Serves 4 - 6 (main dish or starter)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook times: 40 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

Often eaten with sabzi polo (herby rice) and fish on Nowruz – Persian New Year – kookoo sabzi is traditionally made with eggs and stuffed with herbs like parsley, coriander, chives and dill and makes a tasty weekend breakfast or evening meal all year round. This savoury frittata is usually vegetarian, but Mana uses milled flaxseed for a vegan twist.

It’s a nutritious, melt-in-the-mouth dish which packs sourness and a satisfying walnut crunch. “You can eat it with warm bread, pickles and fresh salad vegetables, or with sabzi polo and mahi [fish],” suggests Mana. “As a general rule, for any recipe which calls for 1 egg, use 1 tbsp flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp water. Once left to set for a few minutes, the ‘flax-egg’ mixture has the same gelatinous consistency as egg.”

High in fibre and omega-3, flaxseeds make the perfect healthy addition for a vegan take on this traditional dish. Plus, Madukah says that “barberries are something you don’t often see in a lot of global cuisines, but they have lots of health benefits with a high amount of vitamin C, iron and fibre. Vitamin C and iron work well together in food because vitamin C helps your digestive system absorb the iron better.”

Top tip: Mana advises washing the herbs before using them, adding: “My family usually makes kookoo on the stovetop by frying it. However, I have found that, when using flax-eggs, using the oven gives the best results.”

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