Photo: Kodoom.com
Shabe Yaldā, an Iranian festival, celebrated on the ‘longest and darkest night’ of the year, falls on the night of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice, which corresponds to the night of December 20 or 21, each year. On Shabe Yaldā, friends and family gather together to celebrate until well after midnight, over good dishes, fruits, sweets and nuts. Yaldā is also celebrated in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kurdistan, and Uzbekistan.
This is one of several festivities on which Persian Food Bloggers from all over the world will collaborate and celebrate with our readers, to bring awareness to and highlight Persian cuisine and culture. At the end of this post is “Persian Food Bloggers – Shabeh Yalda 2014 Collaborative Post”. Please check their fabulous recipes, especially prepared for Yaldā Night!
For this collaboration, I am posting a loved Persian sweet that originated in the city of Qom. All kinds of sweet/confectionery brittles are called sohan, hence the name, sohan’e Qom (sohan of Qom).
Authentic Sohan’e Qom is humanly impossible to make at home. Using mechanical-equipment, a big pot with stirring mechanism, best quality wheat sprout flour mixed with water is cooked at 140ºC for over 1 hour, while continuously stirred, until it changes into brown color and some of the water is evaporated. To lighten its color, while it is still being stirred, flour, sugar, butter is added and then, saffron for appealing color. Rosewater and cardamom are added for flavor and aroma. I also noted that eggs are used. I do not know at this time, if whole-eggs or only egg-yolks are used, and what the ration is. That is homework for me to research. The mix is stirred for hours, until the mix turns into dough. It is formed after that, with all kinds of utensils which not all of us (none of us) have at home. An Iranian lady came up with using honey and corn syrup (which are not used in authentic recipes) to condense the process time and ease of making at home. Brilliant! [See step-by-step photos of factory production of sohan in Qom → here & here]
This recipe is as close to Qom/factory made as it gets, and if I may say so myself, it is a darn good one!
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Sohan'e Qom • سوهان قم • Qom Saffron Brittle
Recipe by: Fae’s Twist & Tango (fae-magazine.com)
INGREDIENTS
• 1 Tbsp + ½ tsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp whole wheat flour (best if wheat sprout flour)
• 100 gr = ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tbsp + 2 tsp water
• 1 tsp rosewater
• 70 gr = 5 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1½ Tbsp honey
• 1½ Tbsp clear corn syrup
• ¼ tsp ground/powdered cardamom
• 1/8 tsp ground/powdered saffron (dry, not dissolved)
• 50 gr shelled, raw or roasted, unsalted pistachio-nuts
DIRECTIONS
◊ It may sound funny, but this is a well-engineered recipe. Do not substitute, omit, decrease or increase any of the ingredients. Replacing rosewater with same amount of water works, although rosewater substantially adds to the aroma and delectability of the sohan.
◊ Put the pistachio-nuts in a sandwich bag and using an even, cylindrical bottle, crush the nuts into large bits, as seen in the photo. This cylindrical bottle is needed again later.
◊ Line with parchment-paper, a baking sheet at least 27cm x 41cm (10½”x16″) in size.
◊ Have all your ingredients measured and placed in the order of use. Flours may be mixed together. Water and rosewater may be mixed together. Honey and corn syrup may be mixed together.
◊ Note: From this point on, no matter what ingredient is added, do not stop vigorously stirring.
◊ Put a medium-sized, non-stick saucepan on the stove and heat on medium-high until hot. To take away raw smell/taste from the flours, add flour mix and stir briefly with a long-handled-wooden-spoon (to keep your hands away from heat ). Leave the heat on, but remove the saucepan from heat, add sugar and mix well.
◊ Still off the heat, add rosewater/water, stir to mix well. Place the saucepan back on the heat, continuously stirring, bring to a boil/until foams-up. Add butter and stir vigorously until completely melted. Briefly remove from the heat, add honey/corn syrup mix, cardamom, stir a little and add saffron. Put back on the heat, stir vigorously for about 6 minutes. (The mix starts getting thicker-and-thicker and starts separating form the pot like a flowing dough.) Once it is completely separated and quite thick, it is done.
◊ Pour the mix onto the lined baking sheet in one big piece or five small, round ones (with even amount of space in-between). Wait a few seconds for it/them to spread a little. Generously sprinkle on crushed pistachios and using the cylindrical bottle (not a pin, because it is easier to wash if any pieces stick to it), roll from center to the edges, to flatten the pistachios together with the brittle into one big about 20cm/8″ diameter or five small 11cm/4½ ” rounds.
◊ Set aside for 30 minutes or until cooled and hardened. Break the big one into pieces or wrap small rounds as gifts. Store up to 1 week, in an airtight container, in single layers, separated by parchment-paper. The texture gets better the following days.
◊ To clean the hardened sugar pieces in the saucepan and on the wooden-spoon, add hot water to the saucepan and leaving the spoon in it, bring to a boil. Boil until all the hardened sugar dissolves for wash. If any pieces are on the sides of the saucepan, as it is hot, carefully wipe them with wet paper-towel.
Warning: Sohan is very addictive and dangerous to the waistline!
~ Noushe jan • نوش جان ~
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Persian Food Bloggers’ Yalda Recipe Round-up
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→ Look, I made it!
2014-12-22
“Fae, there are so many delicious recipes out there right now, but it’s impossible to find the time to make all the dishes that I’d like to. When I saw your sohan though, I knew immediately that it was a MUST try recipe! It’s truly wonderful, not to mention incredibly moreish!
I took a little risk and used 3 tablespoons of honey instead of the clear corn syrup and it was fine… my brittle ended up a tiny bit darker than yours, but is still absolutely delicious!”
~ Margot of Gather and Graze
Hi!! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! Mine still hasn’t hardened after hours out to dry for some reason – can you think of any reason why? I made double the recipe but kept all the same proportions so i don’t see why that’s would be the problem. I couldn’t tell if it had gotten thick enough while I was stirring but i didn’t want to overcook it since it had been over 6 minutes so could that be the reason?
Also, do you have any idea How i could make it harden?
Thank you!!!
Hi Martine, Did your sohan get hard enough after a while? As long as it wasn’t gummy, you’ve done t write. The only thing that comes to my mind is that more liquidy ingredient was added, or the mixture was not let to evaporate more. Mine get hard so quickly that I have to work with it so fast to spread it so I can get it not thicker than I want them to be. I have not made sohan for a couple of years now, and when I do again, hopefully soon, I like to try a change which a reader suggested for more authentic in texture. I will contact you then to let you know how that turned. Thanks for the contact. 🙂
Thank you so much for posting this article, it is exactly what I was looking for! You give such kind, attentive & detail-oriented advice for beginners like me. I’m very very grateful!
I made it this morning and am very happy with The taste and to have not completely failed ( I should add I am not a very good cook) . However I find that the texture is very hard. I only put it in a sealed container a few hours later, and we’ll find out tomorrow if it’s something up. But for now it is very hard and I think I remember it should be a bit soft.
If Ever I replaced the water with plain water and I used double honey because I did not have corn syrup, as you recommended. The rest I’m pretty sure I followed your instructions to a tee.
what do you think happened? Again, hopefully tomorrow it will soften up a bit because it would have been in that box for a full day.
I’m proudly making these for friends to celebrate the Persian New Year tomorrow. Thank you so much for helping me reconnect with my Persian roots that I do not know that well… kheili mamnoun!!
Nowruz’etan Mobarak, Melodie jan! Thank you for your kind and detailed comment. I am so happy to hear that my recipe was helpful. Please let me know how yours turned out the next day and days after, if there will be any left. 🙂
One reason for being hard is because I had not figured out how to incorporate the egg… or if it is too hard, maybe because corn syrup has not been used.
One of my readers was triggered by curiosity about the usage of the egg in the recipe. He has been testing my recipe to incorporate egg-yolk. He has shared the recipe with me to test it. One day soon, I will test the changes he made. If I come up with a better recipe, I will write you! For now, enjoy your creation, and I agree, be proud of it! I commend you to have even given it a go! I’ll be in touch! 😀 )))
I cant live without!!!!! But in Norway you have to, so my advice: Dont ever put them in your mouth!! Thank you Iran! 😉
Indeed! 🙂 Sohan’e Qom is so good! Thank you for your comment. 🙂
Delicious! This is one recipe I would never attempt because I love it so much I would eat it all in one sitting. I’ll just enjoy looking at these amazing photos and drooling over them 🙂
Every time I visited Japan for a business trip, I would take heavy boxes of individually wrapped 15cm/6″ sohan’e Qom brittle, to distribute to colleagues. They loved them so much that I would see them bargaining to buy each other’s. 😀 )))
Yes, me too. If I see them, I cannot stop myself from eating them. 🙁
Lovely recipe! But for flour amounts, do you mean flat tablespoons or heaped tablespoons?
Hi Treen, Thank you for you inquiry, as it is an important question in the case of baking and making desserts. All my recipe measurements are based on flat tablespoons/teaspoons/cups unless I have specifically mention as heaped or packed. Should you decide to make this sohan, please get back to me what your experience has been. 🙂
Hi Fae,
My Sohan’e Qom looked just like yours and had a crisp biscuity rather than a sticky feel in the mouth, presumably because of the flour.
A friend who had tasted commercial Sohan’e Qom said she thought that the commercial one was more biscuity, which is why I asked about the exact flour amounts.
Thanks for your great effort!
Treen
Thank you for sharing how 2 make sohan. I always was wondering how to make this delishes sweet.now I can make this at home. I did do how it said to make but mine was lite color I was wondering why! should’ve cook it more? or should’ve cook the flour longer then it said? but the tast is there am still happy with it thank you again.oh by the way one other thing mine was on chewy side and I dont know why?
Hello dear Vida, Thank you for your visit and comment. If you used everything exactly as the recipe calles for, both for the color and texture, the only thing I can think of is that, you needed to mix faster and cook a little longer. At the bottom of the post (Look, I made it!), a reader used honey instead of corn syrup too, and hers turned darker. Also, the amount of saffron may make a difference too. When liquid is measured by spoon, it should be flat in the spoon and not rounded on the top. Since these are home made, they will be a little different in texture than the store bought. Nonetheless, it should not be gooey/chewy. I’m sure your next attempt will be better. 🙂
Fae jan, WOW!!! My jaw is open and I am in awe of you! It looks 100% authentic and I could not tell the difference. You are truly talented and I cannot WAIT to try this out. Thank you – once again – for inspiring me! xoxo
Ahu jan, Thank you very much for your kind comment. You must make this sohan! It is easy and quick. About ten minutes of stirring, but that’s what cooks do, right? <3 Fae.
Dear Fae, thank you so much for sharing this Sohan recipe and story with us. I loved learning how it’s made in Iran. And now thanks to your hard work we can all try it at home. And I agree, Sohan is extremely addictive!
Thank you, Naz jan. I now have to figure out how to incorporate the egg (yolk only?). It is super tasty as it is… only for the curiosity, you know. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you are having a wonderful Holiday Season. <3
It certainly does look terrific, so I’ll take your word on how good it tastes. 🙂
Thank you, Karen. 😀 ))) Do take my word for it. I just posted Margot’s “Look, I made it!” on the post. She is vouching for me! 😀 )))
It’s impossible to get tired here…. Fae this brittle looks incredibly good! Even though you said that the original one is hard to make at home, it seems that you’ve realized something great!!!
I feel so too, Margherita. I just posted Margot’s “Look, I made it!” on the post. She is vouching for me! 😀 )))
Fae – I have so enjoyed your posts this year. I feel like I have had a taste of so many wonderful foods from all over the world. Looking forward to what next year brings. Happy Holidays!
Oh Dear Cindy, Thank you so very much for the kind words. Happy Holiday Season and Fabulous, Healthy New Year 2015 to you & yours! We both will be even better next year! <3
Like the international flavor of this blog! As an international food lover, I appreciate and value your wonderful work.
wow!! yummy!! 🙂 🙂
Beautiful! Brittle should always look like this and have beautiful green pistachios in it!!!
A~men! 🙂
Fae jan this is amazing! great to know home made sohan is actually possibly. I’d want some now 🙂
Yes, Saghar jan, it is possible! When I told my friends that I was going to make sohan’e Qom, they all wished me good luck. 🙁 Now, the same people are going to ask me to make it for them. 😀 )))
This is my favorite kind of post, Fae. Not only do I receive a great recipe, but I learn a bit about the traditions and culture that fostered it. The idea of celebrating the solstice, rather than cowering before it, is very appealing. And speaking of appealing, this treat, Sohan’e Qom, with its cardamon, pistachios, rose water, and honey, sounds delightful and a worthy dish to add to the celebration. Thank you for sharing its recipe and background with us, Fae.
I appreciate your comment… I too, would like to know the culture and history behind the foods. It was a little bit of a challenge to come up with this recipe, as the makers keep their ingredient-ratios secret and a few recipes that are on the internet don’t taste like the sohan we know.
Dear Fae, I love your recipe! Looking at your photos I wasn’t sure if you had baked them yourself or they’re from Qom. They look amazing. We (Kermania) also have a sohan that is round and very very thin (سوهان زرندی). After the holidays I’m going to make your recipe…sounds so delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Is sohan zarandi the crunchy ones wrapped like candies? Please let me know what you experienced when making this recipe. 🙂
These look mouthwatering Fae 🙂
Thank you. My mouth started watering. 😛
Ooooooh, I knew in an instant that I would love this little treat Fae! Cardamom, pistachio, rose… such a beautiful indulgence! I’m going to make this asap. 🙂
Margot, Please let me know what you experienced when making it. 🙂
It turned out beautifully Fae! I’m finding it so very hard to resist though, so I’ll pop some into a couple of gift boxes for friends tonight… to stop the temptation! 🙂 I took a little risk and used 3 tablespoons of honey instead of the clear corn syrup and it was fine… my brittle ended up a tiny bit darker than yours, but is still absolutely delicious! Thanks for this lovely recipe – I’ll be making it again and again for sure! Cheers, Margot
If you can still take a photo of them, I can add it at the bottom of my post as “Look, I made it!”. 🙂
Lovely! I still have 3 large pieces left Fae, though the light is starting to fade right now. I’ll send a photo through to you tomorrow sometime. 🙂
It looks delightful, Fae 🙂 I love sweet treats with rose water flavor and cardamom, I can imagine the fragrance and who cares about the waistline, in this season 😀
Hear, Hear! Yes, I’m sure you’ll appreciate this sweet. Do you have a similar sweet in your culture?
Unfortunately not but we have a treat called Nougat (louziya Qsentiniya), a delicious sweet with almond and honey.
Oh Fae it looks utterly divine!
<3
Yummy! I was about to say what Aruna mentioned :).
Yes, I have tried sohan halwa before and also very delicious. 😛
Fae this looks incredible. I love Sohan e Qom. Thank you for sharing the recipe, can’t wait to try it!
Homa-jan, I tested the recipe’s ratios a few times to fine tune the taste and especially the texture. Not that it needs it, but I am going to look into the egg part. Please let me know what you think! 🙂
I like your strict instructions of not deviating from the recipe!
I tested this recipe a several times to get it right. Once the wheel is invented… 😀 )))
These look amazingly delicious Fae. I love all the special ingredients that bring your recipe together.
Thank you, Loretta. Yes, I think so too. 🙂
Culture and food all rolled into one, my favourite kind of post Fae!
Thank you, Sandra! Mine too. 🙂
So lovely ! Incredible 🙂
<3
Thank you for teaching me about this festival, it sounds lovely xx
No, thank you for your kindness and support, dear Elaine! <3
xxx
They look sooooo good. We all need a little extra light at this time of year.
Leslie
Thank you, Leslie. They are crunchy yummy! 😛
I’m going to try to make them. (When I have a little more time).
Leslie
Pistachio, rose water, cardamom and saffron??? Oh my… with these ingredients it must be delicious! And so pretty to look at, Fae. 🙂
Oh! Yes! Your house smells like heaven. Addictive, Nancy! 😛
Oh wow! That looks beautiful. I love brittle, but this just takes it to a whole other level. I would love to try this.
Oh you should give this a try. It is fast and easy but labor intensive. Control yourself in eating them, because you cannot stop once you start. 😉
Do you know if this will work with gluten-free (non-wheat, non-barley, non-rye) flours?
Oh Teresa, I never worked with gluten-free flours. I don’t know. I think, the flour is for the desired texture. Without wasting any saffron, rosewater, cardamom and pistachios, which are the pricey ingredients, give it a try with other ingredients using gluten-free flour and see if you get the brittle with satisfying crunchy texture. Sorry for not knowing a better answer.
It looks yummy! Happy and sweet holidays to you!
Thank you, Merril!
We make something similar called Sohan Halwa in India. Absolutely delicious. 🙂
Oh yes, Aruna! I know I had it, and I know they are yummy! 😛