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AI-generated photograph: Three diamond shaped slices of deep green baked herb frittata stacked on a dark slate board, the cut sides showing a dense green crumb dotted with red barberries, a small heap of fresh herbs beside them

Home · Recipes · Kuku sabzi, baked herb frittata with barberries

Persian · Soups and starters

Kuku sabzi, baked herb frittata with barberries

fresh green herbs · baked egg · sour barberries

AI-generated photograph

Kuku sabzi is a Persian baked frittata that is far more herbs than egg, so it comes out of the oven a deep, bright green. Ours is dotted with barberries, small sour red berries, and cut into diamonds to eat warm or at room temperature.

Contains: eggs, as written. Eggs are the only one of the 14 allergens in this recipe, from the eggs. The herbs, spices, oil and barberries contain none of the 14. Dried barberries are rarely treated with sulphites, but some dried fruit is, so check the packet for sulphur dioxide.

Ingredients

  • 60g flat leaf parsley
  • 60g coriander
  • 40g dill
  • 4 spring onions
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (also sold as kasuri methi in Indian and Persian shops)
  • 3 tablespoons dried barberries (small, sour red berries; zereshk in Persian), sold in Persian and Middle Eastern shops and online
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt
  • Half a teaspoon ground black pepper

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Let's cook

  1. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Put the barberries in a small bowl of cold water for 10 minutes to plump up, then drain them well.
  2. Wash the parsley, coriander and dill and dry them very well in a salad spinner or a clean tea towel. Wet herbs make a soggy kuku.
  3. Pick off the thick stalks and keep the leaves and fine stalks. Chop the herbs and spring onions very finely, by hand or by pulsing them in a food processor. You want them fine, not a paste.
  4. Pour 3 tablespoons of the oil into a 20cm square or round ovenproof dish and put it in the oven for 5 minutes to heat up.
  5. Beat the eggs in a large bowl with the turmeric, fenugreek, salt and pepper. Stir in the herbs and most of the barberries. The mixture should look like wet herbs bound with egg, not egg with herbs in it.
  6. Take the hot dish out carefully and pour the mixture in. Smooth the top, scatter over the rest of the barberries and drizzle with the last tablespoon of oil.
  7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the top is set and firm, the edges are crisp and a knife pushed into the middle comes out with no runny egg on it.
  8. Leave it to settle for 5 minutes, then cut into diamonds or squares. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tips

  • Dry the herbs thoroughly: this is the most important step for a kuku that holds together.
  • Cool any leftovers within 2 hours, keep them covered in the fridge for up to 2 days, and eat them cold or warmed through in a low oven.

Swaps

  • No barberries: use the same amount of dried cranberries, finely chopped. They are sweeter, so the kuku will be less sharp.
  • With walnuts: stir 30g chopped walnuts into the mixture with the herbs. Then the recipe contains tree nuts.

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

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