Let’s cook tasty Ramadan treat Reshte-Khoshkar with ifilm

Reshte-Khoshkar is a tasty Iranian cookie indigenous to Northern province of Gilan.   

The cookie, which has been around for about three centuries, is popular among fasting Muslims in the holy month of Ramadan for the fast-breaking meal at dusk.

This sweet, high-calorie cookie is mostly eaten as a tea-time snack as most people find it too sweet to be eaten alone.

Base ingredients of Reshteh Khoshkar include rice flour, and filled with sugar, ground walnuts or hazelnuts, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and spice.  

What is the story behind this historical cookie?

Reshte-Khoshkar was cooked for the first time about 300 years ago in Taher Gourab near the city of Rasht. That is why in some confectionery books Reshte-Khoshkar is called “Rasht’s cookie”.

Reshte riz is also used as a term for those who prepare this cookie. And even in some families, it has becoming a family business.

How to cook Reshte-Khoshkar?

The cookie is made on a hot copper tray. It needs to be sautéed in a little butter or oil. Then, it is put in a local sherbet sauce consisting of water, sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. After a few seconds, the cookie becomes sweet and can be served.   

Some places sell the fried Reshteh Khoshkar without the sherbet. This way, the cookies can be quickly fried at home and the sherbet is added right before they are served.

Recipe (By: foodche.com)

Ingredients:

• Water: 4 cups
• Ground walnut: 100 gr
• Ground cardamom: as much as needed
• Ground rice: 2 cups
• Liquid oil: for frying
• Cinnamon: a dessert spoonful
• Sugar: 1.5 cups

Ingredients for the Sherbet:

• Water: 1.5 glasses
• Cinnamon: a dessert spoonful
• Sugar: as much as needed

Recipe for Rashte-Khoshkar:

Mix the water and ground rice and set the mixture aside for a few hours. Then remove the extra water in the mixture. Put the dough in the special container used to make Reshte-Khoshkar.

While the copper tray is on mild-temperature fire, apply frying oil on it using clean cloth. Put your fingers on every single hole on the container, put it on the tray and remove your fingers all at once. Then draw thin lines around the perimeter and at the centre of the tray.

After a few seconds, remove it and leave it on a clean piece of cloth. Immediately, fold the four corners inside in such a way that each corner is overlaid with another. Put part of the dough on one side of it, and repeat the procedure until the last part is put on the last folded corner.

Then heat the oil and fry pieces of Reshte-Khoshkar until they become gold in colour. Then soak them in sherbet. Now the Reshte-Khoshkar is ready to be served.

Recipe for the Sherbet:

Mix the water and sugar and place it on the oven. After a few minutes, remove it from the oven and add cinnamon powder to it. Then mix the walnut, cardamom, sugar and a little ginger powder.

Bon appetit!

MM/MM