Ranginak

Ranginak, from Iran's southern coast, layers soft dates stuffed with walnuts under a topping of toasted flour, butter, cardamom and cinnamon.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 1h 25m
Cook: 20 min
Total: 1 hour 45 minutes
Vegetarian
✅
Nuts
✅
Makes
8 portions
Difficulty
Medium

Ingredients

  • 24 large soft dates (about 400g), stoned
  • 24 walnut halves (about 80g)
  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp pistachios, ground, to decorate

Method

  1. Fill each date with a walnut half and arrange in a single tightly-packed layer in a shallow dish.

  2. Melt the butter in a wide pan over a medium-low heat, stir in the flour and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until pale golden and nutty.

  3. Stir in the sugar, cardamom and half the cinnamon.

  4. While still warm, spoon the mixture over the dates and press it down gently to cover them completely.

  5. Cool, then chill for 1 hour. Decorate with the remaining cinnamon and ground pistachios and cut into portions.