Norooz is coming, and we are all and about preparing for our Persian New Year celebration. To keep the children occupied and bring some Norooz spirits, I created a free Norooz Haft Sin Freebie for you and your kids to set up. Crafting with children is a lovely pastime. Enjoy!
If you want to prepare a unique chicken salad to delight your taste buds, I recommend my Salad-e Anar ba Morgh – Chicken Pomegranate Salad (سالاد انار و مرغ). Here, the flavors of the world come together. The bright red pearls give the salad a sweet and sour note and a nice crunch. The chicken, eggs, pickled cucumber, and cilantro are a treat to the taste buds. I chose cilantro for this recipe, but if you don’t like it, you can use parsley or mint instead. The recipe is easy and quick to prepare, perfect for Shab-e Yalda, a festive menu, or New Year’s Eve. You can find more typical dishes for Shab-e Yalda here. We like to serve it as an appetizer, which we call Mazeh (Mezze).
We celebrate the longest and darkest night of the year, known as Shabe Yalda – Yalda Night, in Iran. After this night, the days become longer again, the nights shorter, and light triumphs over darkness. Yalda signifies the birth of light and the sun. Friends and family gather on this night at the home of the oldest family members to celebrate the Festival of Joy until dawn. Here are my recipes for Shab-e Yalda; enjoy preparing and celebrating!
Do you crave for a refreshing summer drink on hot summer days? We drink Sharbat-e Khakshir Nabat – Persian Summer Drink in Iran when it’s hot. A healthy and delicious Persian refreshment drink made from Sophia herb seeds, fresh spring water, rose water, lemon juice (optional), ice cubes, and saffron candied sticks. This drink cools you from the inside, is quick to prepare, tastes delicious, and will quench your thirst. The seeds are heavy, and sink to the bottom of the glass and should be stirred just before drinking. The stirring makes them dance their way to the top. If you travel to Iran, you should try Sharbat-e Khakshir Nabat – Persian Summer Drink in a Ab Miveh Forooshi (juice bar), you can get this cool refreshing drink at every corner. Find here some more Sharbat recipes on my blog.
Tirgan Mobarak! Happy Tirgan! Like all our Persian festivals, at Tirgan, there is a lot of dancing, singing, and reciting poems. It’s tradition to splash water on each other (Ab Pashi) on this day. We also eat certain foods, such as my Soup-e Esfenadj – Spinach Soup for Tirgan. The recipe is super simple! The soup includes fresh baby spinach, potatoes, onions, and oriental spices. It’s vegetarian, as I made it with vegetable stock, but you can also use chicken stock. Add a blob of Greek yogurt, fresh mint, and a few drops of good olive oil to garnish. This creamy, healthy, and delicious soup is on your table in no time.
Nan-e Barbari is a Persian flatbread, usually 70 – 80 cm long, and tastes best fresh from the oven. It is most baked and sold in Iran. The bread is very similar to the Turkish flatbread, but not quite so thick and round but thin and oval. If you plan a trip to Iran, you should visit a Noonvai – a persian bakery. The bread is baked in the morning, at noon and in the evening ,fresh and in front of your eyes. Each bakery is specialized in one type of bread and bakes it in a stone oven. In Iran, we have four different types of breads baked in stone ovens, for example Nan-e Sangak is from rye flour and is baked on pebbles, Nan-e Lavash is wafer-thin patties made from wheat flour without yeast, and Nan-e Taftoon is from whole wheat flour.
This year Nowrooz is overshadowed by the violence against the people of Iran. We do not feel like celebrating this year, so I have designed my Haft Sin in the sign of peace. I have directed my peace sign on porose facing upwards, as the tree growing upwards stands for life and its new beginning, hoping for a new Beginning in Iran. The tree pointing downwards, as we know it from the Peace sign, means death or the end. I placed six wooden bowls with Samanoo, Sumach, Sekeh, Senjed, Sir, and Sib around my Sabzeh. I have explained the meaning of the symbols in this post. Flowers and candles in the trend color “Viva Magenta” are placed in vases and on glass and wooden chandeliers. I hope you like my Haft Sin Impressions 2023 هفت سین ۱۴۰۲. Watch Video on Instagram
Preparations for NOROOZ – The Celebration of Renewal نوروز starts about 2 weeks before with the sprouting of wheat, barley, or lentil seeds, which will turn into “sabzeh” in 2 weeks.
Sofreye Haft Sin Sofreh is a Persian tablecloth. On this tablecloth 7 symbolic elements are dished up for Norooz our Persian New Year, which begin with the letter “S” in Farsi. The number seven is a sacred number. Watch Video on Instagram
On the last Tuesday evening before the Persian New Year, we celebrate Chaharshanbeh Suri – The Persian Festival. Several rituals are performed on this fire festival to purify the body and mind. Chaharshanbeh means Wednesday, and Suri means light and also fire. In my childhood, this caused some confusion. Why is it called Wednesday and celebrated on Tuesday? It’s the last night to Wednesday before Norooz, the Persian New Year, a festival celebrated at the spring equinox. The Origin of this festival dates back to the Zoroastrian era based on the Tsarathustra’s beliefs. On this day, we celebrate the victory of light over darkness. After all, we are approaching the equinox in a few days. The Fire Festival is an announcement of spring and the revival of nature. Watch Video on Instagram
