"Hey," said my friend Margy, "wanna learn how to make kuku subzi?"
Of course I wanted to. I've always been intrigued by the Persian herb frittata, which is not only a savory egg dream, but also, with its deep green hue, one of the prettiest dishes you'll ever see.
So there we were with Debbie Michail, a talented chef famous for her Persian pop-ups, watching her make her grandmother's kuku. It soon became clear that this is one of those personal dishes, one that changes with each cook, one that rarely needs a written recipe It's a forgiving dish: all you need is lots of herbs, onions and eggs.
Debbie didn't want to be photographed, so all you've got here are the steps in the recipe.
Saute the onions in a LOT of oil. Add salt and turmeric at the end.
Chop the tareh, which is the one essential herb. Translated as leeks, garlic chives or chives it's a lovely, gentle herb. I can think of dozens of other ways to use it. (The radishes are just garnish.)
Saute great handfuls of spinach.
Add chopped parsley, dill, cilantro - any herbs you happen to appreciate. Lots of them.
Add the onions to the greens. Break in a lot of eggs. (This is more herbs with eggs than eggs with herbs; you don't want it to be too eggy.)
Cook in more oil until the bottom is brown. Flip it and cook the other side. You want it to be gently cooked, but not runny.
Serve with sliced cucumbers (Debbie sprinkles hers with maras pepper), tomatoes, olives, fennel, radishes and feta. Top with yogurt that has been infused with lots of spicy lime pickle. (For my next lesson, I want to learn to make Debbie's wonderful lime pickle.)
Eat with enormous pleasure.
There are dozens of recipes for kuku sabzi on the internet. This link is to the recipe of the great Persian cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij.
Willing to wait? Debbie's planning to open a restaurant sometime next year, where you'll be able to indulge in her superb version.