<p> Mahin was raised in a family of 4 children and became interested in reading books about cooking at the age of 15.&nbsp; She wanted to go to cooking classes but could not because those classes were only offered in the capital Tehran, and she lived 600 miles northwest of the capital.&nbsp; She begged her mom to let her cook lunch for the family.&nbsp; Mom looked over her shoulder and dad was her greatest supporter and encouraged her to come up with her own recipes.</p> <p> Mahin believes in 3 requirements for becoming a good cook: you must really love cooking; you must understand that it takes time to make a good dish and you can&rsquo;t shorten the time and as such patience is a must; practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the more confidence you gain in your cooking abilities.</p> <p> A favorite dish in the part of the country where Mahin rew up is making large meatballs (8&quot; in diameter).&nbsp; To make such a large meatball one needs to grind the meat and mix it with onion, mint, parsley, cooked rice and split peas.&nbsp; Once a big ball of 8&quot; diameter is made from this mixture, the trick is to keep the ball together while it is being cooked in water with oil and spices.&nbsp; Mahin wanted to impress her husband during the first week of their marriage and I tried this dish.&nbsp; Unfortunately, she had not mixed the ingredients well enough and the ball fell apart while being cooked.&nbsp; So she first served soup to her husband and he liked it and asked about the meatball.&nbsp; She told him the story and he laughed a lot.&nbsp; At that point she realized she had married a man who would be as supportive of her cooking as her dad.</p>

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