Ghormeh Sabzi | Meatballs (Daei Style)

Khoresht Ghormeh Sabzi is arguably the most famous stew dish in Persian cuisine. You can smell it on the streets of Iran and reminds us of home. Some call it the national dish of IRAN, and it can take you on a journey of flavors representing our beautiful rich cuisine; therefore, we highly recommend everyone to try it. As the name suggests Ghormeh (stew meat) Sabzi (fresh herbs) ingredients of the recipe consist of a variety of freshly chopped and aromatic herbs like parsley, leeks (Persian leeks), green onions, cilantro, fenugreek, spinach based on availability and season. The research shows that Ghormeh Sabzi is around 5,000 years old and has kept its originality for the most part. The original Ghormeh Sabzi recipe was made with bone-in lamb meat and fat. However, different regions and provinces of IRAN have various versions of this dish consisted of different meat, legumes, and herbs.
This specific recipe comes from my family as a fusion dish with meatballs added. We hope you enjoy it and even make your version just like how we did.

5 from 2 votes

Ghormeh Sabzi | Meatballs (daei style)

Braised Herb Stew with meatballs | قرمه سبزی با گوشت قل قلی

Servings 4 people

Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 1 hr

Extra Cooking (optional) 30 mins

EQUIPMENT

• ▢
  Food Processor (optional)

INGREDIENTS

• ▢ 1/2 -2/3 Cup Vegetable oil | Rooghane Sabzijat - personal preference
• ▢ 1 Medium Yellow Onion | Piaz Zard - thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 Clove Garlic | Seer - graded
• ▢ 4-6 Bunch Parsley | Jafari - chopped
• ▢ 1 Bunch Spinach | Esfenaj - chopped
• ▢ 1/2 Bunch Cilantro | Geshniz - chopped
• ▢ 2-3 Bunch Green Onion | Piazche - chopped
• ▢ 1-1/3 Cup Red Kidney Beans | Loobia Ghermez - canned
• ▢ 6 Piece Dried Lime | Limoo Amani
• ▢ 1 Bunch Leeks | Tarreh - optional
• ▢ 1 tbs Leeks | Tarreh - dried -optional
• ▢ 1/4-1.2 tsp Fenugreek | Shanbalileh - optional
• ▢ 200-250 gram Beef | Gooshte Gaav - ground
• ▢ 50-100 gram Lamb | Gooshte Barreh - ground-optional
• ▢ 2-3 tbs. Salt | Namak - personal prefference
• ▢ 1/2 tbs. Turmeric | Zardchoobeh

INSTRUCTIONS

PREPRATION

• Herbs | Thoroughly wash all the green herbs together. It’s Important to remove all the moisture and excess water from the herbs before you finely chop them. You can use a kitchen towel or paper towels to do this.

  Chop all the herbs together except the green onions (green onions are best chopped separately due to the slimy texture) once all the greens are chopped you can mix them together. Or use a food processor and chop all herbs (not too fine). This is faster and less messy if you own a food processor.
• Meat | In a medium bowl, mix both ground beef and lamb, add one teaspoon of salt with a pinch of turmeric and ground garlic. Ground onion optional.

  Now roll the meat mixture into small meatballs (approximately 1 inch in diameter). You can make it slightly larger if your meat has a higher fat ratio ( ( they will shrink in size when cooked).
• Onions | Finely chop the yellow onions.

COOKING

• Herbs | Place a medium to a large pot on the stove with medium heat. Immediately add all the herbs. Stir until all the excess moisture has evaporated.

  Add half a cup of canola oil and sear the herbs until they turn to very dark green (you do not want them burnt). This process brings out all the rich flavors of herbs

  Add 1-1/2 of hot/boiling water to your herbs, and let it simmer until your meat is ready. On medium-low heat.
• Meat | Heat a medium frying pan and add ¼ cup canola oil – add the onions and sear them until they turn yellow/gold in color and soft in texture.

  Add the meatballs and cook the outer layer- add half a teaspoon of turmeric and mix it.

  Add enough hot water to cover the meatballs and let simmer for 3-5 minutes, so all the flavors get combined.
• Stew | Add the meat into the herbs pot on medium to high heat and stir the two so the ingredients and flavors touch each other.

  Add two cups of boiling water to the mixture (you don’t want it too watery) then bring the mixture to boil under high heat for a couple of minutes.

  Taste the stew and add salt, don't add too much, you can always add but you cannot remove. give the stew time to work its magic. ( Jaa biofteh). Lower it to medium-low heat with the lid on for 30-45 minutes.

  Poke holes to allow the stew juices to run through the lime. Add dried lime and your Kidney beans to your stew 20-30 minutes prior to serving. Make sure they are submerged in your stew.
  

SERVING & PLATING

• Ghormeh Sabzi gets tastier the longer it simmers and settles.

  Taste your stew and add salt and or fresh lime to bring out the flavors if needed.

  If you see a green oily top layer on your stew then you are spot on.

  When serving evenly distribute the meat and herbs. Add a couple of red-kidney beans on top to give it a beautiful contrast. Highly recommend using a white or light color dish.

  Now all you need is to serve it with beautiful Persian Polow (instructions) or Katteh ( instuctions )

Cuisine: Persian

Keyword: ghormeh sabzi, herb stew, meatball, stew, قرمه سبزی