Khoresh Ghaimeh/Gheymeh - Persian Dried Lime, Lamb & Chana Dal Stew


If you don't know much about a particular cuisine, start cooking from that region's cookbook. After cooking from it for a while, you'll notice that you're becoming more & more comfortable with the new ingredients and techniques. In fact, after a certain point, you might even find yourself being able to cook food of your own creation inspired by the cuisine you were studying. That's been happening to me lately. I'm loving all the unique middle eastern ingredients I have acquired in the last few months and find myself coming up with ideas on how to use them, ideas that you might not find in traditional middle eastern cooking. Things like using harissa in scrambled eggs, or adding dried lime to the liquid in poached fish to flavor it. Or rose water in your latte and orange blossom water mint agua frescas. The ideas are numerous and I can't wait to get to them eventually!


Coming to this lamb & pea stew from Iran, it's one for their classic stews (khoresh/khoreshth) that is both comforting and exciting to the taste buds. The tartness and slight funkiness (!) from the dried limes cuts the richness of the lamb perfectly. Adding chana dal (or split peas alternately) makes it a heartier stew that will feed you for a while. We enjoyed ours with some cucumber-dried mint-sumac salad & home made pita and bulgur bread that I wasn't very fond of at first. But I think I paired the bulgur bread with the wrong dishes at first (kudu/frittata and a yogurt spread/dip). The chewiness of the bread went well the sauce from the stew. My husband liked the bread right off the bat but it took me eating it with this stew to come around :) I'll post the recipe for the bulgur bread sometime soon as well.

Recipe adapted from Persiana, Sabrina Ghayour
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
2 lb boneless leg of lamb, de-fatted and cut into 1" pieces
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
huge pinch of saffron
1 5.6 oz can of tomato paste
8 dried limes, each pierced in 3-4 places with a knife (be careful and don't stab yourself while doing this)
2 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 1/2 cups water
1 cup chana dal (soaked for about 4 hours, soaking is optional - the stew will take a little longer to cook otherwise)


Instructions:
Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a large saucepan. Sauce onions till lightly colored, about 8-10 minutes. Add lamb pieces and fry till it gets some color. Add all the spices, saffron and tomato paste and mix it in well and cook for about another minute. Add dried limes, salt and pepper and water and bring it to a boil. Cook covered on low heat for an hour. Add drained chana dal and cook for a further 30-45 minutes till the dal is done to your liking (mine took about 45 minutes). If you don't soak your chana dal, it might take an hour or so. Serve with bread or plain rice.


Comments