Meet Sarah, our Community Coordinator! If you've ever contacted us on Instagram or via email, she is probably the lovely soul you got to speak with. Learn more about her role + experience at GU here. 

Persian New Year, or Nowruz in Farsi, falls on the first day of spring, which is March 20th this year. In honor of the holiday and her Persian heritage, she has created this incredible Nice Cream recipe inspired by Bastani (Persian ice cream). This vegan version of the classic treat is made with bananas instead of dairy and eggs, along with Persian flavors of saffron, vanilla and rosewater, and of course some nut butter! 

Traditionally, Persians celebrate the New Year by visiting friends and family, hosting Nowruz parties, cooking delicious Persian food and setting up their Haft-Sin. On the Haft-Sin table, there are 7 symbolic items that start with the Persian letter “sin”. As you can see in her photo, some examples of these items are greens (sabzeh in Farsi; represents rejuvenation), vinegar (serkeh; represents patience) and apples (seeb; represents health and beauty). Learn more about the Haft-Sin here. 

Nowruz Mobarak (happy new year) + nush-e jan (enjoy)!

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups (about 3-4) frozen ripe bananas
• 2 tbsp Ground Up Classic Smooth or Chunky Almond, Cashew + Coconut Butter
• ½ tsp rose water
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp saffron threads ground then dissolved in hot water (learn how here)
• 2 tbsp almond milk 
• Toppings: dried rose petals and chopped pistachios

Directions:

1. In a food processor or high-powered blender, add frozen bananas, nut butter, rose water, vanilla extract, saffron water and almond milk, then blend until smooth. You may need to stop the blender several times to stir or scrape the sides with a spatula. Add more almond milk if it won't blend.
2. Once nice cream is thick and creamy, transfer to a bowl and top with rose petals and pistachios. Nush-e jan (enjoy in Farsi)!