Ingredients
Dough
- 400 groasted chickpea flour, sifted three times
- 200 gicing sugar, sifted
- 200 gclarified butter or ghee, at room temperature
- 1 tbspground cardamom
- 2 tbsprosewater
To finish
- 3 tbspchopped pistachios
Equipment
- a clover-shaped cutter, traditionally
- a lined baking tray
Note
- no wheat flour, no eggs and no liquid other than rosewater
Directions
- Sift it at least three times, and more if you have the patience. Sift the icing sugar with it on the last pass. The fat must be clarified and at the right temperature. Put the sifted flour and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add the ground cardamom to it. Add the soft clarified butter. Rub it in with your fingertips. Keep working until it looks like damp sand.
- Add the rosewater a spoonful at a time. Bringing it together needs patience. Press the mixture together with your hands. Squeeze it rather than kneading it. It should come together into a soft dough that holds when pressed.
- Add a little more rosewater only if it absolutely will not hold. Wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least two hours. It is very soft and cannot be handled warm.
- Roll the chilled dough between two sheets of baking paper. Roll it to about one centimetre thick. Cutting them is done with a clover cutter traditionally. Cut them out and leave them on the paper. Lift the surrounding dough away rather than lifting the cookies.
- Press a few chopped pistachios into the centre of each. Chilling them again before baking helps them hold their shape. Put the tray in the fridge for twenty minutes. Cold dough spreads far less in the oven.
- Heat the oven to 150C in good time. That is deliberately low, since these must not colour. Bake them for twelve to fifteen minutes. Knowing when they are done takes care.
- Leave them on the tray until they are completely cold. Do not attempt to move them while warm. Lift them gently into an airtight tin. Layer them between sheets of paper. They keep for about two weeks.
Technique
- Use roasted chickpea flour, not raw gram flour, which tastes beany.
- Sift the flour at least three times, since any lump shows as a hard spot.
- They must stay completely pale; a browned nan-e nokhodchi is ruined.
Substitutions
- Whole roasted chickpeas ground and sifted at home.
- Ghee in place of clarified butter.
Variations
- With saffron infused into the rosewater.
- Made smaller, as bite-sized cookies.
- With ground pistachio worked into the dough.
History
A Nowruz sweet associated with Qom, made without wheat flour so the crumb collapses instantly.
Frequently asked questions
What is Nan-e nokhodchi?
Nan-e nokhodchi is a dessert from Iran: clover-shaped chickpea flour cookies that dissolve on the tongue, scented with cardamom. A Nowruz sweet associated with Qom, made without wheat flour so the crumb collapses instantly.
How long does Nan-e nokhodchi take to make?
Nan-e nokhodchi takes 30 min plus 2 hours chilling of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 40 cookies. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Nan-e nokhodchi?
Yes, within limits. Whole roasted chickpeas ground and sifted at home. Ghee in place of clarified butter.
What is the most important thing to get right in Nan-e nokhodchi?
Sift it at least three times, and more if you have the patience. Sift the icing sugar with it on the last pass. The fat must be clarified and at the right temperature. Put the sifted flour and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add the ground cardamom to it. Add the soft clarified butter. Rub it in with your fingertips. Keep working until it looks like damp sand.
