Ghormeh Sabzi – Persian Lamb Stew with Herbs
Ghormeh Sabzi is a Persian classic! This hearty lamb stew is packed with herbs, giving it a multifaceted flavour. When you ask Iranians about their favourite food most of them will say it’s Ghormeh Sabzi.
It takes some time to make but the effort is well worth it. You can also speed up the process and make life easier for you by using pre-fried Ghormeh Sabzi herbs that you can find in Iranian supermarkets. If you prefer to make everything from scratch though you can wash, dry and finely chop the fresh herbs, and then fry them. Once cooled divide them into portions depending on your family’s size, and freeze them for later. This way you don’t always have to start from scratch the next few times you want to make Ghormeh Sabzi.
Common mistakes
There are a few things to keep in mind when making Ghormeh Sabzi. I will walk you through each step in this course but in case you’re wondering why your Ghormeh Sabzi isn’t turning out the way you intended and need to do some troubleshooting, I summarised the 5 most common mistakes here:
The herbs are not fried enough resulting in a lack of flavour and colour. You should aim for a deep dark green colour.
Chewy meat. The stew didn’t cook long enough. Another key to delicious Ghormeh Sabzi is tender meat that falls off the bone. The meat takes time to cook so plan for enough time and don’t rush.
It’s too watery. Either too much water has been added to it or it didn’t cook for long enough so the stew didn’t reduce enough.
Bitter taste. The dried limes have fallen apart and the seeds spread everywhere in the stew. You might accidentally bite on one and get a nasty bitter taste, spoiling your delicious spoon full of Ghormeh Sabzi. Another reason might be that you used too much fenugreek.
Too many kidney beans. Don’t compensate for the lack of meat with kidney beans. It’s a lamb stew, not a bean soup.
I show you how it’s made in my Classic Persian Cooking Course. Among other popular Persian dishes, it is also included in my Classic Persian Recipes E-Book.
I also offer a Vegan Persian Cooking Course.
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