Invigorating Sabzi Khordan

Have you ever looked at the nutritional values and phytochemical properties of herbs, and thought “well that’s all well and good, but we only use a tiny amount”? Sabzi khordan is a herb-centric traditional Levantine sharing platter served most commonly as an appetizer, and it is indeed appetizing! Never again will “start your meal with a green salad to ensure a gentle blood sugar curve” seem like a chore:

You will need

• Large bunch of parsley
• Small bunch of tarragon leaves
• Small bunch of basil leaves
• Small bunch of mint
• Small bunch of sorrel leaves
• 7 oz block of feta cheese (if vegan, a plant-based substitution is fine in culinary terms, but won’t have the same gut-healthy benefits, as plant-based cheeses are not fermented)
• 9 oz labneh-stuffed vine leaves in olive oil (if vegan, same deal as the above, except it’s harder to find plant-based substitutes for labneh (strained yogurt cheese), so you might want to use our Plant-Based Healthy Cream Cheese recipe instead and make your own)
• 2 tbsp za’atar (you can make your own by blending dried hyssop, dried sumac berries, sesame seeds, dried thyme, and salt—but if you haven’t had za’atar before, we recommend first buying some like the one that we linked, so that next time you know what you’re aiming for)
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 10 radishes
• 6 scallions
• 9 oz walnuts, soaked in water overnight and drained
• 1 cucumber, cut into batons
• Warm flatbreads (you can use our Healthy Homemade Flatbreads recipe)

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Arrange the feta, labneh, za’atar, and olive oil in separate little serving dishes.

2) Arrange everything else around them on a platter.

3) Serve! You may be thinking: did we really need a recipe to tell us “put the things on a plate”? The answer here is that this one today was shared mostly as a matter of inspiration, because when was the last time you thought to serve herbs as the star of the dish? Plus, it’s an excuse to try za’atar, not something so commonly seen outside of the Levant.

^{An alternative presentation}

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

• Herbs for Evidence-Based Health & Healing
• Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
• 10 Ways To Balance Blood Sugars

Take care!