Oct 05

This is one of my favorite Persian recipes! :) I just love Fesenjoon with koofteh(meatballs). In my family it was always made with meatballs, though the majority of people make it with chicken.

Fesenhoon (ba koofteh)

Fesenjoon (ba koofteh)

This specific Fesenjoon recipe is with meatballs, but for those who prefer chicken you can basically make a few adjustments and use chicken instead.

Ingredients:
approximately .5 lbs ground beef
1 medium onion
3/4 cup finely crushed walnuts — I use a food processor to crush up my walnuts
3- 4 tablespoons Pomegranate paste (or molasses) — the more you add the more sour the stew will be
sugar (desired amount) — the more you add the sweeter it will make the stew
salt/pepper
turmeric
onion powder (optional)
ground coriander (optional)
1 1/2 to 2 cups water
oil
aloo khoshk (prunes) –I buy it from an international grocery store and keep them refrigerated

Fesenjoon (with meatballs)

Fesenjoon (with meatballs)

Directions to make Fesenjoon:
Before you chop up your onion to saute, take a grater (randeh) and grate some of the onion for your meatballs. If you only grate a bit of the onion you can also use onion powder for the meatballs. Then take the remaining onion and chop it up. Pour some oil into a pot and turn the stove burner on to medium heat. Allow the oil to heat up and then add your onions.

In a separate mixing bowl you will mix together the grated onion, ground beef, some turmeric, some salt/pepper, onion powder (optional), and if you choose ground coriander.

Once the onions are sauteed and tender, add the chopped walnuts and continuously mix. I sauteed the walnuts for approximately 10 minutes before adding water. Basically, the smell of the walnuts will be evident and you will notice the walnuts giving out oil. You don’t want to over fry the walnuts either. After you add the water, start making little round balls (meatballs) from the ground beef mixture. As you make them you can drop them into the pot. Once all the meatballs are formed and put into the stew you can add the aloo (prunes), pomegranate paste, and some sugar. I added 2 prunes, about 4 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, and 3 tablespoons sugar. With the sugar and pomegranate you get a sweet and sour type stew. If you prefer sweet add more sugar and less pomegranate and the opposite if you prefer the more sour taste. Depends on how you like your Fesenjoon.

Finally, cover the pot of Fesenjoon and allow it to cook on a medium or medium-low temperature until thickened…water should be evaporated. Fesenjoon is ready to be served with Rice :) .

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Sep 26

This is specifically the khoresht (stew), and not Loobia Polo (Green Bean Rice)…though very similar. I will be making the loobia polo version someday soon as well.

Khoroshte Loobia Sabz

Khoreshte Loobia Sabz

Ingredients:
Green beans- fresh or frozen …I used half a bag of frozen cut green beans
Stew meat - I used approximately .5lbs chopped up into little bits (gheymehee style)
1 small onion - chopped up
2 teaspoons full Tomato paste — you can use more if needed/preferred
Lemon juice
salt/pepper
turmeric
Poodreh limoo amani (dried lime powder) (optional)

Directions:
In a pot, saute the onions until tender then add the cut up stew meat and stir. Add turmeric, salt, and pepper and stir. If using frozen green beans, or beans not fried previously, you can add them at this time especially if you want them to fry a bit before adding the water. If you have already fried fresh green beans (or frozen) then you can add it after you add the water. Then after 5 minutes you can add a cup or two water, tomato paste, and the Limoo amani (dried lime powder) and/or lemon juice. Cover and allow it to cook on a medium to medium-low heat. Once most of the water has evaporated the stew should be ready, depending on the heat this cant take at least a 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Note: If you are only using lemon juice you will need to add more, but if you use a combination of dried lime powder and lemon juice…use less lemon juice. Also, you can add some saffron to the stew, but with the cost of saffron these days it may be better not to (way too expensive!).

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Sep 17

Gheymeh

By Persian Recipes Khoresht (Stew) 1 Comment »

This is the Persian recipe for Khoreshte Gheymeh, which is a stew that is poured over rice and has tiny cut up pieces of stew meat (gooshteh gheymehee) –hence the name of the stew! :)

Gheymeh

Gheymeh

Ingredients:
.5 lb Stew meat- cut into very tiny pieces
1 medium onion - chopped up
1 large potato
1 cup yellow split peas
oil
salt/pepper
turmeric
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 dried lime (limoo amani) and/or dried lime powder (I used 1 dried lime and a tad bit of the powder)
lemon juice
liquid saffron (optional)

Directions:
In a medium or large pot, saute the onions until tender and then add the cut up pieces of meat. Note: you can use more that .5 lbs of meat, but I typically use small amounts of

Khoreshte Gheymeh

meat. Stir the meat and onions, then add turmeric, salt, and pepper. After a few minutes of stirring everything and allowing the meat to cook a little add 1 1/2 to 2 cups water. At this time you can add the dried lime and/or the powder, the tomato paste, and some lemon juice. Cover the pot and leave it on medium heat.

In a frying pan add a bit of oil and put it on medium - low heat. Wash the split peas and then drain the water. Add the split peas to the pan and saute them a bit. If you skip this step and add the split peas to the stew before they are slightly sauteed in oil they will become mashed up and not hold their form. Once you have cooked them for about 5-10 minutes, pour them into the pot and stir in with the rest of the stew. Take the temperature of the pot down to a medium-low heat after about 15 - 20 minutes (after you add the split peas). I also added some liquid saffron to the stew at this time.

Now you will need to chop up the potato french fry style to prepare it and set aside. I did this and placed them in a bowl and rinsed them then soaked them in water. I added salt to this water as well. This way the color of the potatoes wouldn’t change and I could fry them when my stew is almost done. Once you fry the potatoes you can set them aside until 5 minutes prior to taking the stew off the stove. If you throw the fries in too early they will make the stew watery. I usually set some of the fries aside to decorate on top of the stew once I have poured it into a serving bowl. Note: instead of fries you can buy the shoe string potatoes at the grocery store and use those.

The amount of ingredients listed above is enough to feed 4-6 people (possibly more).

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