Kuku Sabzi

The traditional dish of Nowruz, the Persian New Year on the spring equinox (around March 21), where the dominant green color stands for rebirth and the eggs for fertility — the Nowruz table requires the dish on the first night. The format (eggs as a binder for vegetables) appears in Persian cookbooks from the Safavid era (16th century), though Zoroastrian spring-renewal feasting predates it by over two thousand years.

Persian green herb frittata — parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, fenugreek, with a touch of walnut and barberries, bound by very few eggs (3-4 for a 10-inch pan). Served at Nowruz on the haft-sin table — green for rebirth. The herbs should outweigh the eggs by 4:1; otherwise it's just an omelet.

A dense, dark-green wedge — almost more herb than egg. Parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, fenugreek leaves chopped fine and bound with just enough beaten egg to hold. Pan-fried until the outside is deep brown-crisp and the inside stays moist. Eaten warm or cold with flatbread, yogurt, and walnuts. Color should be forest, not olive — gray-green means the herbs were over-fried.

Ratio is everything: roughly four parts chopped herb to one part egg by volume, plus a pinch of baking powder and a teaspoon of flour to keep the loose mass cohering. Cook covered on low heat for 15 minutes per side — uncovered, the top stays raw while the bottom blackens. Some cooks add walnuts and barberries; both are regional, neither is wrong.