Happy Nowruz: Cooking with Children to Celebrate the Persian New Year

Nowruz--the Persian New Year--is one of the world's great festivals, a full month of activities celebrating the earth, the arrival of spring, and the rebirth of nature. Most of all, it is a festival for families. Children and adults alike can share in preparing special meals, decorating the house, and performing the many ceremonies that welcome the New Year. This book is a guide to customs thousands of years old yet as vital as ever--enjoyable for families no matter where they live or what their beliefs.

Happy Nowruz offers twenty-five fun, easy, and innovative Nowruz recipes, with lots of photos to show you what to do. This is an ideal guide for parents, teachers, and kids--age six and older--to know more about the origins of Nowruz and to get everyone involved in preparing for the arrival of spring by:
baking Haji Firuz cookies
germinating seeds in eggshells
coloring eggs
making a Nowruz garland
jumping over fires
setting the Haft-sinn (seven-s) holiday table
planting narcissus and hyacinth bulbs
selecting and buying goldfish
banging spoons for trick-or-treating
cooking the Nowruz dinner
enjoying the Outdoor Thirteen picnic

Each book is shrinkwrapped with a stainless steel cookie cutter in the shape of the herald of the New Year--Haji Firuz--for making and decorating Haji Firuz Gingerbread Cookies.

THE NOWRUZ TRADITION
Preface 9
An Ancient Tradition 11
Celebrate Spring 13
The Arrival of Haji Firuz 14
Preparing for Nowruz 17
Activities to Welcome Nowruz 19
Preparing Sprouts 21
Eggshell Sprouts 23
Egg Decorating 25
Coloring Eggs 27
A Nowruz Garland 28
Wild Fire Eve 31
The Banging of Spoons 33
Feasting and Fun 35
Nowruz Holiday Table 36
Seven Items 39
Other Elements of the Nowruz Table 41
Gathering to Welcome Nowruz 43
Old Signs of Spring 45
The Transit of Years 47

My Nowruz Menu 48
Nowruz Sweets 49
A Round of New Year's Visits 51
The Outdoor Thirteen Picnic 53

NOWRUZ RECIPES
When Children Cook 55
Flabread 57
Flatbread Pizza 59
Cheese, Fresh Herb, Fruit, and Nut Sandwich 61
Fresh Herb Kuku with Barberries 63
Noodle Soup 65
Yogurt and Cucumber Dip 67
Red Rice with Green Beans 69
Green Rice 71
Fish Strips 73
Haji Firuz Gingerbread Cookies 75
Nowruz Cupcakes 77
Cream Puff 79
Cinnamon Date Bun 81
Chewy Raisin Cookies 83
Walnut Kiss Cookies 85
Almond Candy Cookies 87
Rice Cookies 89
Sweet Almond Berries 91
Four-Leaf Clover Cookies 93
Honey Almond Candy Crunch 95
Baklava 97
Puff Pastry Tongues 99
Pomegranate Popsicles 101
Crunch Cream Ice Cream Sandwich 103
Sour Cherry Cooler 105

THE CALENDAR APPENDIX
A New Year Is Born 108
The Iranian Year - Counting the Days 109
Naming the Months 111
A Legacy of the Chinese Zodiac 113
The Animal Cycle of Years 114
Useful Kitchen Tools 116
Haji Firuz Cookie Cutter Template 117
Credits & Acknowledgments 119