Ghormeh Sabzi - The Recipe

Ghormeh Sabzi or The Persian Green Herb Stew is most definitely one of my favorites dish in the Persian Cuisine. But it has not always been this way...
By far and large, Ghormeh Sabzi, is not what one would call a 'pretty' dish, and if it happens to be your first time tasting it, the colour and smell would not seem very inviting.
Ghormeh Sabzi is a dish that you have to try, at least a few times (well, at least in my case), before your taste buds starts to really enjoy the bursts of intense flavours of this very dark green stew of herbs when eaten with the aromatic rice (cooked the Persian style of course!).

It's hard to believe that the only Persian dish I was familiar with before I got married to my Persian husband was Adas Polo, also known as Adas Pilaf (Rice with lentils and raisins)...
But a marriage of cultures can certainly produce some miracles, and in my case it sure did. Firstly with our beautiful daughter Mona and now with me cooking Persian Cuisine! ha! Who would have thought that was possible... lol...
I have been quite adventurous lately in learning how to create those delicious Persian dishes and one that I have almost perfected is of course the very famous Ghormeh Sabzi.
And since I cooked it today totally from scratch, and had some requests for sharing the recipe, I thought I might as well do it here.

So here is what you will need:

(Tumeric)

- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp of tumeric powder
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 750grams of lamb, chopped into chunks (Beef or Chicken can be used too)
- 1 cup spring (green) onions, finely chopped (green part only)
- 1 1/2 cup of spinach, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro (coriander), finely chopped
- 1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fenugreek leaves, finely chopped
- 1 can of red kidney beans, drained
- Juice of one fresh lemon
- 1/2 cup of leemoo-amonee (dried lemons, approximately 5 to 6 dried lemons)
- 1 tsp of dried lemon powder (optional)

Leemoo-Amonee (Dried Lemons)

Note: The herbs can be purchased already chopped, either in sachet as dried herbs or in can, but this recipe is of course used with fresh herbs (Sabzi)

(Dried chopped herbs for Ghormeh Sabzi)

Cooking Method / Directions:

1. Saute or fry the onion over medium heat in a couple of tabespoons of oil, until it is a deep golden brown. The Persian called this piaz-daagh.
   
2. Add the tumeric and fry for another minute or two.
3. Add the meet chunks and toss well to coat in tumeric. Add salt & pepper and the optional dried lemon powder and allow meat to cook until browned well on all sides.
4. Meanwhile, in another heated and well oiled pan, fry the herbs until they are fragrant and they starts to deepen in colour. Watch them carefully as they will go bitter if burned. You want them to be a deep, dark green without blackening.
5. Add the fried green herbs to the onion and meet mixture and stir well.
6. Add about 2 cups of water to the mixture. You want it to be a 'slurry', but not 'soupy' mixture.
7. Add lemon juice, stir it well and turn the heat to low, cover the pot and let it simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hours.
8. About 1 hour through the simmer, add the leemoo-amonee (dried lemons). Crack them a little bit and add to the stew, making sure to push them down into the liquid. They tend to pop back up, so try to cover them down with the meat to keep them submerged. Do not add the dried lemons any earlier, or they will turn the stew bitter.
   
9. And finally add the drained kidney beans and let the stew cook/simmer for another 30 to 45 minutes.
10. Make sure to taste the stew to check on the seasoning and sourness of the stew. (Add more lemon juice if needed, but before you do, press down on the dried lemons to get them to release the liquid they've absorbed.)

And your Ghormeh Sabzi is ready!

Serve with Polow (rice) or if you want to go country style try them with Lavash bread (Persian bread).... so yummy!

Oh and just a little bit of advice, if you are serving this dish to a first-timer, make sure to not serve your guests the dried lemons, they would scream in horror when they bite into what they think is a nice chunk of meat! lol.... (no jokes!)