What it means
نخود (nokhod) means chickpeas (garbanzo beans). It is one of the genuinely native Persian words for a legume, with roots in Old Iranian, and has been used continuously in the Persian-speaking world for well over a thousand years. Chickpeas in Iran appear in many forms: whole in stews, split and dried as lape (لپه), ground into flour as ard-e nokhod (آرد نخود), or roasted and salted as a snack. A fun linguistic note: nokhod also historically meant a unit of weight (roughly 200 milligrams (just under 0.2 grams)), so you may encounter phrases like یه نخود (ye nokhod) meaning a tiny, tiny amount.
How to use it
- توی آبگوشت نخود میذاریم. (tu-ye âbgusht nokhod mizârim.) “We put chickpeas in abgoosht.”
- نخود بریون میخوای؟ (nokhod-e beriyun mikhâi?) “Do you want roasted chickpeas?”
- این سوپ نخود داره؟ (in sup nokhod dâre?) “Does this soup have chickpeas?”
- یه نخود نمک بذار، بیشتر نه. (ye nokhod namak bezâr, bishtar na.) “Add just a tiny pinch of salt, no more.”
Cultural note
Nokhod is a core ingredient in abgoosht (dizi), arguably Iran’s most iconic slow-cooked dish. It also appears in khoresh-e ghormeh-sabzi variations and in ash-e reshteh, the thick noodle soup eaten on Nowruz and other occasions. Roasted chickpeas (nokhod-e beriyun) are a classic street snack sold by weight at dried-nut shops (âjil-forushi) across Iran, often seasoned simply with salt.