Naan-o Paneer-o Sabzi (Bread, Feta and Herb Platter) Recipe (2024)

Congratulations to NYT Cooking for featuring so many Iranian recipes. In the 1970s, I had the good fortune to live in that wonderful country for four years, and became addicted to Persian cuisine. Might I suggest a few bunches of fresh dill on this platter? And the suggested pitta bread would be a poor alternative to some warm taftoon or sangak...

Lavash yes. Pita no. Pickle spears(good, crisp pickles, not floppy) can be substituted for the cukes for extra tang. Double, triple the amount of greens on offer-Other herbs to try:DillCilantro ~Tarragon ~Persian Watercress ~ ShawhiGreen onion ~ PeeazchehChives ~ Tareh

I grew up in the neighboring Azerbaijan. On hot summer nights, my dad would cut a cold water melon and serve it with a local salty, briny cheese. A divine combo that takes me back to my childhood days.

This combination is also popular in other places, not just Iran. I grew up with feta+bread + watermelon or grapes or tomatoes as a quick summer meal. Here is a tip for better feta taste: make sure to take the feta out of the fridge in advance, so it warms up to room temperature before you eat it. For the best sheep feta, try to find Bulgarian feta in tin cans.

In my father's family (from Shiraz), we mix raisins with the walnuts before serving. And a mix of fresh herbs is ideal. My favorites, from my sabzi garden in summer: basil, chives, mint, oregano, thyme, parsley. (Dill is a diva I'd save for making cheved polo--see NYT recipe; I also would not use cilantro here). The big problem in many parts of US is getting something like Persian bread. Indian nan in toaster is better than your average grocery-store pita, imho.

Ok a few things. People are hating on pita bread. I grew up in a Persian household and that’s what we eat it with!! Arabic pita - not thick Turkish pita though. If you have sangak on hand even better. Also I’ve never done watermelon and grapes with this- just have it with some black Ahmad tea. Lastly, the best feta is not from a tin as one of the notes claims. Persian markets have feta in brine and it is perfect. I love love this breakfast.

I lived in Tehran for 6 years in the 1970’s, and “Sabzi”, as this dish was known, was the appetizer brought to the table at any gathering. NYT should be including a sheep’s milk yogurt (known as “Maast”). The loaded bites of folded bread (lavash or barbari) were dunked or smeared with yogurt. The creamy yogurt softened the bread and the cheese, and mellowed the herbs and green onion. It can easily be a meal on its own. The suggestions of more herbs and a nice salty feta are spot on.

A favorite of mine. But you need to add some dill, as the other poster said, and even more than that, so fresh tarragon! Both have been essential parts of the best versions I've had. Tarragon and walnuts are one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Snacks plates got me through the early part of the pandemic. Smoked salmon, cuke slices, olives, cheddar slices, dry fruit, handful of nuts leftover from the holidays. Lately when I get anxious i get into a zen brain and compose a plate and slowly munch through.

My late wife was from Tehran and I lived in Iran for about 13 years before and after the revolution. Love Persian cuisine and cook it a lot. One of our favorite simple meals was "nun o panir o hendune" ...bread, cheese, and watermelon.The bread was, ideally, lavash, but fresh pita or other Arab bread when we lived in Saudi. The best panir was Bulgarian feta in brine in a large tin can. The watermelon was local. Tarragon is one of my favorite herbs.

Don’t forget to add juicy sliced summer tomatoes to this plate!

I thought this looked so good I decided to make it with what I had on hand. The items from the recipe I had were feta, lavash, radishes and walnuts. I used red onion instead of green onions, plums for fruit and Italian parsley for herbs. It was great!

In the first cooking class I ever took, we made a salad with mesclun, watermelon, feta cheese, and walnuts. The combination really surprised me at the time, but with a balsamic vinagrette the sald is absolutely delicious and so refreshing on a hot summer day. I had no idea that this combination is used in Iranian cuisine.

I love this with watercress.

I am fortunate to live where there is a market that has a wide variety of different feta. The shopkeeper recommended Greek because it slices into cubes well instead of crumbles. It was perfect for this.

Haling from Vancouver’s Little Persia (shout out to the North Shore!) I learned of the creaminess of Macedonian feta cheese. I often pair this dish with koubideh or saffron chicken thighs. I love the people of Iran and hope to go there one day.

So. Good.

A wonderful, delightful surprise. Much more than the sum of its parts. Everyone loved it, and I appreciated not turning on the oven in a heat wave. Very satisfying and refreshing. We couldn't stop!

Insanely delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever given another NY Times recipe 5 stars. NYT Cooking doesn’t really cater to us vegetarians. But this was a gorgeous no-cook summer meal. It’s forgiving, easy, & lends itself to infinite variation. I used sheep’s milk feta. I toasted the pita to warm it. Had no basil, so used tons of fresh mint. Left out the grapes. Per another commenter’s suggestion, I dipped my “perfect bite” in plain vegan yogurt. Will definitely make this again.

Trader Joe’s has a sheep feta sold as “Israeli feta” for those looking for an accessible sheep feta option.

Great, fun meal. Everyone enjoyed it--adults, kid, baby. That's rare! Next time, I'd just splurge on nicer lavash or pita.

I put hummus on the platter as well. We have a local store that makes pita to order and it was delicious.

Omg. This was so good. And so beautiful. Our feta was a smidge dry, so we served it with a little yogurt. We also found that we enjoyed sticking the radish and cucumber slices onto the pita with the cheese, walnut, and herbs more than eating them separately.

This was perfect for picking at for a light lunch! I added a couple hard boiled eggs with a spicy harissa sauce, for a bit more substance, and had to make do with Thai basil. This will certainly make appearances all throughout the summer months!

I ate this for breakfast with a hard boiled egg every day on our recent trip to Greece.

Serving basil leaves on a platter to be eaten raw and plain as a meal accompaniment, is something I learned from an Iranian friend. There is a variety of basil called lettuce basil that bears ruffled leaves as large as one’s hand. Baker Creek sells the seeds.

Kalustyan's is the only shop in NY that sells Persian ingredients. They have Sangak bread and crackers( really good!), Many dried and frozen sabzis, sour grapes in brine( and juice), prepared stews and torshis, pickled whole garlic heads, lavashak and dried Persian figs, a variety of Persian pistachios and cookies...

Absolutely fantastic!

Would flour tortillas work for the bread element?

I don't know which is better -- the beauty of the composition or the combination of tastes and textures. ... The elegance of simple foods in their natural state.