Sabzi Khordan | Fresh Herb Platter
Fresh herbs are vastly used in flavoring and garnishing Persian foods. Some of these herbs are used as ingredients in making foods like Ghorme sabzi, Sabzi polo etc. there are also special kinds of herbs that are served with foods as a side dish, which all together make a combination named Sabzi Khrodan. Each of these herbs has specific medicinal and nutritious properties and they are recommended to be used in everyone’s diet on a daily basis.
Sabzi Khrodan includes these herbs: basil, mint, Persian leek (leek chives), savory, parsley, tarragon, leek, radish, coriander, scallion, dill, fenugreek and water cress. The amount of each of these herbs differ based on people’s own taste. Some of them can even be omitted from this combination. All the aromatic herbs like mint, basil, savory and etc., have four common properties: anti-flatulence, anti-pain, anti-spasm, anti-microbes. They also have some specific properties each.
How to trim different Herbs for a fresh herb platter?
Trimming means removing the unwanted parts from the herbs, which has a different method for each of them:
• Basil: separate the leaves from the stalks. Discard stalks and withered leaves and keep the fresh healthy leaves.
• Mint: it is the same as basil.
• Parsley: Parsley stalks are usually too long and you don’t need that length in your Sabzi Khordan. Cut the stalks up to until 13 cm to the leaves. Also remove the yellow withered leaves.
• Coriander: the same as parsley.
• Dill: the same as parsley.
• Cress: the same as parsley.
• Savory: remove the leaves from the stalk. Hold the head of the stalk with your index and thumb fingers. Draw the same two fingers from the other hand, from the beginning to the end of the stalk. Gather the leaves in your palm and put them in the bowl. (instead of this, you can just remove the withered leaves and divide the stalk to two or three parts depending on the stalk length (almost a bite size).
• Tarragon: the same as savory.
• Persian leek: remove the withered parts from two ends of the Persian leek and divide the leeks to two or more parts (depending on their length- the parts need to be almost a bite size).
• Fenugreek: remove the roots and withered leaves. Cut the rest to bite size parts.
• Radish: remove the leaves. Remove the root form radish head and one small part from its end. (some people keep the radish leaves too, but they are mostly discarded.)
When trimming is finished, combine all the trimmed herbs in one bowl and wash the sabzi khordan using enough water and sanitizer.
What to serve Sabzi Khordan (Fresh Herb Platter) with?
Sabzi khordan is served with almost every Persian food. It is sometimes used as a side dish and sometimes as an ingredient. Iranians have very creative, nutritious and yet simple food in which sabzi khordan is used. It’s a roll up bite made with bread, feta cheese, sabzi khordan and walnut. (Nan-Panir-Sabzi)
While Sabzi khordan is used with almost all the foods, some of the Persian foods are more suited to be served with herbs, like Koofteh (meat balls), kebab and Abgoosht. Some of the herbs in Sabzi Khordan are specifically served with some special foods. For example, basil (alone) is mostly used with kebab.
Herbs are so nutritious and therefore they are recommended to be present in your everyday diet. 3 to 5 servings of herbs and vegetables a day are recommended by nutritionists. Each serving equals to a full glass of raw herbs or half a glass of them cooked. In the coming articles, different benefits and nutrients of each of the herbs in sabzi khordan will be discussed.
How to maintain herbs fresh?
There are special tricks for maintaining fresh herb platter for almost a week:
- If you can’t or don’t want to use the herbs immediately, put the bundles in a cool place and cover their surface with a damp piece of cloth.
- Don’t keep them this way for too long. (at most one day). Open the bundles one by one, as soon as possible, scatter the herbs on a surface, separate the unwanted parts and discard them. The unwanted parts differ from herb to herb. (explained in the coming parts.)
- Wash the herbs in cold water, for three times:
• First time, just put them in a big enough bowl or basin, fill the basin with water so that it covers 5 cm above the herbs.
• Let the herbs be in water for 5 minutes. Then discard water and drain herbs
• Put them again in the basin and fill it with water. This time you need to add some sterilizer to be added to herbs. Some people use natural sterilizers like salt or vinegar, which are proven to be more effective in maintaining fresh herbs. Chemical sterilizers wither the herbs more quickly.
• Let the herbs soak in water and sterilizer for almost 10 minutes (and not more), then discard water and drain the herbs.
• Soak herbs in fresh water for the third time, let them be for some few more minutes and discard water again. Sprinkle water on herbs while they are in the colander and rub them with your hands to remove any possible dirt or sterilizer remained on the leaves.
• Let herbs stay in a colander long enough to get drained. - When drained enough in the colander, scatter the herbs on a clean cloth and let them be for 3 to 4 hours. Move the herbs on the cloth every 30 minutes so that they get completely dried. Even a little bit wetness can cause the herbs to wither.
- When drained completely, you can maintain herbs in the fridge through different methods:
• In a paper: Wrap them in a clean paper, wrap a plastic around the paper and put in the fridge.
• In a plastic container: cover the bottom of the container with a piece of paper towel, put the herbs in the container and cover their surface with paper or paper towel, put the lid on and put it in the fridge. Every once in a while, open the lid and remove the withered herbs.
• Plastic bags: you can simply keep herbs in a plastic bag, knot its head and keep it in the fridge.
• Do not wash the herbs: If you don’t wash the herbs after trimming, you can keep them longer in the fridge. Put the trimmed herbs in a plastic bag, knot its head and put it in the fridge (you can also put a paper or towel paper in the plastic bag beforehand). Each time, wash as much of it as you want to use and keep the rest in the fridge.
What are the benefits of the fresh herbs?
- Vegetables are rich in iron, which improves your energy levels and eases the transfer of oxygen in your body.
- They are a reliable source for folate, which is one type of B vitamin and it is soluble in water, can prevent cancer and growth problems in fetus.
- Vegetables have magnesium so they are very important in the cardiovascular system’s healthy function.
- Fiber is high in vegetables which results in cholesterol balance and gastrointestinal system’s healthy function.
- They are full of antioxidants and they can improve your immune system. They are also very beneficial for the autoimmune diseases.
sabzi khordan used to be an inseparable member of our table back in iran. here it is different for me. and I am replacing the fiber of sabzi khordan with cabbage of letuce. the taste of the sabzi is something different and does not leave my mind.
sabzi khordan is very healthy for your benefits. you can not find a better way for enriching your table than by putting some sabzi khordan beside it. it also makes it very delicious. imagine this thing with kebab. and nothing can be better than that! yummy
sabzi khordan is a gift from heaven. all the members you named above have dozens of health benefits that all of them together can make a person’s life happier and healthier. I have read some where that fresh herbs make you delighted and prevents depression.
the meal turns to an amusing meak when you use sabzi khordan with it. this item is healthy, fresh, beautiful on the table and very delicious. I have started to have this habit of placing fresh herbs on the table and serving the meals with them and the result has been really satisfying,
I think I have been persuaded that fresh herbs are the best things you can serve your dish with. with the numerous health benefits you mentioned there is no way running from eating these small healthy herbs. thanks for your great article.
sabzi khordan is a perfect side dish for the dinner or lunch table
oh these herbs are really cool!
I fell in love with the texture of the fresh herbs and persian rice!
thanks for the perfect idea! as a side dish
yaaay! I love vegetables! specially fresh herbs