Tomorrow is Persian New Year, which is celebrated for 13 days straight (what a party!).
Traditionally, Haft-Seen or the Seven S’s are used to decorate the table:
‣ sabze, sprouted wheat grass for rebirth
‣ samanu, sweet pudding made for wealth
‣ senjed, dried fruit of the oleaster tree for love,
‣ sumac/somāq: crushed spice of berries for patience,
‣ sir: garlic for warding of evil,
‣ sib: apples for health,
‣ serke: vinegar for satisfaction.
Do any of you celebrate, and if so, what are you making? I was surprised to see that Persian/Iranian had not yet been COTM or COTQ. Perhaps something to consider for the next voting round
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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Novruz is celebrated by India’s Parsi community, many of whom live in Mumbai. Our favourite Mumbai street food restaurant is running a Parsi tasting menu on Sunday evenings. Sandeep, the co-owner, is from Mumbai and his business partner, Donya, is from Iran. We went earlier in the month.
Broke-Ass Stuart, a San Francisco um, writer? influencer? Gadfly? had an article about the holiday two years ago. The links might not work, but the text and photos are interesting
It mentions Ash Reshteh, the bean and pasta soup. A bodega nearby (Middle East Market on San Pablo in Berkeley) has an excellent version, so I’ll pick some up.
I dont know of a Persian restaurant (Google says there’s a couple of kebab places but thats about it) or community anywhere near me… but I’d give it a try!
