I originally found out about this dish when I was browsing Persian recipes. I hadn’t even known that something like this existed, but seeing it I immediately knew I would love it. I mean, how could this not be amazing, the amount of herbs, soft lamb, kidney beans, just the thought made my mouth water. And I thought it would be nice to cook something that my husband might recognise from his childhood.

I think I googled a couple of different recipes and combined the bits I liked in each. There are many ways to cook this interesting stew. You can use beef or lamb, some recipes have dill or spinach, some don’t. You can also use dried and soaked kidney beans or canned ones.  And some recipes also include fried potato, I leave the potato out, although usually I love potatoes as every Finn is genetically programmed to do. But in this it somehow feels out of place to me and a bit heavy. I don’t think I’ve ever followed any single recipe religiously, I’m sure my combination of herbs is a bit different every time. But I always use lamb instead of beef, I just think it’s tastier.

I don’t use coriander, which often is in the recipes and I’m sure would be lovely in this. It’s one of those foods that seem to have a completely different taste for some people. I love it, I love the smell and taste of it. I love it in Mexican foods, Thai cooking, salads, anywhere really. But I have heard some people say that it tastes like soap or medicine. My husband calls it devil’s food and will immediately notice if I try to sneak it into anything.

One important thing I think is the dried fenugreek, you must have it there, but don’t add too much, it might make your stew taste bitter. Another must is the dried lemons. I love them, I actually eat them although I suppose they have done their job once they have given their taste to the stew and usually would be discarded.

The first time I cooked this and lift the lid and said “I made you Ghormeh Sabzi” to my husband, his face was such a sight. He was amazed and delighted that I would have found something that was so familiar to him. He grew up in the Emirates but he has family in Iran and anyway the recipes travel across the Persian Gulf. He testified that my Ghormeh Sabzi tasted just like the real thing.

1 yellow onion

1 tsp turmeric

600 g cubed lamb

1.5 cups parsley

¾ cups of dill

2 tbsp dried fenugreek

1 cup of leak or spring onion (green parts) or chives

1/2 cup of spinach

1 cup of Kidney beans (dried and soaked or canned)

3-4 dried lemons

Salt and pepper

Water

Chop the onion. Heat oil in a large casserole dish or dutch oven. Fry the onion on low to medium heat until it starts to brown, add turmeric and fry for another minute or two. Add the cubed lamb and fry until lamb is all nice and brown.

In a separate frying pan fry all the chopped herbs on low to medium heat for 10-15 minutes.

Once the lamb is brown incorporate the fried herbs, add salt and pepper, dried lemons (pierce each with a fork) and the dried kidney beans. If you are using canned beans, don’t add them yet. Add water enough to cover everything by about an inch. Let simmer until the meat is soft about an hour or 90 minutes, add water if it looks like it’s getting too thick. Then add kidney beans if you are using canned beans, check the seasoning and let simmer for another 15 minutes.

Serve with saffron basmati rice and flat bread, shirazi salad and yogurt-mint dip (mast-o-khiar).
Here is how I cook saffron basmati rice with a crispy bottom - or tahdig as the locals call it.

Recipe: Shirazi salad

2 large tomatoes or two cups of cherry tomatoes

2 lebanese cumucber or one normar large cucumber

2 tbsp chopped parsley or dill

2 tbsp chopped mint

2 scallions

1 clove of garlic (optional)

juice of 1/2 large lime

salt pepper

oil

Cube tomato and cucumber, add chopped herbs and chopped scallion and minced garlic, squeeze in the juice of the lime, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper. Check seasoning and serve,

Recipe: Mast-o-khiar (Yoghurt and cucumber dip)

This is a simple and fresh dip to serve with biryanis or grilled meats and rice as well.

1 cup of natural yoghurt

1 tbsp of minced fresh dill or 1tsp dried mint

1 lebanese cucumber or half normal cucumber choppen (small chop)

Mix all ingredients - the taste develops if you can prepare in advance and let sit in the fridge for awhile.

It took me a long time to learn to cook rice properly, it usually ended up being just disastrously mushy. My impatient blitz-krieg approach was killing the rice, said husband and took over. He did pretty well, but I didn’t want to be dependent on him on the rice-cooking front, so I asked his sister-in-law to teach me how it’s done when we were visiting family in Dubai. 

I stood next to her in the kitchen and learned how important it is to wash and soak the rice, how the rice needs to feel in your fingers when it's ready to be drained, how you add oil and wrap the lid to cover it while it slowly steams without any rush to wonderful rice perfection. So now I can do it, maybe not always as perfectly as my sister-in-law, but usually when we have rice now, husband says “This is proper rice” instead of “Should we buy a rice cooker”. I am happy with that.

So here's how I do it: Wash the rice with cold water rubbing the rice in your hands changing the water or in a sieve under running water until the water runs clear. Leave the rice to soak in cold water with a sprinkling of salt – the longer the better I suppose, overnight if you can, but half an hour minimum. Add rice to a pan and cover with water – you need much more water than some recipes recommend. Don’t fall for the “1 measure of rice and 2 measures of water and you get perfect rice every time”- scam. With that method you get sad limp rice every time.

You need at least 5 cups of water for two cups of rice, but even more doesn’t hurt because you will drain the excess, and plenty of water will give the grains freedom and space to bounce around wildly and cook into beautiful individual parcels of rice happiness.

So. Add water, rice and salt in a pan and bring to boil. Then lower the heat and let simmer about 8 minutes until the rice is almost done, but still al dente and feels like there is a little bit of bite or resistance when you press between your fingers. Drain all the water and put rice back to the pan, drizzle some olive oil on top of the rice. If you want to use saffron, you pour the saffron water on top of the rice now (you will have soaked a pinch of saffron threads in hot water). Now wrap the lid of your pan in a clean tea towel and cover the pan closely – this is important because the cloth with absorb any excess steam so the rice won’t get wet and mushy.

Leave to steam on low heat. 10-15 minutes will do for lovely fluffy rice, but nothing bad will happen even if you leave it a bit longer.

Rice with a crispy bottom – Tahdig

If you like a Persian style crisp bottom to your rice the process differs a bit.

You start as above, but after you have drained the excess water, you rinse the rise with cold water. Pour some olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Ladle the rice in the middle of the pan forming a peak in the middle. Press a couple of heat vents into the rice with the handle of a wooden spoon, but not all the way to the bottom. Pour the saffron water on the rice. Cover with a lid wrapped in kitchen towel and let steam on low heat for 30 minutes. Again you can leave it a bit longer even, as long as it is on low heat, it won't burn, you'll just get an even crispier bottom.

Once you are ready to eat, tip the rice onto a plate and serve as wedges or break the cake into a mound of delicious rice and crispy bits.

There are several variations of this lovely dish, some using potato or flatbread in the bottom of the pan, or adding herbs and garlic in to the mix.