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Borani-yeh Karafs (Celery Yogurt Dip)

By Naz Deravian

Updated Aug. 17, 2021

Borani-yeh Karafs (Celery Yogurt Dip)
Joel Goldberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.
Total Time
5 minutes
Rating
4(615)
Comments
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Borani is an Iranian yogurt-based dish that highlights one ingredient, typically a vegetable. This one combines crisp celery with Greek yogurt for a cooling snack. Dried mint and dried dill are Iranian pantry staples and are always ready to be used in an array of dishes. Don’t think of them as substitutes for fresh herbs but as stars in their own right. You can use fresh dill, if you prefer, but the dried mint here delivers a unique flavor and fragrance not found in its fresh counterpart. The dried cranberries add texture and color, and balance the celery with a hint of sweetness. Serve this dish as a dip or dig right in with a spoon.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ¼cup roasted, skinned hazelnuts
  • 1(16-ounce) container Greek yogurt (2 cups)
  • 4large celery stalks (preferably the lighter ones from the hearts), cut into ½-inch dice (about 2 cups)
  • 1green onion, chopped
  • 2tablespoons dried cranberries, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish
  • 1tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1tablespoon dried mint, plus more for garnish
  • 2teaspoons dried dill or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped dill, plus more for garnish
  • 1½teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • Chips, flatbreads or crudités, for dipping
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Coarsely chop the hazelnuts, set a few pieces aside for garnish and place the rest in a medium bowl.

  2. Step 2

    Add the yogurt, celery, green onion, dried cranberries, lemon juice, mint, dill and salt to the bowl and mix well. Taste and adjust all seasonings to your liking. The dip can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

  3. Step 3

    To serve, garnish with reserved hazelnuts, cranberries and a little sprinkling of dried mint and dill. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with chips, flatbreads or crudités.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
615 user ratings
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Comments

Charles Michener

The dried cranberries in this recipe suggests that the Times Cooking section could do home cooks a great service by recommending uses for various pantry items - dried spices and fruits, fresh herbs, bottled sauces, canned beans and fish, different oils and vinegars, seasoning mixes, dried pastas, various types of rice and so on. Listing recipes according to a key pantry item would be of enormous help in editing and using up the myriad items that accumulate in overstuffed larders, like mine

Amber

Times Cooking people, please fix your search engine so I can search on ingredients! also make it possible to do an "and" search. At present the only kind of search possible is an "or" search which turns up far too many hits when I am looking for a particular recipe. The search engine on ckbk.com is much better.

Jean from NC

Diamond Crystal kosher salt is like half as dense as the more common Morton’s—that may be the cause.

MST

I loved this, as did my friends. Used labneh instead of Greek yogurt & oven dried fresh cranberries, upped the herbs, brunoised celery & had no hazelnuts so used fresh pistachios. Such a flexible recipe!

gurukaram

This is soooooo good! To accommodate what I had on hand, I used coconut yogurt, pistachios, dried cherries instead of cranberries and no green onion. Served it with thin sourdough crackers. Perfect summer food! I did chop the celery fine and thus probably used more.

Su

I love this dish, but find the cranberries too sweet, large, and distracting. Dried barberries are great for tang and fruitiness, as others have noted, but I also enjoy using dried rose petals (another great pantry item to go with the dill and mint). Fragrant and floral rather than sweet, and with a similar beautiful pink color.

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