Persian Stew Gormeh Sabzi Recipes

GHORMEH SABZI (PERSIAN HERB STEW)

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook and stir until deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in turmeric for 1 to 2 minutes. Add chuck cubes; cook until coated in turmeric and browned on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a separate pot over medium heat. Add spinach, green onions, parsley, cilantro, chives, and fenugreek leaves; cook and stir until deep dark green in color, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir spinach mixture into the onion and chuck mixture. Pour in enough water to create a slurry consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in lemon juice. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer stew until greens soften, about 1 hour.
• Pierce dried limes with a fork and add to the stew. Continue simmering until chuck is tender, 30 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in red kidney beans. Cook until flavors combine, about 30 minutes. Discard dried limes before serving.

KHORESH-E GHORMEH SABZI (PERSIAN HERB, BEAN AND LAMB STEW)

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, season the meat with turmeric, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Set aside.
• Rinse the beans and place in a medium bowl with 1 cup water and a generous pinch of salt. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, place a large Dutch oven or similar pot over medium-high heat. Add 3 tablespoons oil. When it shimmers, add meat and cook, turning regularly so that it browns evenly on all sides, about 15 minutes. Once the meat has browned, move it to the edges of the pot and add the onion to the center of the pot, along with a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring regularly, until the onion begins to soften and turn brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Drain the beans and add to the pot, stirring to combine everything and coat the beans with oil. Add 4 cups water, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer for 2 hours.
• In the meantime, prepare the herbs: Wash parsley and cilantro, then use a salad spinner to dry very well. Remove and discard the tough stems. Chop the leaves and tender stems very, very finely, or feel free to use a food processor to get these herbs as finely chopped as possible. The more finely chopped the herbs, the more green and unctuous the ghormeh sabzi will be.
• Separately chop the chives and entire bunch of scallions (including the green tops) as finely as possible by hand. These, too, must be very finely chopped - nearly minced - but they will turn to mush in a food processor and thus should be chopped by hand.
• Set a large frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the remaining 1/4 cup oil and the scallion-chive mixture. Allow to wilt, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes, then add remaining chopped herbs and fenugreek leaves, crushing the fenugreek leaves between your fingers as you add them. Cook, stirring continuously, until the herbs are wilted and very dark green - but not burned - and they give off a bright green oil when pressed with a spoon, 18 to 20 minutes. This step is crucial to the flavor and color of the stew. You'll know the herbs are ready when they feel dry and emit a strong, savory aroma.
• When the meat has cooked for 2 hours, add the cooked herb mixture, Omani limes and 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover pot, and simmer for another hour. Check on the limes occasionally to make sure they are submerged in the stew but not falling apart. Gently push them into the stew if they're still floating after 20 minutes.
• As the stew nears the 3-hour mark, remove the lid and check the meat; it should be very tender. If the ghormeh sabzi seems a little watery, leave it uncovered for the last 20 minutes of cooking and allow to reduce into a thick stew. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. If the stew needs a little acidity, juice a lime into the stew through a sieve by pressing down on it with a spoon (avoid letting the seeds through the sieve, as they can be bitter). Set aside. Taste the stew and continue adding more lime juice until the stew is sufficiently tangy. Stir in the saffron. The stew should be a very deep, dark shade of green and quite thick when done. Return dried limes into the stew to serve.
• Serve hot with Persian rice and mast-o khiar.

GHORMEH SABZI

Steps:

• The night (about 12 hours) before you want to cook this dish, leave the kidney beans in some water so that they will absorb some of it. It's a good idea to change and replace the water two or three times.
• Dice the onion. Use some oil to stir fry it in a pot. In order to make it look better and more delicious, after they've been fried add a little turmeric.
• Cut and chop the (boned) meat cubes and add them to the onions. Fry them until the color of the meat has changed.
• Use a different pot to cook the kidney beans. You don't need to cook them completely, just cook them until they are half-cooked.
• Add 3 glasses of boiling water to the onion and meat cubes. Cover the pot with its lid. Lower the flame of the gas burner because the meat needs to be cooked over a longer period of time with little heat.While the meat is being cooked, wash the vegetables and chop them into small pieces. In a pan, fry them.
• When the meat is half-cooked, separate the water and the kidney beans from each other. Add the kidney beans and the fried vegetables to the meat cubes. Now, we must add the dried limes. But remember, before you add them to the stew, you must pierce them using a fork. After adding the dried limes, pour two or three glasses of water into the pot.
• Almost after leaving the pot on the gas burner for two hours, the stew must be well-prepared. Now, it's time to add the flavors, salt and unripe grape juice. In order for the tastes to blend, leave the pot on the gas burner for one more hour.

PERSIAN STEW - GORMEH SABZI

Steps:

• Simmer lamb, whole dried limes, garlic and water in a stew pot until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Skim scum from pot.
• Meanwhile, wash all greens very, very well and drain in a colander.
• After lamb is tender, strain stock and skim off any fat. Put meat and dried limes aside in a bowl for the moment.
• Bring the stock to a boil in the stew pot. Add greens and simmer until well wilted. Cool and puree greens in food processor. Leave it with some texture, not a smooth puree. I use the "pulse" feature.
• Return greens to pot and add lamb, limes, kidney beans, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Simmer to allow flavors to blend and sauce to thicken, about 10-15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Remove limes to serve.
• Serve with steamed white basmati rice. Some people like to put a dollop of plain yogurt on the stew to serve.

GHORMEH SABZI - PERSIAN GREEN STEW

Steps:

• Trim meat and cut into 3/4" cubes.
• Fry onion over medium heat in half of the oil until golden.
• Add turmeric and fry for 2 more minutes.
• Increase heat, add meat cubes and stir over high heat until meat changes color and begins to turn brown.
• Reduce heat.
• Add water, drained kidney beans, salt and pepper to taste.
• Cover and simmer gently for about an hour or until meat is tender.
• Fry potatoes over high heat in the remaining oil until lightly browned.
• Add to sauce, leaving oil in the pan.
• Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add prepared vegetables to frying pan and fry over medium heat until wilted.
• Add to sauce, then add dried limes (or lime juice), cover and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
• Adjust seasoning and serve with white rice.