Ghormeh Sabzi

So I'm going to go ahead and say that I know that this post won't be my most popular. I might be bold enough to say that it might be my LEAST popular post. This is a recipe probably none of my regular readers would have heard of but I'm doing a post on it because it is my number one favorite food of all time.

I've mentioned this in random posts and in books that I used to be a slightly picky eater and that I feel like I blossomed out of that when I met Arrmon (my husband). His dad is from the Iran and they like to eat traditional Persian dishes. The first time I met his dad, his dad's best friend had made Ghormeh Sabzi, which is one of the most popular Persian dishes.

Ghormeh Sabzi literally means "herb stew" in Persian. It is a dark green stew made with kidney beans, onions, lamb or beef, and herbs (usually parsley, leeks, fenugreek, and cilantro - but different variations exist) and served over tahdig, this amazingly crunchy rice crust that I will go into more detail on in a bit.

When I first saw this stew, I thought "there is no way in H I'm eating that". But his dad is SUPER persistent about getting me to try foods....... some that I've loved and some that I've hated (ghormeh sabzi - love, vegetables fermented in a pickle jar beside his deep freezer - hate). Thankfully, he forced me to try Ghormeh Sabzi and I was in love from first bite.

It takes a while to make and it really isn't that simple -- which pretty much goes against my philosophy of quick and simple cooking. However, I have simplified it as much as I possibly can so it isn't too tedious and doesn't take a whole day to cook it. By saying that, I must also say...... this probably wouldn't be considered traditional Ghormeh Sabzi. I would never feel comfortable feeding this to a legit Persian chef but I think its amazing and so does my family - including my father-in-law! 

Many recipes that I've found online use fresh herbs. I tried that once and failed miserably. I don't know where I went wrong but I'm not ever trying that again. Anytime my father-in-law's friend comes to visit, he brings me bags of the dried Ghormeh Sabzi herbs. I've also bought them on Amazon or from Sadaf's website. Also, traditional recipes use dried limes. I've never used dried limes, I just use fresh lime juice. Once again , I wouldn't serve his to a Persian chef (haha).

This amazing stew is served over something equally amazing. Tahdig. It's really just rice with a crispy crust but OMG. It is such a treat. It's the part of the dish that gets eaten the fastest. I've had lots of trial and error with tahdig - this is a picture of the most beautiful tahdig I've ever made. It is always a nice surprise to flip it out of the pan and see if it worked! I'm doing a separate recipe for the rice because it kind of takes some effort too.

So here is the recipe! If you click it, you can print it out. If you ever try this PLEASE comment or email me and tell me how it turns out and how you liked it. It really is my absolute favorite dish of all time!