{"id":8649,"date":"2026-10-27T13:27:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T04:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8649"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:51:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:51:52","slug":"nan-e-nokhodchi","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/nan-e-nokhodchi\/","title":{"rendered":"Nan-e Nokhodchi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nan-e nokhodchi is a small Iranian baked sweet made from chickpea flour. Roasted chickpea flour is combined with fat and sugar and flavored with cardamom. Made with fine flour, the dough crumbles softly in the mouth, leaving behind the toasty flavor of the chickpeas.<\/p>\n

\"An
An example of a tool used to separate cardamom pods and seeds. Location unknown. Photo: GrammarFascist \/ Source<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Shown with the pods and seeds separated. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no changes to the content after retrieval.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Four-leaf-shaped
An example of four-leaf-shaped nan-e nokhodchi. 2015, location unknown. \u00a9 Alice Wiegand \/ CC-BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) \/ Source<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no changes to the content after retrieval.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cut Small, Handled Once Cool<\/h2>\n

Traditionally, the dough was formed into pieces about the size of a hazelnut, and the surface was patterned with a thimble or the tip of a knife. Today, some are cut out with small cutters in shapes such as squares, diamonds, and hearts, and some are decorated with pistachios. Because it is based mainly on chickpea flour, its ingredients differ from those of wheat-flour baked sweets, and it also has a different aroma from nan-e berenji<\/a>, another Iranian sweet, made with rice flour.<\/p>\n

The Persian name means “chickpea nan.” Methods that include egg have also been recorded, but there is no single set of ingredients or shapes.<\/p>\n

Finely ground roasted chickpea flour is worked thoroughly together with fat and powdered sugar to bring the dough together. The dough, powdery at first, comes together as it is kneaded by hand. Some methods add a little rosewater, layering a floral scent over the aroma of cardamom. The small cut-out pieces are fragile even after baking, so they are handled gently once they have cooled.<\/p>\n

\"An
An example of chickpea flour (unknown whether before or after roasting). Location unknown. Photo: AlexanderVanLoon \/ Source<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the hosting source; no changes to the content after retrieval.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Sweet for Welcoming New Year Guests<\/h2>\n

The confectionery researcher Nader Mehravari notes that a recipe for this sweet appears in a Persian cookbook published around 1835. It is also said to have originated in Qazvin, but when and where the sweet was born is uncertain.<\/p>\n

In Iran, during Nowruz, the New Year that welcomes spring, guests are received with an assortment of small sweets. The chickpea sweet is known as one of the sweets in that assortment. When visiting relatives or friends, some people have a sweet shop pack small sweets into a box to bring as a gift. Roya Soleimani, an Iranian American who grew up in Seattle, has memories of standing in the kitchen with her Iranian grandmother, and she shares the recipe as a Nowruz sweet. Though its name contains nan, meaning bread, it is a small baked sweet served with tea to welcome guests.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Cardamom<\/strong>: A spice used for the fresh aroma of its seeds.<\/p>

Nan-e berenji<\/strong>: An Iranian baked sweet made with rice flour.<\/p>

Nowruz<\/strong>: The New Year celebrated around the spring equinox in Iran and elsewhere.<\/p>

Nader Mehravari<\/strong>: A researcher of the history of Persian sweets.<\/p>

Roya Soleimani<\/strong>: A cook who shares recipes for home-style sweets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nan-e nokhodchi is a small Iranian baked sweet made from chickpea flour. Roasted chickpea flour is combined with fat and sugar and scented with cardamom. Made with fine flour, the dough crumbles softly in the mouth, leaving behind the toasty flavor of the chickpeas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7881,"menu_order":420,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Nan-e nokhodchi","subtitle":"Ingredients and Preparation of Nan-e Nokhodchi","topics":"Crumbly dough of roasted chickpea flour \/ Small cutters and thimble patterns \/ An Iranian baked sweet scented with cardamom","country":"Qazvin and other areas, Iran","show_toc":true,"ingredients":[],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["baked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[151],"class_list":["post-8649","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t