Goash-e-feel means elephant’s ear, for the size and shape of these crisp, bubbly pastries: dough rolled paper-thin, pleated along one side into an ear, fried fast in very hot oil and dusted with icing sugar and ground pistachio. They are served with tea. After a wedding, the bride’s family often sends a batch to the couple the next day, and they are made again for Nowruz on 21 March, the first day of spring. Shapes and sizes vary from house to house; some families make goash-e-asp, horse’s ears, or bow knots instead.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 1 egg
- milk (to make the egg up to 225ml)
- 225 g plain flour
- pinch of salt
- vegetable oil (for shallow frying)
- 50 g icing sugar
- 50 g ground pistachios
METHOD
- Beat the egg in a measuring jug and add enough milk to bring it up to 225ml.
- Sift the flour with the salt, add the egg and milk, and mix to a firm dough.
- Knead on a lightly floured board for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Divide into eight balls, cover with a damp cloth and leave somewhere cool for about 30 minutes.
- On a lightly floured board, roll each ball out until paper-thin and about 18cm across.
- Shape each into an ear by pleating one side of the round, and pinch the pleats together with wet fingers so they hold while frying.
- Heat enough oil in a wide frying pan to shallow-fry. When it is very hot, fry the pastries one at a time until golden and bubbly, then turn and fry the other side.
- Lift out, shake off the excess oil, and sprinkle both sides with the icing sugar and ground pistachio mixed together.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Plain flour and whole milk from any supermarket. Unsalted pistachios, finely ground. A wide frying pan and a neutral oil with a high smoke point, such as sunflower. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: All-purpose flour. Confectioners’ sugar. Unsalted pistachios, finely ground. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Roll the dough paper-thin and keep the oil very hot. Thick dough or cool oil gives a heavy, greasy pastry instead of a crisp, blistered one.
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