’s is a specialty Vancouver based company offering nuts, dried fruits, spices, tea, and more. It started off with a store in Little-Iran or better known as Londsdale street, however, due to great success has now expanded downtown with its beautifuly designed store on Denman street. Ayoub’s interior takes me back to the motherland with its crystal chandeliers, marble, and persian style trimmed out cabinetry and displays. The nuts and dried fruits are presented in beautiful silver standing bowls which I was told was brought from Iran. 

If you are a lover of saffron (and lets face it who isnt?) then try their high quality Iranian saffron offered in various sizes. If you want sweets, make sure to also try some of the persian sweets including gaz, koloocheh and sohan which line the walls.  

Ayoub’s is located at:

North Vancouver:

Downtown:
986 Denman Street
Vancouver, BC V6G2M1
p: 1-604-732-6887
f: 1-604-683-6884

Customer’s signatures on the walls

The Count making a tough drink decision

Mint Mojito

Ropa veja…delicious Cuban beef stew served with rice, black beans and plantains

Strawberry mojito

Address: 
5th Avenue between Calle 34 & Calle 38
Playa del Carmen
Office: +52 984-803-3950

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• chicken, 1 kg
• basmati or long grain rice, 500 grams
• yogurt (Greek if possible), 300 grams
• ground saffron, 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in 4 tbs of hot water
• large onions, two
• 3 eggs (yolks only)
• cooking oil/butter (necessary to allow tag-dig to form without burning)
• salt
• black pepper

*Required: Pirex baking dish unless made in a pot on an oven. Baked version is always more delicious. 


Directions:

1. Start by washing rice and soaking it in warm water (with added salt) for 2 hours. Then filter out the water.
2. Chop onions into thin slices and fry in oil until slightly golden. 
3. Wash and cut chicken, remove skin, and fry in onions until color changes. Add some water and bring to boil. Turn heat down and let boil slowly until cooked, adding more water if needed. Remove the bones.
4. While chicken is cooking, beat the yogurt until it is smooth. Dissolve saffron in half a cup of hot water. Add saffron, salt, pepper and egg-yolks to the yogurt and mix very well.
5. Pour a few glasses of water in a large pot and bring to boil. Pour in rice and cook while stirring occasionally until rice grows longer and slightly softens (Take care not to overcook the rice. It should still be too hard for eating). Again filter out the water.
6. Pour several spoons of oil and several spoons of the yogurt mix into a non-stick pot. Add a thin layer of rice and flatten using the back of a spoon. Add a layer of chicken on top followed by another layer of rice. Again flatten the rice. Spread several more spoons of the yogurt mix on the rice. Continue in this fashion until chicken, rice and the yogurt mix have been used up. Add some more oil on top. Put the lid on and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
7. Place the mixture into a pirex baking dish and place in an oven (preheated to 250 F) and cook for 1.5 to 2 hours. Note that the longer Tah-Chin is cooked, the thicker the Tah-Dig (delicious crispy layer of rice at the bottom) will be. When cooked, remove the lid and let cool for a few minutes.
8. Place an inverted large dish over the dish and turn it over. Tap the dish in order to loosen the contents inside. The contents should fall on the dish in one piece with the Tah-Dig on the outside.