Iranians use chickpea flour in their celebratory New Year’s Eve sweets, known as Nokhodi. Most famous is a type of oven-baked chickpea sweet that, despite my many attempts, I could never get quite right. The mixture is said to be run through a meat grinder three times and rested in the fridge overnight for the best results. I am so fond of Nokhodi that I had to create this recipe.
- chickpea flour 125g (1 cup)
- ground cardamom 6g (1 tbsp)
- ground cinnamon 2g (1 tsp)
- chopped or slivered pistachios 60g (1/2 cup)
- icing sugar 70g (1/2cup)
- unsalted butter 113g (1/2 cup)
Place the flour in a thick-bottomed pan over a medium heat.
Stir constantly for 4-5 minutes, making sure it doesn’t catch around the edges.
Add the butter and let it melt gently, stirring constantly.
Take the pan off the heat and add the cardamom, cinnamon and icing sugar.
Stir until well combined.
Cover the surface of a 23cm (9 inch) square cake tin with foil or a baking sheet with a few centimetres of overhang.
Transfer the batter into the tin and spread it evenly, flattening the surface with the back of a spatula. Alternatively, you can use small silicon molds.
You may want to consider wearing oven gloves or some kind of protective clothing, as the flour and butter mixture gets extremely hot.
Press the pistachio nuts into the mixture and refrigerate until firm.
Cut with a sharp knife into bite-sized squares. If you use silicon molds, put the pistachios in the molds first and then spoon in the batter press well and even the surface. Unmold them once they’re cooled and firmed up in the fridge.
These cookies stay for weeks in the fridge and they also freeze perfectly for months.
