YASMIN Khan cannot pinpoint exactly when her fixation with pomegranate first began. But she remembers the day she discovered how to keep it coming.

Every bit the loving toddler, Yasmin had squeezed her mother in a leglock, begging her not to leave for work, when the wise woman explained that a job equalled money for basketfuls of pomegranates. Yasmin winkled herself off and waved her dear mummy goodbye without argument.

Her obsession with the tangy seeds is still alive and well today and pomegranate - as fresh beads sprinkled on salad or sweet molasses ladled in stews - crops up in a surprising number of recipes in her first Persian cookery book cum travelogue The Saffron Tales.

“What makes pomegranates so special is that they’re a winter fruit,” says the British-Iranian food writer. “In the depth of winter when nothing grows you get these ruby red fruits that are so delicious, sweet, sour and crunchy. It feels quite magical.”

Her grandparents’ farm in Northern Iran certainly provided the ideal hunting ground for the “magical fruit” during her lengthy summer holidays. In The Saffron Tales she fondly recalls picking pomegranates from trees and “squeezing scarlet juice” straight into her mouth.

Growing up in 1980s Britain, Yasmin became acutely aware of the gulf between the Iran she knew and loved and the troubled nation depicted on the news. This desire to ‘bridge the gap’ initially prompted her to work as a human rights campaigner for global and national NGOs in the Middle East – though she is keen to gloss over that part of her life (“It was kind of a past life now”). Food writing, she insists, was the natural next step.

“What was always important to me when I did my human rights work was sharing people’s stories and experience and trying to connect people and this cook book in some ways is an extension of that,” explains the Croydon-born chef.

“I just wanted to celebrate all the good things that Iran had to offer and I thought the cuisine was the most incredible way to do that. Food is something that connects us and shows our commonality rather than our difference. I was always around food growing up, and seasonal produce was a big part of my childhood, and my family’s activities. My grandparents had a farm and my mum was a nutritionist by trade. I loved experimenting and playing in the kitchen. We were already on brown rice salad and green juices in the 80s,” she laughs.

And yet for a long time, she was perfectly content to relegate cooking to a fun side-line to entertain at dinner parties. It is only when a friend suggested she take cooking to the next level three years ago that Yasmin started earnestly considering a new career path.

She took a sabbatical and headed to Iran to delve a little deeper into its rich and varied gastronomy.

“I spent three months in Iran and that’s where the idea came from and thinking, ‘People need to go out there and food is a great way to tell Iran’s story,” she says cheerfully.

On her return, Yasmin launched The Saffron Tales campaign on Kickstarter to fund a full-blown foody expedition through her mother’s homeland and offer a window into its people via their culinary traditions. She raised £10,000 and set off on a mammoth 3,000km journey armed with a notebook, a bottle of pomegranate molasses for comfort and a local photographer for company in search of fragrant new recipes and modern twists on classic fare.

“Part of the trip was spontaneous. We walked around towns, meeting people in markets and shops, and I had a few friends and contacts. The main thing I got from my travels was how hospitable, warm and generous the people I met along the way were. People would find out I was writing this book and bend over themselves to show me the greatest food in that particular town, inviting me into their homes.

"What also stood out for me was how diverse Iran is as a country. There are all these different ethnic groups, speaking different languages, with different cuisines. The landscape changed so much from the mountains in the north to the rice paddies by the Caspian Sea, to the desert in the middle, tropical waters of the Persian Golf. It was an incredible experience. I think the book really is a summation of my life’s engagement with Iran.”

In Saffron Tales she weaves together a tapestry of anecdotes from Iranian home kitchens and modern recipes rooted in centuries of Persian cooking. Mouth-watering, and crucially, accessible to the fledgling home cook, the volume features a range of dishes from the inimitable fesenjoon (chicken with walnuts and pomegranates) to kofte berenji (lamb meatballs stuffed with prunes and barberries).

“I was born in the UK, I’m British so this is my take on Persian classics. I’ve modified them for the way we like to eat,” she adds. “I really wanted my book to be accessible. People are cooking from it and seeing it’s easy for the home cook. It’s ingredients that are familiar to us for the most part.”

She happily chatters away about the ‘finished product’ now but she confesses that sitting down to patch together her colourful stories into a coherent whole after weeks of carefree gallivanting in the East was a challenge and a half.

“That’s the biggest thing about writing, getting into a routine, getting your head down,” she says. “It’s tough to chip away at it. It was a big project but so rewarding and exciting. Einstein said, ‘Creativity is one per cent inspiration, 99 per cent perspiration’ and I really believe that. It’s all perspiration. ”

Yasmin comes to Swindon's Festival of Literature at the Arts Centre, Devizes Road in Old Town on Wednesday, May 11 at 12.30pm. Tickets are £5 from 01793 524481.