Kuku Sabzi

(holiday music)

Hey guys, today I'm gonna teach you

how to make a traditional Iranian dish known as Kuku Sabzi.

It's a dish made with a ton of herbs

and it's a dish usually during the Persian New Year

and it's very very easy to make.

So first you're gonna slice a yellow onion.

You want a really fine chop on the onions.

One medium leek.

You're gonna use the white and pale green parts.

Even if they look clean,

you're gonna have to give them a bit of a rinse.

So you want medium heat.

Gonna do two tablespoons any kind of neutral oil.

I'm using vegetable oil.

And we're gonna cook this down until it's very soft, tender.

You don't want any charred bits.

Cilantro, parsley, dill, equal parts.

You're gonna need about two bunches of each.

Persian New Year's all about eating a ton of herbs

because it's a celebration of spring.

(chopping)

No, you cannot do this in the food processor.

I know what you're thinking.

You can't, you know why?

Because the blade of the processor, it cuts the herbs

and releases the liquid and they become wet.

And that won't happen if you have a super sharp knife.

In total, we're gonna need four and a half cup.

Five eggs, which is really not enough

for four and a half cups of chopped herbs.

Really, you're just using the eggs

to bind the whole thing together.

And then you'll add them to the chopped herbs.

One half teaspoons kosher salt.

One teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Half teaspoon turmeric.

And then one tablespoon crushed fenugreek leaves.

It gives it its sweet fragrant character.

You could find this at Indian or middle eastern markets.

And then one teaspoon baking powder.

It's very very thick.

It's not a loose mixture like it would be

for a frittata or an omelet.

And then we're gonna fold in

our cooled onion and leek mixture.

We're gonna wipe out the skillet.

This will work but we're gonna do an old line cook's trick.

Oven baking sheet.

Alright, isn't that cool?

Three tablespoons of neutral oil, we're using vegetable oil.

Nothing is even cooked yet and it's still so fragrant.

Alright, it's a little bit shimmery.

This is a little bit hot.

You want to pat it down so it's nice and even throughout.

And then you're gonna cover it.

Okay, just loosen up the sides.

See how jiggly that is still though?

We're gonna go here,

boom, boom,

for about a minute.

Watch carefully.

I just want it to set.

Okay.

So here's the Kuku.

You could leave it as is and eat it like I like to do

or you could pair it with lavash bread, some yogurt,

some radishes, and more fresh herbs to make a sandwich.

That's how you make Kuku Sabzi.

Eide shoma mobaarak, which means Happy New Year in Farsi.

(light music)