Jekka’s Kuku Sabzi

This is one of our favourite dishes and is wonderful as part of a family-style, sharing lunch or dinner. A Kuku Sabzi is basically a Persian frittata. It shows off herbs to their fullest as they are the main ingredient in the dish with egg and flour only being used as a binding agent. The herbs used are dependent on their availability, so sometimes we might add more parsley, which only leads to it tasting different each time. The colour is amazing as it is bright green from the herbs being fried with the turmeric. This recipe is adapted from Sabina Ghayour’s book Persiana and we have made it gluten free.

Ingredients:

500 g of herbs depending on availability (flat leaf parsley, coriander, dill and chives)
2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
2 bunches spring onions thinly sliced
2 tsp turmeric
8 medium free range eggs
2 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp Greek yogurt
3 tsp Doves Farm gluten free baking powder
2 tsp sea salt flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
3 -4 heaped tbsp dried barberries
100 g walnut pieces, chopped

Steps:

Heat the oven to 180 Deg C / gas mark 4.
Line an ovenproof or pyrex dish with baking paper.
Place a large cooking pot to warm over a medium heat.
Finely chop all the herbs either by hand or in a food processor.
Pour the olive oil into a warm pan and fry the herbs and spring onions for a few minutes. Then add the turmeric. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then place on a flat plate and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, mix the eggs, flour, yogurt, baking powder together with the sea salt and black pepper to taste until everything is well combined and smooth.
Once the herb mixture is cooled, add slowly to the egg mixture and stir well until combined. Finally add the walnuts and barberries.
Pour the mixture into the ovenproof dish and bake for 35-40 minutes. To check if it is cooked, insert a knife into the centre that should come out clear of raw egg.
Once cooked, allow to cool and cut into squares to serve.

If you love the sounds of this recipe and herb-based cooking check out our Master Classes.