Recipes!

Someone asked for my ghormeh sabzi recipe in another thread. P sure they were kidding, but I'm gonna give it to you anyhow. Be careful what you ask for, I guess. Ghormeh sabzi means braised meat with vegetables in Persian. I don't eat meat, so this is really just vegetables. Also, ghormeh sabzi doesn't really have any vegetables, just leeks and herbs. It's all "vegetables" to us. Thing is, if you ask for "sabzi" most Persians will think it's sabzi khordan you're after, which is very lovely you must try it but more akin to a salad (i guess?) than a stew. This makes a ton of herb stew, you're gonna have leftovers. Here goes:

You'll need 3 leeks with a lot of green on them and not a lot of white. When I see leeks like that at the store and they don't cost a fortune, that's how I decide it's time to make ghormeh sabzi.

You'll also need 2 bunches of parsley. 1 bunch flat, 1 bunch curly is fine. 2 bunches flat also works. At least 1 of the bunches must be flat.

Additionally**: 1 bunch dill, 1 bunch cilantro/coriander leaf, and about 8oz* of fresh spinach (I normally use most, but not all of a 10oz bag).

There are a couple of ingredients you will need from a specialty Indian or Middle eastern grocer. Fortunately they are dry ingredients that you can store in a pantry and make lots of khoreshts:
-dried fenugreek aka shanbalileh aka methi leaves (you can use fresh if available but i really prefer dried for this recipe)
-limoo amani, these are dried lemons or limes

Grapeseed oil or another neutral oil that burns at a very high temperature.

Finally, you need about 1+1/3 cup of dried red kidney beans.

Optionally, you might also use a medium onion, turmeric and black pepper.

So what you wanna do is first soak your kidney beans overnight, or in very hot water for an hour or two if you lacked the foresight to soak them overnight.

Trim off the white part of the leeks and reserve them for another recipe. Then rinse and rough cut the green parts and put them in a big ol' food processor.

Now here's the tedious part: wash the fresh herbs and remove all the leaves, adding them to your food processor and discarding the stems. Also add in the spinach* and a small handful of shanbalileh (don't overdo it). Puree the lot. You might wanna do this in batches if you don't have an enormous food processor like mine.

Then you get a large pot, pref nonstick with a thick bottom, coat the bottom generously with grapeseed oil and sautee your optional onion on pretty high heat along with like half a teaspoon each of turmeric and black pepper. And once the onion is soft and translucent, add in the pureed herb and leek mixture.

You gotta sautee the shit outta the herbs without burning them. Add more oil as necessary, cause if you burn the herbs it'll ruin your ghormeh sabzi. In a huge pot like the one i use, it takes 10-15 mins on high heat, stirring pretty much constantly until they're the dark green, almost brown-ish color of dried herbs.

At this point you add water, i don't know maybe 4 or 5 cups? You want it to be like the consistency of mud after a heavy rain, but not soup. Also drain the beans and add those in, and 4-6 limoo amani. Pierce several holes in each with a fork. 4 should be plenty unless they're especially small. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

You're gonna let that simmer for a good long time: 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, and adding water as needed to maintain the muddy consistency as the beans soak up water. When it's almost done (beans are soft, etc) add salt to taste. I think I use roughly a tablespoon? No idea, I'm eyeballing everything LOL. Obviously err on the side of too little salt. It's a very flavorful stew, doesn't need much.

Some people like to add fresh lemon juice. I strongly advise against this, I think the limoo amani give plenty of sour/tangy taste and adding lemon juice on top of that just obliterates the subtle flavors of the herbs.

Traditionally this is made with cubes of lamb or beef. You would brown it in a separate pot with the onion, turmeric and pepper and add it to the stew at some point. I think with the beans and water etc. I have no idea really, I've been at least vegetarian most of my life.

That's it! Serve it over rice. I think it's pretty good over kasha/buckwheat, too.

This is my favorite stew and possibly my favorite meal overall, especially during the colder months.

*too much spinach will ruin it. There are 3 rules: Go easy on the spinach, don't burn the herbs, nix the lemon juice. No matter how much they cry, no matter how much they beg, don't feed em after midnite. You know, that sort of thing.

**if you're really in a bind, you can make it with just parsley, leek and fenugreek but i never do that.

that is a really righteous lookin recipe - bookmarked!

I was not kidding! I have been looking for something that didn't involve leafy stuff not readily available in the USofA!

(I was supposed to visit Iran last year but came down with COVID three days before planned departure. The Westwood Village neighborhood of LA must now suffice for my Persian hankerings, but I don't get to LA very often).

When i visited my brother in Orange County 4 or 5 years ago, we had some really good Persian food. It was much better than anything in the NYC area nowadays. In the 90's there was a great place just outside the city, but we don't have anything better than okay-ish now afaik. I visited LA during that trip but didn't make it to Tehrangeles.

FWIW nobody i know has gone back to Iran,or would, due to safety concerns or ethics or both, and i have relatives and family friends who were jailed on trumped up charges in the 80's.

Yeah my onc surgeon is Persian, moved to the US with her immediate family when she was 15. Early in 2022 she was excited that we would be visiting, but as the date approached (September) she was like "my friends there are saying don't come now." But we had to go through so much to get our visas that we were still determined. . . so coming down with COVID (after avoiding it for 3ish years!) was kind of. . . propitious?

Anyway both spouse and I are in love with fesenjoon. I have not attempted to make this--it may remain the rare Tehrangeles treat.

Deflatormouse i once read a sub for fenugreek leaves that called for a bit of ground fenugreeek and spinach leaves. is this even close to something you'd condone?

xxpost

this looks super interesting, thx for posting. thinking it'd be super with some pan-fried tofu thrown in at the end or something

quincie, very cool! you should totally try to make fesenjan, i've haven't figured out a way to make it veggie that works well but i've tried a couple of times.

i really wouldn't use fenugreek seeds. it already has some spinach, and too little spinach is better than too much. recently i made this without fenugreek leaves (preparation was well underway when i remembered i'd run out) and it came out ok. i would just omit the fenugreek if you can't find the leaf. you really do need the limoo amani though.

can't imagine adding tofu to this tbh- i would say try it once as is so you have an idea of how it tastes and what veggie protein would pair well. it's a strong and singular flavor.

i eat it over kasha sometimes which surely must be blasphemous, so

haha. have the limoo and methi ordered and am gonna try and make next weekend. will take your advice and keep alt. protein separate for first outing. have only cooked kasha a couple times (kasha varneshkes) but it's been decades and don't have any at hand so i won't be co-blaspheming i guess

have the limoo and methi ordered and am gonna try and make next weekend

oh sweet! writing this out was so worth it.

i won't be co-blaspheming i guess

that's probably for the best!

I probably would have suggested ash reshteh ("noodle soup") for a vegetarian/vegan recipe in persian cuisine. always a crowd pleaser, probably not as "interesting" but has lots of herbs.

o, i made that once about 5years ago. came out really well. thanks for reminding me that i have the recipe written down

making this Ghormeh Sabzi now, at the sauteeing herb/leek/onion/turmeric stage. the smell plus those outrageously scented limoos are already making me happy to be doing this. i'm scared of burning the herbs so am not really frying, but going on medium heat and cooking the heck out of it. . .

dang, this dish is delicious!! really lovely. i took pics, but when i send them to myself am getting these .heic files that are a freaking PITA and converting has been problematic. but thanks again for the recipe, D'mouse.

I'm conditioned to look for leeks that have a lot of white, and have been disappointed that my unmanned honor-pay farm stand always has leeks with very little white, and now I am happy happy and will be trying this soon!

so awesome that you actually made this and enjoyed it!

quincie i'm jealous of your source for leeks that have a lot of green.

I will be attempting ghormeh sabzi tomorrow! Ingredients sourced and ready to go.

Made it to the simmering stage! I was not super vigilant about getting every last stem out of the herb mix, and I had to strongarm my (not huge) food processor a bit, but the instructions were very very helpful (e.g. I would not have known to take the herb saute that far without specific guidance) and I can't wait for dinner!

Of course the Safdar package of limoos had a recipe that involved opening a CAN of Safdar "ghormeh sabzi herbs" and a can of kidney beans. Clearly easier but I'm sure in no way as delicious.

i'm honored that you actually made one of my recipes and i really hope it doesn't suck. i can confirm that the cans of dried herbs make lousy ghormeh sabzi. i've tried it exactly once, which tells you all you need to know.

i made it myself last week after scoring some leeks at whole foods that were all green with virtually no white on em.

It smells sooooooo good. Like, I know just by how it smells that it is going to be ace!

Now I am actually pondering one of those automatic persian tadig rice cookers oh noes

xp phew :)

i do tahdig all the time on the stovetop but have nothing against the rice cookers. if it'll make you more inclined to cook Persian rice it's worth it.

i can def offer suggestions if you want to try it on the stovetop.

Oh yes, I would definitely appreciate stovetop tips!

The verdict: delicious!!!

Next time I must must must do better with rice. Tonight I just tossed some jasmine in the rice cooker and it just was not up to par with the ghormeh sabzi. The stew really deserved proper fluffy persian rice. Tahdig would have put it over the top.

confession: i was not religious about destemming the cilantro and dill, and i just finely chopped as cleaning my food processor is a chore and wasn't in the mood to add that to the other tasks when i made it. will def be making again. also, am curious abt Persian Rice! i just had it with Japanese short grain and thought it was perfect for my taste

Tomorrow I'm going to try a fake tahdig with the leftover jasmine rice--I'm drying it out in the fridge and will attempt to crisp it in oil+butter in a nonstick pan. Will serve it with eagerly anticipated leftover g.s. along with some lamb chops!

BTW I think the caution against lemon juice was an excellent tip. I saw some youtubers vouch for lemon and am glad I tried it without, as I agree that it wasn't needed and could have overridden the distinctive methi+limoo flavor.

I was heavy on the kidney beans, I'll scale back last time as I liked them on the sparse side as served in my few restaurant experiences (though those had lamb, so it made sense to bump up the beans as a main course veg dish for us).

you know, i almost wrote "serve over Basmati rice". i've never tried it with any other rice, and it's def. blasphemous. no judgement from me of course, as i already said i sometimes eat it over buckwheat groats. i'm obviously too narrow minded if you both enjoyed it.

traditionally, it's saffron rice with tahdig. you know, saffron is really expensive and ghormeh sabzi is so overpowering, i usually don't wanna bother. but the tahdig adds a nice texture, and you do need a little saffron water to nail it.

i tried it once without stemming the herbs properly, because it's a huge pain in the neck as i'm sure you've found. and it wasn't too bad but it wasn't as good.

the thing about the lemon juice, you don't lose the methi or the limoo amani, what you lose is the softer, more subtle flavors of the dill and spinach.

i just finely chopped as cleaning my food processor is a chore

that's legit

i have to reiterate that it's really rewarding to me that both of you made this and enjoyed it.

i could write a post about tahdig rice this afternoon. to start with: unfortunately, it's gotta be basmati rice, or it won't have the right aroma.

had an excellent vegan borcht at the Ukranian National Home in the East Village the other day, would love to have the recipe for that. $3 and it was like, the best thing i've eaten out in months.

xps i've been thinking it would be good over brown rice- there's obviously no need to be religious about it

Borcht is super easy to make and there are a million recipes. It's one of those anti-recipe dishes.

For ingredients, beets obviously - you can roast them ahead of time for intensity, peel them and cook them wholly in the soup which is going to be fresher (and take a little longer), or a little of both for the best of both worlds. Onions, leeks, a little garlic, potato sometimes, carrot. Shredded cabbage is very common - I like red to enhance the beet flavor but any cabbage will do.

I use homemade beef or chicken broth - it gets a really nice mouthfeel and tastes very nourishing. I have also used bean stock (broth drained after cooking dried beans) and that works very well (better than vegetable stock!) also. I imagine you could use water in a pinch with some olive oil for texture/added flavor.

An emersion blender is what you want to make the job super easy. You just cook everything until tender and then blend it to a nice smooth consistency. A blender or food processor also works. Some recipes don't even make it a puree, but then you probably don't want to overcook it whereas if you are blending it that matters less.

I like yogurt or sour cream with chopped dill at the end. For really nice alternative, tahine sauce (tahini, lemon, garlic, but no chickpeas) plays really well with the earthy beet flavors.

enhance the beet flavorcolor

Thread delivers, that post is densely packed with pro tips. Thx, PBKR.

Best borscht i ever had was a cold borscht at a Polish restaurant in Jersey City in the 90's, down the street from an artist's loft where my friend's dad was living temporarily. i don't know how to find it, and it's probably long gone anyhow, but that one had yogurt and dill mixed in.

i'm mostly vegan now (i eat dairy a few times a year), but i always have tahini on hand and i'm constantly dumping bean broth down the drain as a byproduct of other dishes.

the one i had the other day wasn't pureed, the beets were still firm but the cabbage and potatoes were def overcooked. it didn't matter. it had a tanginess that neutralized some of the earthy beet flavor, and i'm wondering if they added acid to it or it's just the way the beets are cooked.

Good call, the Serious Eats recipe I use for reference sometimes calls for balancing the dish at the end with the addition of sugar and red wine vinegar.

just night shifted and got real sick overnight. i had to tough it out but i'll be calling in sick today and tomorrow. please forgive me if i'm slower to respond. i was gonna try making borscht this weekend but now idk.

quincie, you're right. the amount of beans in my recipe was way too much. i normally just eyeball everything, so when i made it last week i measured everything out. figured i'd come back and make corrections, but i totally forgot. the 4-5 cups of water was exactly right (i don't believe it tbh). but the amount of beans i use is just a little more than a cup (dry). about a cup and a quarter. also, i use way less than a tablespoon of salt. closer to half a teaspoon! i added four "punches" of salt, if you know what a punch of salt is. tbf there's a chance it's something my uncle made up.

also quincie, you could totally try it with lamb or beef cubes, i'm pretty sure you just sautee the onion in a separate shallow pan with a pinch of turmeric and back pepper , then brown the meat and add it to the stew to braise together with the beans and limoo. as i recall from my childhood the meat adds a whole other dimension.

outdoor miner, you may be interested to know that i've used leftover ghormeh sabzi as a veggie-hot dog topping and it totally works. i figured if kimchee and chili are valid veggie dog toppings, why not?

about tahdig rice, there are a couple of special kitchen items that i don't use for anything else. one is a towel which i wrap around the lid of the pot. it creates a tighter seal and absorbs some of the moisture from the rice when you steam it, so you end up with a fluffier, lighter, less dense & sticky rice.

the other is a wooden stick that belonged to my grandmother. i think it's some kind of rolling pin, but i'm not real sure. it's very thin for a rolling pin and has a strange contour. i'm gonna say you could use a narrow rolling pin. i use it first to pulverize a pinch of saffron in a measuring cup, kinda like a mortar/pestle action, to which i then add 1/4-1/3 cup of boiling water. and set that aside.

later on, i use the rolling pin-esque thing to poke holes in my mound of rice, which allows steam to rise. i'll have to take a picture of this next time i do it, or perhaps there are youtubers who do something similar and have a visual aid.

you really need to use grapeseed oil for this. it takes 15-20 mins for the tahdig to form on high heat. the heat has to be pretty high (not maxed out, but slightly higher than medium-high, i'd say). if you use another oil, the tahdig will char and burn from the sustained high heat. if you cook it on lower-medium heat, the rice won't crisp and you'll end up with a soft, greasy layer of rice on the bottom.

i'll measure out 2 cups of basmati rice, or 3 depending on the preparation. for baghali polow, which is tahdig rice with dill & fava beans, i use 3. likewise for shirin polow, "bejewelled rice" which is tahdig rice with candied orange peel, carrots and nuts. but for ordinary tahdig rice with saffron and most other preparations, it's 2 cups.

to remove excess starch from the rice, you must rinse it. this is really important, and pretty standard for cooking basmati rice. basically you swirl it around in a pot of water with your hand, then dump out the water when it gets cloudy and add new water. repeat a few-several times. you'll know when it's done because the texture of the rice feels different to the touch.

typically after that, you'll soak it for 30 mins in a large pot or bowl of warm water. this is not as crucial and can be skipped if you're in a hurry.

once the rice is ready to cook, add it to a large pot and fill it with water. think about cooking pasta, it's just like that. when the rice is almost-but-not-quite cooked ("al dente" kinda, but really more like slightly undercooked), strain out the water. sometimes i'll give it a quick rinse with cool water to stop it cooking more.

i find that with the very tall pot i use for this, if it's almost full with water, if i strain it out just before it reaches a rolling boil it's the perfect consistency.

at this point you take your nonstick crockpot or stock pot and coat the bottom very generously with grapeseed oil. use plenty. add half of the reserved saffron water to that and shake the pot back and forth vigorously (think of a gold panning motion) to distribute the saffron water.

with the remaining saffron water in the measuring cup, slowly stir in a portion of the undercooked rice (as much as you can coat with the saffron water). set this aside.

at this stage, salt the rice to taste (1 teaspoon salt per cup of dry rice is my 'rule'... so if you started with 2 cups, add 2 teaspoons). if you are adding other flavors to the rice, such as minced dill and fava beans for baghali polow, this is when to mix it into the rice. note that this is not the same as "toppings", which should be added at the end.

take a third of your rice (about 2 cups cooked) and add it to the stock pot with grapeseed oil. pack it down pretty firmly with a large spoon, so that it makes a dense & uniform bottom layer of rice that's completely saturated in oil. this will be your tahdig.

with the remaining rice, build it into a pyramid shape, layer by layer, adding one spoonful at a time. whereas the tahdig layer is densely packed, this should be very loose. i usually shake the spoon a little to make it looser. with each layer you build, the circumference should be slightly smaller. so we're building a very loose, vaguely pyramid shaped mound of rice. when you run out of rice, dump the cup of rice soaked in saffron water over the top and 'crush' it into the mound with a spoon, or spoon it out over the top as another layer.

now you take your rolling pin thingy. insert it into the center of the mound to create a hollow. you wanna push it all the down to the bottom of the loosely packed rice pyramid without piercing the tahdig. the different densities make this very easy. as long as you're gentle the resistance will stop it when you get to the bottom tahdig layer.

then make 4 more holes like this, for each compass point. think of a pentagram, or like the connect the dots version.

finally, drizzle some grapeseed oil over the top of the rice mound.

while it's not nearly as involved as making ghormeh sabzi, i feel visual aids would be more helpful here. i'll try to take pics next time.

try to secure your towel around the lid of the pot. to keep it from catching fire!!!

now the rice is ready to be steamed. cover the pot and cook it over high heat for about 15 minutes. it can take up to 20 minutes sometimes. DON'T WALK AWAY!! keep an eye on it to make sure the towel doesn't catch fire (this has happened to me maybe twice? it just got a little singed. no erupting into flames or anything. but we gotta be cautious). **if you smell the rice burning, remove it from the heat immediately** we wanna crisp the rice, not char it.

this sounds more involved than it probably is! it takes like 40 mins?

one important thing to note... when you crush the saffron in the measuring cup, make sure the inside of the cup is *completely dry* before adding saffron to it

Rinsing rice has been a game changer for me.

and i'm wondering if they added acid to it or it's just the way the beets are cooked

recipe i use calls for a splash of apple cider vin to finish iirc. have never pureeed the few times i've made it, it's kinda stew-ish but so freaking delish.

xxpos

also, thx for saffron rice reminder. made it a couple times towards the beginning of the pandemic and it fell out of rotation. . .

sorry for multiple posts, am at work and slowly going through thread:
hot dog topping sounds tip top tbh. and as far as the bean quantity goes i actually halved the provided gs recipe except for the beans, thinkingt i'd hold back half of those but ended up putting them all in the final dish and i LOVED the bean quantity. sry for bean a weirdo

I ordered new pot (didn't have anything suitable for persian rice) and some saffron so I can get down with proper persian rice soon. In the meantime, my fake tadhig actually worked out well and the g.s. was even better with two days rest!

DM I see you are not in the "add yogurt" camp for persian rice--I see some folks do a portion of rice mixed with yogurt for the bottom/crispy part that goes into the pan first.

omg that post was SOOOO LONG!! sorry everyone

DM I see you are not in the "add yogurt" camp for persian rice--I see some folks do a portion of rice mixed with yogurt for the bottom/crispy part that goes into the pan first.

wow, i've never heard of anyone doing that! for some rice preparations we put a layer of thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom of the pan.

i have a great aunt whose social life revolves around cooking Persian food, i'll ask if she knows anyone who makes it this way.

i actually halved the provided gs recipe except for the beans, thinkingt i'd hold back half of those but ended up putting them all in the final dish and i LOVED the bean quantity. sry for bean a weirdo

<3

oh hai I am making ghormeh sabzi rn

gonna do proper Persian rice this time

you rule ♥️♥️♥️♥️

forgot to update that i made borscht a couple of weeks ago using the tips PBKR provided (didn't follow a recipe, used bean broth, tahini sauce , combination of roasted & boiled beets) and it was *delicious* ... but i got violently ill later that night (not because of the borscht) and threw out the leftovers, couldn't stomach the sight if it.

Glad the borscht tasted good and hope you will be able to revisit it again in time.

Labor Day ghormeh sabzi!

Gonna let it sit overnight, then do proper Persian rice to go with it tomorrow. I need to be more brave in my tahdig game; my first attempt (following deflator's instructions to the T) came out really well for a noob effort, but could have been browner on the bottom. I was really scared of scorching, this time I will take a deep breath and keep going on the higher heat.

oh wow, i haven't made any khoreshts in months, it's summer tbf but i'm overdue

i was also scared to push the heat enough as a noob :)

was just thinking about the gormeh two days ago when it was cool and rainy but had other plans at the time. def need to remember to make this again someday soon-ish

my current most valuable ingredient is coconut milk. It's transforming qualities on bodged curries, especially when I've not got the spice blend quite right is magical.