The Persian cook says her dishes are all about love, honesty and simplicity - in generous portions.

Feeding people is integral to Sabrina Ghayour. Even if you're a stranger meeting the Persian cook for the first time, she'll tell you: "I want to spoil you and the only way I know how is to feed you senseless."

The Tehran-born cookbook writer, famed for her bestselling debut recipe collection Persiana, will be helping the rest of us feed each other senseless with her opulent new volume, Feasts.

"I would describe it as a serious business," she says wryly, when asked to explain traditional Persian feasting. "We are really lighthearted; we're the 'fun bunch' of the Middle East. We're the busybodies, all up in your business, we're loud and we're fun and we like to dance."

And the food? There is volume and variety "but all in a strange balance. Lots of vegetables, an aubergine dish on the side, yoghurt dishes [on huge platters], lots of tearing flatbreads, fresh herbs, blocks of cheese, fresh wet walnuts, rice and stew - stew is the cornerstone of Persian family cooking."

Then, if it's a really special occasion, there'd be kebabs. Not 3am-after-a-night-out kebabs, explains Sabrina, 41, but meat roasted over flames until golden and spitting with flavour. "You generally can't walk afterwards," she adds happily.

While Feasts, the book, is not wholly traditional and not wholly Persian ("I could do chow mein and people would say, 'I love your Persian chow mein'"), volume and variety are still key.

"There'll always be five or six things on the table because it's in my culture," says London-based Sabrina. "If I'm going to the takeaway, I'll always order eight things even if there's only two of us eating."

But that doesn't mean the recipes are tricky or time-consuming. Whether it's tamarind-doused ribs or butterflied leg of lamb, ingredients are pared back to the essentials ("I ask myself, 'does this really need to be in there, this flourish of freeze-dried raspberry speckles?' Probably not. Ditch it."), and comfort is crucial.

"Comfort is pretty much what I eat all the time - I can't do fuss," says Sabrina, who admits she had beans on toast for lunch, and shared that fact with her 30,000 Instagram followers. "People are like, 'yes!' Because it's just real."

She's not afraid to put her more "disgusting failures" online, either. "You have to," she says sharply, "because being perfect is just so naff, and I'm so not perfect in any way."

The self-taught cook formerly worked in hospitality before starting her own supper club, and has been interested in food ever since she "ousted" her mother and grandmother from the kitchen as a child.

"My mother pushed me into the kitchen to mess around, because clearly I wanted to," she remembers. "Teaching yourself is a good way to go because it makes you fearless. I'm not trying to please anyone. It's made me much braver, it's made me trust my instincts and it has made me more creative."

Sabrina, who spends chunks of the year exploring Asia to find new flavour inspiration, is a heart-on-your-sleeve, self-confessed "pie and mash girl", whose food is about love, honesty and simplicity, whether she's cooking it herself or eating out.

"I like middle of the road - not 'crap cheap' - cheap eats," she explains. "It's not that I don't like fine dining but it is not where I get much inspiration. The fact you have to try to understand [what you're eating] winds me up.

"I'd much rather sit down with a good bap filled with pork and apple sauce, or a bao bun, or just a really good plate of pasta. I'd rather spend my money on a really good loaf of bread and a lump of cheese than caviar and lobster."

And if anyone can turn a loaf of bread and a lump of cheese into a banquet, it's Sabrina Ghayour.

Feasts by Sabrina Ghayour is published by Mitchell Beazley (www.octopusbooks.co.uk), priced £20. Photography Kirk Kirkham