The sweet wheat pudding traditionally prepared for Nowruz is called samanu.
Samanu is made primarily from germinated wheat and wheat flour, producing a thick, naturally sweet paste. Sprouting activates enzymes in the wheat that help convert starches into sugars, so traditional versions can be made without adding sugar. The dish is associated with spring, grain, fertility, and abundance.
In Iran, samanu is commonly included among the symbolic foods displayed on a Haft-sin table, the Nowruz arrangement of items beginning with the Persian letter “sin.” It is also prepared across the wider Nowruz region, including Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia, where names such as samanak, sumalak, and sumanak are used.
Preparation can take several days and traditionally involved communal overnight cooking, often by women singing and taking turns stirring a large pot. Samanu is not the same as ranginak, a date-and-walnut dessert, or halva, a broader family of sweets made with ingredients such as flour, fat, and syrup.