Gondi

Gondi are large dumplings of ground chicken and roasted chickpea flour, scented with cardamom and simmered slowly in a chicken soup that turmeric turns yellow. They open the Friday night meal in Persian Jewish homes.

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Gluten freeDairy freeMeat

Updated

GondiIllustration
Time3 h 30 minCook 2 h · + Soak 8 h
Pot8 bowls2.8 litres
Per bowl659 kcal54.2 g protein · a 350 ml bowl
Cost of the pot₪85for the pot, about ₪11 a bowl

The story of Gondi

Gondi is one of the few dishes thought of as belonging to the Jews of Iran rather than to Persian cooking at large. It is often credited to the Jewish community of Tehran, but families from Isfahan, Khorasan and other cities each make it their own way, and the recipes pass from mother to daughter rather than through books. Meat was expensive, so it was kept for Shabbat, and gondi came to the table on Friday night and on holidays.

In Israel, gondi arrived with immigrants from Iran and stayed a home dish. The clear soup with its dumplings and chickpeas is served in a deep plate, with white rice, a plate of fresh herbs such as mint, basil and tarragon, radishes and flatbread. Some families serve the dumplings as a starter on their own, with a little of the soup spooned over so they stay moist.

What makes Gondi itself

What makes gondi itself is the roasted chickpea flour. Roasting gives it a nutty smell and removes the green, raw taste of chickpeas, and the flour soaks up the chicken juices and holds the ball together with no egg and no breadcrumbs. Cardamom brings a sweet, sharp scent and turmeric turns the soup golden. The result is a soft, light dumpling, gentler than a meatball, that cuts with a spoon.

Gondi for any number of people

Change the number of people and the bowl size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per bowl.

Bowl size
Units
2.8litres in the pot
4Pot to use, litres
₪85Cost of the pot
₪11per bowl
659kcal per bowl
54.2g protein per bowl
IngredientAmountCost
The soup
Chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in1 kg₪35
Onion, halved200 g₪1.2
Dry chickpeas, soaked overnight150 g₪2.5
Turmeric4 g₪0.4
Whole cardamom pods2 g · 4 pcs₪0.6
Salt10 g₪0.0
Cold water3.5 l
Kubbeh dough
Ground chicken thigh900 g₪30
Roasted chickpea flour350 g₪11
Onion, finely grated and squeezed300 g₪1.8
Canola oil45 ml₪0.7
Water80 ml
Ground cardamom5 g₪1.5
Turmeric3 g₪0.3
Salt12 g₪0.0
Black pepper2 g₪0.3
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Gondi? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Gondi has 188 calories per 100 ml. A 350 ml bowl made with our recipe has 659 calories: 54.2 g protein, 29.3 g fat and 39.6 g carbohydrates. A 250 ml cup has 471 calories.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 1,000 g194 kcal per serving
  • 200 g10 kcal per serving
  • 150 g68 kcal per serving
  • 4 g2 kcal per serving
  • 4 pcs1 kcal per serving
  • 10 g0 kcal per serving
  • 900 g151 kcal per serving
  • 350 g169 kcal per serving
  • 300 g15 kcal per serving
  • 45 ml46 kcal per serving
  • 5 g2 kcal per serving
  • 3 g1 kcal per serving
  • 12 g0 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Gondi

Values for the amount in the row, from the national food database.

Add-onCaloriesProtein, gFat, g
A tablespoon of oil122013.8
A slice of white bread792.50.5
A slice of challah12641.1
A side cup of cooked rice, about1823.50.3
Chicken breast, 100 g raw12022.52.6
Chicken thigh, 100 g raw12119.74.1

How to make Gondi

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. The night before, soak the dry chickpeas in cold water for 8 to 12 hours, then drain.
  2. Put the chicken pieces, halved onion, chickpeas, turmeric and cardamom pods in a large pot, add 3.5 litres of cold water and bring to a boil over high heat.
  3. When it boils, skim off the foam, lower the heat and simmer for an hour with the lid ajar.
  4. Meanwhile, grate the onion for the gondi on a fine grater and squeeze it hard in your hands. Mix it in a bowl with the ground chicken, oil, salt, pepper, ground cardamom and turmeric, and knead for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture turns sticky.
  5. Add the roasted chickpea flour little by little, alternating with the water, until you have a soft paste that holds its shape. Cover and chill for an hour.
  6. Taste the soup, adjust the salt and bring it to a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil.
  7. With wet hands, roll 16 balls of about 100 g each, the size of a small tennis ball, and lower them gently into the soup one by one.
  8. Partly cover and cook over low heat for 45 to 60 minutes. Do not stir with a spoon; if needed, just shake the pot.
  9. Serve two gondi per deep plate with soup and chickpeas, alongside white rice, fresh herbs, radishes and a wedge of lemon.

The science of Gondi

Kitchen science

Why the chickpea flour is roasted

Dry heat drives Maillard reactions between proteins and sugars in the flour, creating compounds that smell nutty and toasted. The heat also deactivates enzymes and breaks down some of the compounds that give raw legumes a grassy taste. Roasted flour is drier and soaks up the meat juices well.

Kitchen science

What holds the dumpling together without egg

Salt and kneading draw muscle proteins, mainly myosin, out of the meat into a thick glue. With heat that glue sets into a network that holds the ball, just as in a sausage. The chickpea starch swells in the hot liquid above 60 to 70 °C and locks the moisture inside, so the dumpling stays soft rather than dry.

Kitchen science

An hour in the fridge before rolling

In the cold the fat firms up and the flour has time to absorb the liquid evenly. A cold paste sticks less to your hands and keeps its shape the moment it meets the hot soup.

Kitchen science

Cardamom and turmeric, scent and colour

Cardamom's scent comes mainly from 1,8-cineole and alpha-terpinyl acetate, volatile compounds that fade quickly after grinding, so grind seeds from fresh pods. Curcumin, the pigment in turmeric, barely dissolves in water but dissolves in fat, which is why the fat on the soup turns bright yellow.

Kitchen science

A simmer, not a boil

In a rolling boil the bubbles jostle the dumplings before their proteins have set, and they crack. A gentle simmer, around 90 °C, cooks them through and keeps the soup clear, because the fat does not break into tiny droplets that cloud the liquid.

Gondi in every kitchen

Chicken gondi

The most common version in Israel today: ground thigh meat, sometimes with a little breast, in a clear chicken soup with chickpeas.

Meat gondi

An older version made with ground veal or lamb. The dumplings are darker and deeper in taste, and some cooks mix meat with chicken.

Turkey gondi

Some families have moved to ground dark turkey meat, which stays juicy and holds well through an hour of simmering.

Vegetarian gondi

Roasted chickpea flour with grated onion, coriander and spices, no meat, in a vegetable soup. Softer and quicker to cook.

With dried lime

Some homes add a dried Persian lime to the soup for a deep sourness and a slight bitterness that balances the chicken fat.

Common Gondi problems and how to fix them

My gondi fall apart in the soup

The paste was too wet, not chilled, or the soup boiled hard. Add a spoonful or two of chickpea flour, chill for an hour, and lower the balls into soup that is only gently simmering.

My gondi came out hard and dense

Too much flour, lean breast meat, or pressing hard while rolling. Use thigh meat, add a little water to the paste and roll with wet hands without squeezing.

Gondi taste of raw flour

The flour was not roasted, or the dumplings did not cook long enough. Toast the flour in a dry pan until it smells of nuts, and cook for at least 45 minutes.

The gondi soup is cloudy

The soup boiled hard or the foam was not skimmed at the start. Skim at the first boil and keep a gentle simmer to the end.

Gondi mixture sticks to my hands

The paste is warm, or the onion was not squeezed. Squeeze the grated onion well, chill the paste, and wet your hands in a bowl of water between balls.

Storing, freezing and reheating

3 days

In the fridge

3 months

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

Reheat the gondi in their soup over low heat in a covered pot until hot to the centre, without a hard boil that would crack them. Freeze them in the soup, not dry.

Nutrition of Gondi

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 350 ml bowl65954.229.339.69.6
Our recipe, 100 ml18815.58.411.32.7

What the ingredients of Gondi cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Chicken thighs and drumsticks, bone in₪35 per kg₪35Supermarket
Ground chicken thigh₪34 per kg₪30Supermarket
Roasted chickpea flour₪30 per kg₪10Spice shop (hard to find)
Onion, halved₪5.9 per kg₪3Greengrocer
Dry chickpeas, soaked overnight₪16 per kg₪2.5Supermarket
Whole cardamom pods₪300 per kg₪2.1Spice shop
Canola oil₪15 per litre₪0.7Supermarket
Turmeric₪86 per kg₪0.6Supermarket
Black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.3Supermarket
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

Make Gondi a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Gondi

Serve in a deep plate with soup and chickpeas, alongside white rice, a plate of fresh herbs such as mint, basil and tarragon, radishes, flatbread and lemon wedges for squeezing.

The cuisine behind Gondi

Persian

Persian cuisine

Gondi is one of the few dishes thought of as belonging to the Jews of Iran rather than to Persian cooking at large. It is often credited to…

Persian cuisine

Gondi in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 350 ml bowl. For institutional pots, catering and community kitchens.

GuestsLitres30 l potsCost of ingredients
258.81₪265
50181₪531
100352₪1,062
200703₪2,124
5001757₪5,309

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Gondi

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Gondi

Order Gondi for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

What is gondi?

Large dumplings of ground chicken or meat with roasted chickpea flour, onion and cardamom, cooked in chicken soup. It is a dish of the Jews of Iran, served mainly on Friday night.

Where do I buy roasted chickpea flour?

In spice shops and Persian grocery shops. You can also make it at home by toasting chickpea flour in a dry pan or finely grinding roasted chickpeas.

Can I make gondi with regular chickpea flour?

Yes, but toast it first. Raw flour gives a grassy taste and a stickier texture.

How long do you cook gondi?

45 to 60 minutes at a gentle simmer, after the soup itself has cooked for an hour. Small dumplings are ready in about half an hour.

What is the difference between gondi and matzo balls?

Both are dumplings in Shabbat chicken soup. Matzo balls are made of matzo meal and eggs with no meat; gondi are made of ground meat and roasted chickpea flour, with no egg.

Can you freeze gondi?

Yes, for up to three months, in their soup in a closed container. Thaw in the fridge and reheat over low heat.

Is gondi gluten free?

This recipe is gluten free, since it uses chickpea flour and no wheat. Check that the chickpea flour and spices have no added gluten.

How many calories are in Gondi?

A 350 ml bowl of Gondi made with our recipe has about 659 calories and 54.2 g of protein. Per 100 ml: 188 calories.

How much does it cost to make Gondi at home?

A pot of 8 bowls costs about ₪85 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪11 a bowl. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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