Name: Birjandi-style Purple Kashk with Roasted Vegetables + Croutons (Quruti-e Birjand)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: Serves: 4 to 6
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper; 4 Chinese eggplants (about 2 lb/900 g), peeled and sliced into 1in/2.5cm rounds; 1 butternut squash (about 2 lb/900 g), peeled, seeded and sliced into 1in/2.5cm rounds; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; 1 zucchini, sliced into 1in/2.5cm rounds; 2 small pitas or 1 lavash, cut into 1in/2.5cm squares, or use ready-made toasted croutons, omitting step 2.; 1 lb/450 g baby spinach leaves; ¼ cup/60 ml oil; 2 tablespoons oil; 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced; 1 onion, peeled and sliced; ½ cup/40 g ground walnuts; 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper; ½ teaspoon turmeric; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon dried mint; 2 tablespoons oil or sheep-tail fat; 1 teaspoon turmeric; 1 cup/240 g liquid kashk; 2 tablespoons dried mint flakes

Preparation info

Serves:
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 10

Appears in

Cooking in Iran

By Najmieh Batmanglij

Published 2020

About

I adapted this recipe from one by the Sepehri family in Birjand. This is a simple, delicious, satisfying and inexpensive vegetarian dish made with kashk/qurut (a by-product of de-fatted yogurt) and walnuts. It’s fascinating how only the kashk from this regions is purple, possibly from using sheep’s milk, and it’s hard to find, but you can use regular kashk, which is readily available. It’s a great dish for family meals and gatherings.