Slow Food Cape Town CSA

RECIPE OF THE WEEK: PERSIAN HERB STEW

Posted by Kate | Filed under Recipes, Winter

I never really thought about Persian food until I made an Iranian-American friend while I was studying away from home. Visits to her mother’s house were feasts in the classical sense – tables festooned with bowls of herbs and radishes, pomegranates and dried mulberries to nibble on, and four course meals made up of soups, stews, barberry and pistachio-studded rice dishes and rosewater desserts. The stews - khoresh in Farsi – were my favourite, with their never-ending combinations of sweet, savoury and seasonal. Quince and beef, walnut and pomegranate, rhubarb and mint, carrot and prune, apple and split pea – the array of flavours and textures were beyond creative, and equally sublime. This one, with different herbs, in one of my favourites, and loosely based on a recipe from “New Food of Life” by Najmieh Batmanglij.

Khoresh-e qormeh sabzi

Serves five

You can substitute up to half of the chopped herbs with dried herbs but remember that 4TBS dried herbs = 1 cup fresh herbs.

2 large onions, sliced

1kg chicken pieces or lamb stewing meat

1/2 tsp turmeric

(1 tin chickpeas or beans, drained and rinsed, is optional)

3-4 cups mixed chopped herbs ( such as parsley, mint, chives, spring onions, dhania, fenugreek, rocket, soup celery)

4 TBS lime juice

In a heavy pot, saute the onions until soft and golden. Remove from the pot. Brown the meat, and then add the turmeric with a big pinch of salt and pepper, and stir to combine. Return the onions to the pot.

Add water to the pot (2 cups for chicken and 4 for lamb), bring to the boil and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile saute half the herbs over low heat in a little oil until you can smell their aroma. Add these to the stew.

Cook for another 1 to 2 hours (chicken takes less time than lamb), or until the meat is tender and soft. Add the lime juice, remaining herbs and pulses, if using, and reheat just before serving. Eat with rice.

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Comments (0) | July 27th, 2009