Sabzi Khordan

The herb platter set on every Persian table: a generous heap of fresh tarragon, mint, basil, and chives with radishes, walnuts, and white cheese, torn into warm flatbread and eaten by the handful as a food in its own right

Origin: Iran (Persia)

From the journey of Tarragon.

Sabzi khordan, which means simply 'eating herbs', is one of the defining features of the Persian table, and it captures a way of treating herbs that sets the Iranian kitchen apart from almost every other. Here herbs are not a seasoning hidden in the cooking but a food in their own right, set out raw and abundant at every meal: a great platter of fresh tarragon, mint, basil, chives, watercress, and coriander, with crisp radishes, walnuts, and a slab of salty white cheese, served alongside warm flatbread. The diner tears off a piece of bread, lays in a little cheese and a walnut, and piles on a handful of whatever herbs please, folding the lot into a fresh, fragrant mouthful that refreshes the palate between richer dishes. Tarragon, tarkhun, is one of the platter's essential members, its sweet anise note cutting cleanly against the richness of the cheese and the walnuts, and in the northwest of Iran and across the border in Azerbaijan it is amongst the most prized of all the herbs of the platter. Sabzi khordan is at once a salad, a palate cleanser, and a digestive, and no Persian meal of any importance is set without it.

Ingredients

The Herbs

  • 1 large bunch fresh tarragon
  • 1 large bunch fresh mint
  • 1 large bunch fresh basil (Persian reyhan if available)
  • 1 small bunch fresh chives or spring onions
  • 1 small bunch watercress or coriander

To Serve

  • 1 bunch radishes, trimmed
  • 100 g shelled walnuts
  • 200 g feta or Persian white cheese
  • 4 sheets lavash or other flatbread, warmed

Method

  1. Pick over the herbs, discarding tough stalks and any wilted leaves, but keep the tender stems, which are part of the pleasure. Wash thoroughly in plenty of cold water and dry gently in a salad spinner or clean cloth.
  2. Arrange the herbs in generous loose bunches across a large platter, grouping each kind together so the colours and shapes show.
  3. Add the radishes, the walnuts, and the block or slices of white cheese to the platter. Warm the flatbread and bring it to the table alongside.
  4. To eat, tear off a piece of flatbread, add a little cheese and a walnut, pile on a handful of mixed herbs, and fold into a parcel. Eat between and alongside the other dishes of the meal.

Notes

The exact herbs vary with the season and the cook, but tarragon (tarkhun), mint (na'na), and basil (reyhan) are the classic trinity, with chives, watercress, coriander, dill, and tender spring greens added as available. Soaked walnuts, sliced cucumber, and fresh green almonds in spring are common additions. Serve sabzi khordan as a fresh accompaniment to grilled meats (kababs), rice dishes, and stews; the leftover herbs are the basis of the cooked herb dishes kuku sabzi and ghormeh sabzi.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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