It’s officially my birthday month (and Joe’s)!!! So what better way to kick off the month than with one of my favourite dishes.

Isn’t it funny how the smell of food or even just a few ingredients can set off a trigger of memories in your mind? I’ve been craving some Persian food lately and wanted to make something fairly simple for lunch today. A lot of Persian food consists of a lot of ingredients plus somewhat long cooking times and while I’m happy to do that when I have the time and patience sometimes I just want a quick meal.

I decided to make ‘Kookoo Sabzi’ which translated means Herb Frittata. Kookoo = frittata and Sabzi = herbs. There are a few kookoo recipes actually, each made with different ingredients, for e.g. we have Kookoo Sibzamini (sibzamini = potatoes), Kookoo Morgh (Morgh = chicken) and Kookoo Bademjan (Bademjan = eggplant) just to name a few. 

Kookoo Sabzi is traditionally made with a variety of fresh herbs and you will see slight variations in recipes with the herbs used. For this particular recipe I used parsley, cilantro, dill and chives but I’ve also seen people using things like green onions/scallions and spinach.

Another key ingredient in making Kookoo Sabzi are barberries or zereshk as they are called in Iran. Some recipes will say that these are optional but I really think they need to be included in the dish…. they add such great flavour that without them I don’t think it would be the same. That said I’ve never had Kookoo Sabzi without them.

So what are barberries? They are like tiny little red currants that have a tart flavour. They are most often sold in dried form since fresh ones are hard to find and they keep for ages in the freezer. In Iran they are added to many different dishes including a dish called Zereshk Polo (Polo = rice) where the barberries are the key ingredient. Plus they go really well with chicken and would work as a great stuffing for turkey.

They are also high in Vitamin C and Iran is the largest producer of them in the world. Actually they are produced and harvested on the same land as saffron (Iran is also the biggest producer of saffron in the world).

You are most likely to find barberries sold in Iranian or other Middle Eastern grocery stores, but you can even buy them online now on Amazon. And like I said they last ages in the freezer so you can have them on hand when you need. Before using them in cooking they often need to be rehydrated by soaking them in water for about 10 minutes and then draining.

So while I was making this dish… chopping up the herbs and soaking the zereshk, the smell transported me back to when my mum would make this for us. I’m going to have to send her a picture of this and say “hey mum look what I made!”

As a kid I used to love eating it with a side of plain thick yogurt just like this. Unfortunately I don’t have any yogurt now but if you are ok with dairy then I’d recommend eating them together.

Kookoo Sabzi/Herb Frittata

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed fresh parsley.
• 1 cup packed fresh dill.
• 1 cup packed fresh chives.
• 1 cup packed fresh cilantro.
• 6 eggs.
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup toasted walnuts.
• 2 Tbsp barberries (zereshk) – soaked and drained.
• 1 tsp baking powder.
• Grass-fed ghee or butter.
• Sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

Method:

First up soak your barberries for about 10 minutes to rehydrate them. Drain and put aside.

Next take your herbs and chop them up (try to chop them up as finely as possible) and place into a large bowl.

Next, if you’re using walnuts toast these up for a few minutes in a dry pan until you can smell the walnuts. Make sure not to burn them.

Crack your eggs into a separate bowl and add in the baking powder, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix together.

Pour the egg mixture into the chopped herbs and add in your toasted walnuts and barberries. Mix until combined.

Place a large skillet on medium-low heat and add in a bit of grass-fed ghee or butter. Once the skillet is heated pour in your mixture, making sure to spread it out in the pan.

Let it cook until you can see the edges browning and the frittata mixture puffing up (as a result of the baking powder).

Using a spatula cut the kookoo/frittata in quarters and then carefully flip each one over. Cook on the other side for a few minutes or until cooked through.

Remove from the heat and cut into portions.

and….

Enjoy!