5 Days 5 Lunches: Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi – Persian Herb Stew

Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi

5 Days 5 Lunches is back with a Khoresh-e-Ghormeh Sabzi!

If you love Persian Food and want to learn more about it, please check out my History of Food in Iran and Guide to Persian Food.

Ghormeh Sabzi. Say this to any Iranian/Persian/Whatever you want to call us, and you will immediately see their mouth salivating and their eyes light up. It’s the Golden Goose of Iranian Cuisine. It’s almost universally loved by all Iranians and most others who have tried it. If you can make this, you instantly earn the respect of any Iranian who is dining in your midst. This isn’t just a simple kabob or basmati rice, this is a high level Khoresh (also Khoresht) that requires time and your patience.

Can I just say this? Somehow Iranian Food has managed to make it self maybe the most diet/food allergy cuisine in the world. Everything is pretty much gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free. Every stew is just chock full of veggies and protein, which you can make meat free too if you want. The rice part, that’s a different story because…well…carbs. But at least it’s gluten free right?

Ghormeh Sabzi. The translation of the word is as follows, “ghormeh” translates loosley to stew and “sabzi” translates to herbs. So yeah, Herb Stew (not stew herb, farsi is read Subject-Object-Verb so for example, بابا آب داد   translates literally to “dad water gave” but is read Dad gave water. And you thought you were just going to read about stews today!

Okay now back to Ghormeh Sabzi, this is a insanely popular dish and it was my favorite dish growing up. It’s chock full of fresh herbs like parsley, fenugreek, coriander, cilantro, and spinach. Then you cook them down with some delicious lamb or beef, kidney beans, and some dried limes. My Mommon Joon would always make this for me growing up because she knew it was my favorite. It was always full of delicious meat and beans, the savory and sour go together so well that even a picky young eater like myself loved it. A trick to solving picky eaters by the way, don’t give them an option, go the Iranian route and just force delicious stews on them.

I would always come to her house on a Friday night with my family and I would be so excited if I opened one of her pots and saw this delicious stew cooking away. I would always sneak in a few picks before dinner where I would grab the cubes of meat out.

This dish always takes me back to my childhood and just reminds me of the amazing times I had when this dish was around.

Don’t be intimidated by the dish, that’s the biggest piece of advice I can give you. If you miss a step, don’t worry about it you’ll find out that with most Persian cooking, the steps are exactly important as much as the general order of things is.

For other takes from Persian Foodies on this go here.

Recipe

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. Butter or Cooking Oil

1 Cup Fresh Cut Parsley

1 Cups Fresh Cut Flat Leaf Parsley

1 Cup Fresh Cut Cilantro

1 Cup of Fenugreek

1/2 Cup of Dried Ghormeh Sabzi Herbs from Sadaf*

*You can also buy dried herbs from Sadaf. Often I’ll use theirs and fresh herbs to super charge the dish,Sadaf Ghormeh-Sabzi Herb Mixture, 2 Ounce Can)

1 Onion Diced

4 Cloves of Crushed Garlic

1 Tbsp. Salt

2 Cups of Water

1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Turmeric

3 Tsp. Cumin

3 Dried Limes- Buy these here, they are critical for all Persian Stews- Sadaf Dried Lime Omani Whole, 14-Ounce

1 Cups of Dried Red Kidney Beans (or Canned if you so choose)

2lb of Cubed Sirloin Roast Meat, or any other stewing meat including lamb

Method

If you are not using canned beans (I don’t use them), you’ll want to get started on your beans first. Boil them in a large pot for a few hours until they are about 99% done. You’ll know they are done when they are no longer gritty when you bite them. Once they are cooked, strain the beans and set aside.

In a large dutch oven pot, heat 2 tbsp. of the butter till it begins to foam. Then add your diced onions, garlic, salt, turmeric, and cumin. Brown these ingredients and then add your cubed meat. Brown the meat on all sides, once the meat is browned on all sides  one cup of your water.

Put the lid on the pot and allow it to cook for about an hour, check to periodically to stir and to check the level of your liquid. If you find it getting too low or thick, add water. After the first hour is done, add your dried limes, lime juice,  and the rest of your water.

As your beef cooks, saute your herbs. Heat the rest of your butter and as it foams, add your herbs. Cook them down for about 15 minutes.

Now add the sauteed herbs to the beef mixture. Let it cook for another hour, and then add your beans. Cook for another hour. Now check for the following:

1) Is the meat soft to the point that you can press down on the cube and it falls apart?

2) Are the beans cooked all the way through? I.e. no grittyness

If both of these are fulfilled you can cut the cooking time shorter, make sure your beans don’t overcook and become mushy.

You’ll want to serve this with a hefty serving of polow and tahdig. If you want to be healthy you can skip those…I guess..