Haft mewa: Afghan fruit and nut dish

Haft mewa: Afghan fruit and nut dish

How to make haft mewa! Haft mewa is a traditional Afghan fruit and nut dish prepared for Nowruz, the Afghan New Year.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Afghan

Keyword Afghan new year, Norwuz, vegan, vegetarian

Prep Time 3 4

Total Time 3 4

Servings cups

Calories 295kcal

Author Trish Bozeman

Ingredients

1 cup shelled and peeled walnut halves
½ cup shelled and peeled pistachios
¾ cup golden raisins
1 cup black raisins
¾ cup dried sweet cherries
1 cup dried apricots
½ cup shelled and peeled almonds chopped
¼ teaspoon rose water or pure vanilla extract
5 cups filtered water

Instructions

First, make sure that the nuts are peeled. See the notes for peeling nuts if you can't find pre peeled nuts.
1 cup shelled and peeled walnut halves, ½ cup shelled and peeled almonds, ½ cup shelled and peeled pistachios
When the nuts are peeled, rinse both types of raisins, cherries, and apricots well with cold water.
¾ cup golden raisins, 1 cup black raisins, ¾ cup dried sweet cherries, 1 cup dried apricots
Combine the dried fruits with the peeled nuts in a large bowl. Add the rose water or vanilla and filtered water and stir to combine.
¼ teaspoon rose water or pure vanilla extract, 5 cups filtered water
Cover the mixture and let it sit in the fridge for 3 days, stirring about once a day.
The fruit should soak up most of the water and be quite sweet like a syrup. Serve the dish as is with the liquid. Enjoy.

Notes

To peel the nuts: In a large pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add the walnuts and pistachios. Let sit until water is slightly cool, about 15 minutes, and add almonds. Let sit for about another 15 minutes, or until water is luke warm. Peel the nuts in the pot of water with your hands and set the peeled nuts aside on a towel. This can be very time consuming so be patient and enjoy the process!

If you can't find specific dried fruits, feel free to swap for other dried fruits of your choice. Try red raisins if that all you can find. Use what you can find!
The same goes for the nuts. If you don't like one of the nuts, swap it out for your favorite!
Try to find pre-peeled nuts. Peeling the nuts, especially the walnuts, is very time consuming.
If you can't find rosewater go ahead and use pure vanilla extract. Or just leave it out and use water.

Nutrition