Celebrating Nowruz

If you are at all familiar with Iranians and their cultures, you might know that our new year is just around the corner.  We celebrate our new year, Nowruz, the first day of spring.  Nowruz is the most important holiday in Iran. 

Preparations for Nowruz begin in the last month of winter.  During this month, Persians do a major spring cleaning around the house to start preparing for Nowruz.  The also purchase new clothes to wear for the new year and purchase hyacinth and tulip flowers.  It is customary to buy at least one set of new clothes. On the New Year's Day, families dress in their new clothes and start the twelve-day celebrations by visiting the elders of their family, then the rest of their family and finally their friends. On the thirteenth day families leave their homes and picnic outdoors.  

Another tradition for Nowruz is to make and serve sweets and baked goods. On this blog, I plan to do just that!  There is so much to our new year and I cannot possibly cover all the food and sweets, but will share a home-baked sweet that tastes like home.

Baklava Cake

4 eggs – whites and yolks separated

1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cup ground unsalted almonds

1 ½ cup flour

1 tablespoon ground cardamom

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  .  Sift the flour and the baking powder in a bowl and set aside.  Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until it turns white and forms a peak.  Add sugar and mix on medium speed.  Add vegetable oil and mix.  Add the egg yolks and mix again.  Then add the ground almonds while mixing, and then add the flour, baking powder and cardamom.  Add milk and mix again.  Using a heat-proof glass baking dish (13 by 9 inches), grease it with a cooking spray.  Pour the batter in the baking dish and bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the cake cool.

Syrup:

1 ½ cup sugar

1 cup water

2 tablespoon rose water

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in water.  Add the rose water.

After the cake has cooled off completely, pour the hot syrup over the cake, making sure the entire cake is soaked by the liquid.

Optional:

2 tablespoon ground pistachio to sprinkle on top of the cake

 Baklava Cake

Traditionally, they cut this cake diagonally to create small bite-size diamond shapes so that it’s easy to serve and also enough to go around.

Happy Persian New Year to all who celebrate.

هر روزتان نوروز نوروزتان پیروز