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Recipes with slivered pistachios

9 recipes that use slivered pistachios, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Poulaki, takes 30 minutes. It is most often cooked with cardamom, rosewater and onion.

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Poulaki

Poulaki are the paper-thin golden sugar coins sold by weight in Isfahan's sweet shops, meant to be held between the teeth while you sip strong black tea. The name comes from 'poul', the old word for coin, and Isfahanis serve them with tea to guests at any hour, flavoured with saffron, cardamom or sesame. Only sugar, a little vinegar and spice are needed, but timing matters. A common mistake is pouring the drops too big: they should spread no wider than 4 cm or they stay chewy in the middle. Chef's tip: work on a cold, lightly oiled marble or steel tray, which sets the coins in seconds and keeps them glassy.

30 minPersianDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Masghati

Masghati takes its name from Muscat, from where traders brought the recipe to the port towns of the Persian Gulf, and today Lar and Shiraz are famous for it. It is a clear, firm, jelly-like sweet of starch, sugar and rosewater, tinted gold with saffron and studded with pistachios, made for Nowruz guests and for gifts. It sets enough to cut into neat diamonds but stays tender. A common mistake is not cooking the starch long enough: it must turn from milky to clear, or the masghati tastes floury and weeps. Chef's tip: stir with a flat wooden spatula and scrape the bottom constantly, because the paste catches suddenly in the last few minutes.

45 minPersianDessertsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Haji badam

Haji badam are the small, pale almond cookies of Yazd, crisp at the edge and soft and chewy inside, baked for Nowruz and kept in tins for guests through the new year. They need only ground almonds, sugar, egg yolk and cardamom, so they are naturally gluten-free. Each one is rolled into a ball and pinched or pressed with a pistachio sliver. A common mistake is baking them until golden all over: pull them when only the bottoms colour, or they go hard and dry. Chef's tip: let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, which makes it much easier to roll without cracking.

35 minPersianBakingGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Nan-e nokhodchi

No Nowruz tea tray in Tehran or Qazvin looks complete without a pile of tiny four-leafed nan-e nokhodchi, each topped with a sliver of pistachio. They are made from flour of roasted chickpeas, so they taste nutty and slightly savoury under the sugar, and they dissolve almost instantly on the tongue. Bakers make them by the thousand in March, but they are simple at home with a small clover cutter. The common mistake is using raw gram flour, which tastes beany and bitter; the flour must be from roasted chickpeas, or toasted first. Chef's tip: knead the dough longer than you think, 8–10 minutes, until it turns smooth and pale; that is what gives the melting texture.

118 minPersianBakingGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sohan

Pilgrims leaving the shrine city of Qom carry home round tins of sohan, and boxes of it are passed around at Nowruz visits all over Iran. It is a buttery, snapping brittle flavoured with saffron, cardamom and rosewater, built on sprouted wheat flour, which gives a gentle malty sweetness, and studded with slivered pistachios and almonds. Each disc shatters and then melts. Chef's tip: have every nut and flavouring measured beside the stove before you start; the last stage moves fast and the sugar won't wait.

50 minPersianDesserts
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Tah-chin

Tah-chin is the showpiece of a Tehran dinner party: a round cake of saffron rice set with yogurt and egg, turned out of its dish so the thick golden crust sits on top like a lid, with a layer of tender chicken hidden inside. Families make it for birthdays, Nowruz visits and any day guests are coming, and the barberries scattered over the top add tart red jewels. The crust should crack like a crisp biscuit while the rice inside stays soft. A common mistake is skimping on the resting time after baking; turned out too early, the cake slumps and the crust sticks. Chef's tip: marinate the cooked chicken in a spoon of the yogurt mixture while the rice boils, so the filling is as well seasoned as the rice.

150 minPersianChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Albaloo polo

In early summer the markets of Tehran fill with dark sour cherries, and many families cook a pot of albaloo polo the same week, also bringing it out for weddings and Yalda night because the red-and-gold rice looks so festive. The cherries are simmered into a glossy syrup, then layered through basmati with marble-sized lamb meatballs (some cooks use shredded chicken instead), and the whole pot is steamed until the rice turns pink and fragrant. The taste is sweet, sharp and savoury at once. A common mistake is pouring in all the syrup; it makes the rice soggy, so keep some back to drizzle at the table. Chef's tip: frozen or jarred pitted sour cherries in light syrup work well out of season; drain them and use half the sugar.

95 minPersianChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Khoresh mast

Khoresh mast is one of the strangest and most loved dishes of Isfahan: despite the name 'yogurt stew', it is served cold as a sweet side dish or dessert at weddings, funerals and Ramadan iftars. Lamb neck is cooked until it shreds into fine threads, then stirred into thick yogurt with egg yolk, sugar, saffron and orange-peel strips over a low heat until it sets into a golden, spoonable pudding that tastes of saffron and rosewater with a faint savoury depth. A common mistake is letting the yogurt boil; it splits into curds, so keep it below a simmer and stir constantly. Chef's tip: pound the cooked meat in a mortar until it is as fine as wool; you should feel the texture but not see pieces of meat.

180 minPersianCurriesGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Zereshk polo ba morgh

Zereshk polo ba morgh is the rice Iranians cook for guests, weddings and Friday lunches, and its tart red barberries come mostly from the orchards around Birjand in South Khorasan, where the berries are dried on rooftops in autumn. Fluffy steamed basmati is crowned with saffron rice and barberries fried briefly in butter with a little sugar, and served beside chicken braised slowly with onion, tomato and saffron until it is falling off the bone. A common mistake is frying the barberries for more than a minute or two; they burn fast and turn bitter. Chef's tip: sort the barberries on a white plate and remove any tiny stems or grit before soaking.

90 minPersianChickenGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with slivered pistachios