Khoresh-e Bamieh – Persian Lamb and Okra Stew
Khoresh-e Bamieh is a tasty lamb and okra stew from southern Iran. If you’re familiar with Persian food, you know we love a hint of sourness in our stews. In this dish, the sourness comes from tamarind paste. It is an ingredient that is used quite a lot in southern Iran.
Some people from more northern regions of Iran use pomegranate molasses instead. If you prefer, you could substitute the tamarind paste with pomegranate molasses.
Serve this mouthwatering lamb stew with aromatic Persian saffron rice.
Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.
Time
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 2h 10 min
Total: 2h 30 min
Ingredients (serving 4)
2.5 cups / 590 ml freshly boiled water
500g / 1.1lbs lamb leg + bone
150g / 5.3oz okra
100g / 3.5 oz tamarind paste
1 medium onion
7 cloves garlic
4 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp ghee or butter (optional)
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
Method of cooking Khoresh-e Bamieh
Preparations
Cut the meat into about 2.5cm / 1″ chunky cubes. Sear the cubes from all sides in about 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a hot pan until golden brown. Remove the meat from the pan, leaving the oil inside.
Finely chop the onions and garlic, keeping them separate. Gently caramelise the onions in the same oil you seared the meat in. After about 15 minutes, when the onions are golden brown, add the garlic and gently fry both together for a further 5 minutes.
Cook the Sauce
Then add the tomato paste, turmeric and black pepper and gently fry everything together for a minute with the onions and garlic over low to medium temperature, while stirring. If you like, you can add 1 tbsp of ghee or butter.
Add 2 cups or 470ml of freshly boiled water to the pan and combine everything into a sauce. Return the meat to the pan and increase the temperature until the stew simmers. Season with salt, being careful not to over-salt, as the tamarind paste which you will add later is already quite salty. Put on the lid and reduce the temperature to medium/low heat. Let the sauce simmer for 1h 30 min.
Dissolve the Tamarind
After 1h 30 min of cooking time, combine the tamarind paste with 1/2 cup / 120ml of freshly boiled water. Then strain it through a fine sieve or strainer. Use a spoon to move it around and help push it through. Only the stones should be caught in the strainer. If there are still lumps of tamarind paste, return them to the hot water, continue stirring and strain the tamarind water again. Set the filtered tamarind aside.
Add the Okra
Sauté the okras in 1 tbsp vegetable oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Add the sautéed okras and the tamarind paste to the stew and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Then taste the stew and season it with more salt, if necessary. As the tamarind paste is quite salty, I recommend you taste the stew first before adding more salt.
Finishing Touches
If the stew isn’t sour enough, you may want to add more tamarind paste. Just be sure to slightly dilute and filter it before, so that none of the stones land in the stew. Then let simmer the stew for a final 10 minutes.
Serve your Khoresh-e Bamieh with aromatic rice. Enjoy!
I’d love to see your Khoresh-e Bamieh! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!
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