When learning to cook regional dishes, I like to go straight to the source. I want to observe the way it’s done by people who grew up cooking and eating the food. I’ll travel pretty much anywhere to learn the secret of an authentic regional dish. Luckily, when I wanted to learn Persian cooking, I didn’t have to travel– instead, our friend Farah came to me. 🙂
Farah was born in Iran. She immigrated to Israel with her family when she was 5 years old. Her father worked as a cook in many different places, eventually landing as the head chef in a Tel Aviv hospital kitchen. Farah followed in her father’s footsteps, opening a small Persian cafe in Jaffa for other Iranian immigrants. She later moved to the United States with her family and cooked professionally for many years.
Farah cooks in my kitchen while I take notes.
Farah is a terrific cook, and she’s generous with her talent. I asked her to give me a crash course in Persian cooking. When she asked what dishes I’d like to learn, I told her I really wanted the secret to making Persian rice with tah-deeg. So, she taught me how to make Persian rice with dill and lima beans… and Persian rice with raisins and carrots… and garlic roast chicken… and cucumber salad… and kooba, fried bulgur wheat pies stuffed with ground lamb and pine nuts. In addition to all this, my husband’s sister brought along two delicious eggplant recipes.
Needless to say, by the end of the night we were beyond stuffed! I think I waddled to bed. But the calorie splurge was worth it. Such a delicious meal!
Did I mention the Persian Lamb Stew? No? Well, it was my favorite dish of the night. I love it when a simple recipe is so full of flavor. You may be more familiar with traditional Irish Stew, but even if you’re not a big fan of lamb, you might want to reconsider and try this stew. The spiced meat is ultra tender, it flakes with a fork and melts in your mouth. The basmati rice soaks up the yummy sauce, a perfect accompaniment to the stew. As a bonus, this dish is gluten free. It also contains a hefty dose of turmeric, a spice that has strong anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. What a treat!
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Persian Lamb Stew
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon black pepper (or more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon salt (if salt sensitive, you may want to use less and salt to taste at the end of cooking)
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (omit if spice sensitive)
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium onions, minced
- 3 pounds lamb meat cut into chunks for stewing (leg meat works well, it cooks up very tender)
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped
- 4 cups steamed basmati rice for serving
Instructions
- In a small dish, mix together turmeric, black pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper seasoning.
- In a large pot, or large dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium high heat till hot (not smoking). Saute for 10 minutes until onion softens and starts to turn golden brown.Begin browning the lamb. Add the lamb stew meat to the pot. You can use bone-in lamb meat, boneless meat, or a combination of the two. Brown the meat for a few minutes on each side. Drain the fat that collects at the bottom of the pot.
- Sprinkle the seasonings evenly across the top of the browned meat.
- Cover the meat with 4 cups of water. Bring mixture to a slow boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Simmer on medium low heat for two hours.
- Use a large shallow spoon to skim the fat from the surface of the cooking liquid every 30 minutes.
- After 2 hours, add tomato paste to the pot and stir slowly until paste dissolves into the broth.Simmer for another 20 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the meat is nice and tender and the sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt and.or spice, if desired.
- Garnish the stew with fresh parsley or cilantro. Serve lamb and sauce over freshly steamed basmati rice.
Nutrition
I make this a lot. I use around 3 times the turmeric, and when serving I top it with pine nuts as well as the cilantro. I absolutely love it, and so does everyone I feed it to. It is a wonderful recipe.
I was skeptical—how could such a small quantity of spices flavor all that meat? But it was delicious! My Afghan son (who loves lamb and Persian food) gobbled it up. Thank you!
Glad to hear it! Yes, it is a deceptively simple recipe – and the end result is absolutely full of flavor. I love it when a few spices, combined the right way, yields this kind of result.
Really enjoyed this delicious and simple recipe. Doesn’t take a mountain of ingredients. Will definitely add to my repertoire.
Absolutely amazing! I cooked my a little longer than 20 minutes at the end with the tomato paste. Other than that everything was spot on! Will definitely be making again.
5 stars for deliciousness and ease/simplicity. I will keep this recipe in my back pocket. I love how I can easily keep all of the essential ingredients on hand (all decently shelf/freezer stable) – so even if I haven’t been to the store in awhile, I still have a luxurious, low effort meal option. Thanks for sharing, Tori!
Tori I have been looking for this recipe for years. I had a very similar one from Sunset magazine, only difference was they added toasted slivered almonds around the serving of rice with the stew on top and sprinkled with finely chopped hard boiled egg. I can hardly wait to try your recipe, thanks! I have pinned it to Pinterest in my favorite recipes so I don’t lose it again.
Shalom everyone!
This was so tasty it was absolutely perfect. My partner is Iranian and he absolutely loved it and said this was his favourite (next to ghorma sabzi haha). I used a shoulder of lamb still on the bone not cut into pieces and let it slowly come off the bone for about 4 hours cooking. was beautiful! highly recommend with flat bread for lunch, or with rice and salad. I cook a lot of persian meals and this was wonderful honestly, thank you! xxx
This was ridiculously delicious. I made it this week and was mad I didn’t have more leftovers. Yum!
Great recipe! I ended up tweaking the recipe a bit so I could make it in my instant pot. I also added chickpeas and a little garam masala to pump up the flavor.
I would love to know how you made it in the instant pot. Thanks.
I’ve made this several times now, and it’s been wonderful every time. Thank you for the recipe!
I came across your recipe yesterday and i made it and OMG! It was AMAZING! Thank you sooo much! I have added it to my weekly dinner ideas! Will definitely be looking at your other recipes! 🙂
Should the 2 hours simmering be covered or uncovered? It specifically says “uncovered” for after adding the tomato paste but nothing about before.
Also, in Metric the black pepper amount gets doubled… which I didn’t notice but still tasted really good (I might bump it up a bit more even for a bit more of a pepper kick).
Overall the recipe is fantastic, meat was super tender and delicious.
Uncovered. Unless it says covered, you can assume it’s not. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it!