Persian Passover Sweets & Tea
The Community Kitchen's Passover Party Series Co-Hosted with The Forward! 🎉
Passover is soon approaching as you can likely tell by the presence of matzos at your supermarket. The Jewish holiday, which commemorates the Biblical story of Exodus and God liberating the Israelites from slavery, is typically celebrated with a large communal dinner known as a Seder. As we prepare for our second pandemic Passover, many of us will again turn to Zoom for remote renditions of Seder rituals.
The Community Kitchen & The Forward hope to bring you a little more community with two Passover events representing two strands of Seder traditions. On Thursday, March 25, we’ll make matzo ball soup, a staple of Ashkenazi Jewish Seder tables. But before that, we’ll make dessert -- diving into the delicious world of Persian Passover sweets and tea Sunday, March 21 -- because this pandemic has reminded us that life is precious and we must savor the sweet things while we can. We hope you’ll join us!
🤤 Persian Passover Sweets & Tea ☕️
It’s been a tough year, so we’ll start with dessert. We deserve it.
Tannaz Sassooni (@tannazsassooni) has been collecting Iranian-Jewish recipes for years, compiling her community’s culinary heritage into a forthcoming cookbook. She will guide us in making three essential Persian Passover sweets and a demo of using the vaunted double-boiler method for making a perfect glass of Persian tea.
“Persian tea is an institution, the life of the party,” Tannaz says. “You can’t go to a Persian home without being offered a glass of tea. It’s a show of hospitality, a way to connect and slow down. In Persian culture, you always have something sweet with tea.”
We’ll make loz’e nargil (coconut diamonds), badam sookteh (burnt caramel almonds), and toot (marzipan mulberries). “These are not your grandmother’s coconut macaroons,” Tannaz jokes. “Persian sweets are small bites that pack a punch. They can be very sweet and fragrant and go perfectly with tea, which is bitter. Each bite is an intense flavor experience.”
We will follow Tannaz’s family recipes, handed down for generations. To get into the Persian Passover spirit, we suggest you visit a Persian or Middle Eastern grocery store near you (if it’s safe for you to do so) to pick up ingredients like rose water, rose petals, cardamom and slivered pistachios to decorate your coconut diamonds. If you can’t make it to a grocery store, persianbasket.com is a great online option.
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❤️ Cook’s Cause 💪🏾
Tannaz is dedicating her Community Kitchen to No Us Without You, which “provides food security for the undocumented immigrants who are the backbone of the hospitality industry in the greater Los Angeles area. These hard-working women and men who have, for years, fulfilled the unforgiving back of house restaurant positions, now find themselves in the vulnerable position of being unemployed, with little to no government assistance.
A donation of $33 feeds a family of four for one week. Please donate here.
Shopping List: All the ingredients you'll need!
- black tea
- granulated sugar
- powdered sugar
- unsweetened shredded coconut
- almond meal (from peeled almonds)
- rose water
- 2 egg whites
- slivered pistachios or almonds
- raw almonds
- ground cardamom
- pinch of salt
- optional: dried rose petals, cardamom pods
Equipment
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- kitchen scale
- food processor
- rubber spatula or tablespoon
- small, flat, dish, with at least a 1cm edge
- offset spatula or flat-bottomed glass to smooth the coconut surface
- paring knife or other small, sharp knife
- large bowl
- small bowl or plate
- baking sheet or large tray
- two forks
- large saucepan
- serving dish
Loz’e Nargil | Coconut Diamonds
250g unsweetened shredded coconut
125g granulated sugar
2 egg whites
¼ C rose water
Garnish: slivered pistachios, crushed dried rose petals, or cardamom seeds
In a food processor, mix coconut and sugar until texture is very fine, about 2 minutes. Add egg whites and rose water, and blend until the mixture comes together in a soft dough, about 2-3 minutes longer.
Tip out into a small baking dish, with at least a 1cm high edge. Spread evenly, using an offset spatula or the bottom of a flat glass or jar to smooth out the surface. Refrigerate for 8 hours (we won’t be doing this live in the event obviously). Cut into long diamonds, by cutting lines about 1 inch apart down the length of the dish, then diagonal lines across them, then garnish each diamond.
Badam Sookhteh | Dark caramel almonds
1/2 tsp flavorless oil (corn, canola, grapeseed, avocado, etc)
1 1/2 cups whole raw unsalted almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Coat a baking sheet or large tray with a thin layer of oil using a brush or paper towel. Coat the tines of 2 forks with oil. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add almonds to pan and allow to toast, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until almonds get fragrant. Remove from heat, and place almonds in a bowl.
Once pan is cool enough to touch, wipe out any leftover bits of almond. Return to medium heat and add sugar. Once it begins to melt, add cardamom and stir occasionally, until all bits of sugar have dissolved and resulting caramel has a deep brown color. Add almonds in about three batches, stir to coat each one. Working quickly, use the oiled forks to lift the almonds out of the pan and place them on the oiled tray, taking great care to prevent any almonds from touching one another. Once a batch of almonds has cooled, push it out of the way to make room for the next batch.
Toot | Persian marzipan mulberries
1 cup almond flour (made from peeled almonds)
1 cup powdered sugar (note: if you’re not consuming cornstarch during Passover, you can use granulated sugar that’s been ground fine in the food processor)
Pinch of salt
~3 tbsp rose water
24-30 slivered pistachios or almonds
¼ c granulated sugar
In a large bowl, stir together almond flour and powdered sugar until fully mixed. Gradually add in rosewater, about ½ tsp at a time, until mixture can come together in a dry dough. Continue to mix/knead for about two minutes, until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
Place granulated sugar in a plate. With your hands, roll a teaspoon of the almond mixture into a sphere, and make one end slightly pointy. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then poke a slivered pistachio or almond in the wide end of the toot to form a stem.
Note: tired of rose water? You could instead flavor these with a touch of almond extract, and use water instead of rose water.
Persian Tea
Persian tea is more than just a drink; it’s a way of life bringing people together. Traditionally, Persian tea is made in a samovar, a large metal vessel used to heat water over coals with a space on top for a teapot. Since most of us don’t have samovars at home these days, Tannaz will show us creative ways to replicate this double boiler method in a modern kitchen.
To follow alongside, have a kettle and a teapot ready along with some black loose leaf black tea. Visit your local Persian grocery for classic brands like Sadaf or Ahmad. Other black teas such as English breakfast or Irish tea work as well.
Tannaz will guide us through the rest live!
Watch the highlights:
Or relive the entire magic with the full video here:
