Ghormeh Sabzi (Iranian Herb Stew)

Ghormeh sabzi (also spelled qormeh sabzi) is an Iranian herb stew with meat and beans, fragrant with the aroma of dried limes and fenugreek.

Ghormeh sabzi (also called khoresht sabzi) is the most popular Iranian dish. Ask your Iranian friends and you will hear about it. Travel to Iran and you will realize there is no restaurant without this dish on the menu. Even in family gatherings, it’s always the star on the table as the main dish.

For me, this dish always brings back family memories. It reminds me of my grandmother who cooked the most delicious Ghormeh Sabzi in the world.

This recipe gives you a comprehensive guide with all the tips and tricks that will help you along the way to have a ghormeh with the best taste, smell, and appearance at the end.

Ghormeh sabzi is not a dish that you just decide to make in the middle of the afternoon. Cooking this dish will take you some time, but it’s totally worth it. And that’s actually the key to cooking it. You should give it some time and its wonderful taste will make up for all the effort and time spent.

What is Gormeh Sabzi?

Ghormeh Sabzi is Iran’s national dish. It is a herb stew with lamb meat and beans. This dish dates back 2000 years, and its recipe has evolved a lot over time. 

For hundreds of years, it has been a seasonal dish because fresh herbs were hard to find during cold seasons. Today Iranians cook it throughout the year, all around the country.

The name of this dish, Ghormeh Sabzi, clearly identifies it.

The first word in this combination, ‘ghormeh‘, refers to the way you cook the meat in this recipe. Ghormeh means frying lamb meat with its own fat. Nomads have used this technique for hundreds of years.

The second word, ‘sabzi‘, means ‘herb’.

So, ghormeh sabzi is a herb stew with chopped pieces of meat fried in their own fat.

This dish is also called ‘khoresht sabzi‘ which means ‘herb stew’.

How to make Ghormeh Sabzi?

This dish is a long cooking dish. So plan to make it on a day when you are around the house, able to tend to the pot occasionally. And get ready to smell the incredible aroma.

Making the dish starts the night before you want to cook it. You want to soak your pinto beans for 12 hours (overnight). Don’t skip this step, otherwise cooking time will take much longer and ruin the flavor of the stew.

The night before you will also want to make sure your meat is taken out to thaw if it is frozen. (The same for your herbs, if you have them stored chopped in the freezer.)

The first step on your cooking day is to make lamb stock. You do this by boiling some lamb bones with a halved onion and a pinch of turmeric. This will take two hours to simmer.

While your stock is simmering, you can fry your herbs and cook your meat.

You want the herbs to be finely chopped. You can do it yourself with a knife. But many find it easier to mince them in a food processor.

Fry the herbs in a skillet. First, cook them alone to let them release moisture. Then after that moisture has evaporated, you slowly add oil to fry the herbs as they cook to a dark green. The herbs should be very dark when you are done, but not burnt. This whole process will take around 40 minutes.

This frying step for the herbs is incredibly important. Frying them long enough with enough oil contributes to the stew’s texture and flavor.

In a separate skillet, you can cook the meat. First, fry a diced onion in oil until the pieces are golden. Then you can add some black pepper and turmeric along with the lamb pieces and lamb fat and cook until they have changed color to golden.

Finally, you are ready to start putting the stew together!

Add the meat mixture, the strained lamb broth, the bones, and the drained beans to a pot. You will cook this for an hour.

Finally, you get to add in the dried limes. (We’ll take a bit more about this ingredient in the next section.) With the limes, you add your fried herbs and salt. This cooks again for one last hour.

Then you turn off the heat and let it rest for 30 minutes for the flavors to develop even more.

Finally, your ghormeh is ready!

As you can see, this dish is not a quick one to make. But it is worth the effort!

What are dried limes?

Dried limes, or in Persian ‘limoo amani‘, are often used in Persian and Arabic cuisines. They add a sour flavor to dishes.

In Iran, we use dried limes to flavor stews like ghormeh sabzi‌ and gheymeh. They smell faintly citrusy. And you can use them whole or powdered. 

Dried limes are pretty easy to make at home. You can dry limes in the oven or let them sun-dry for a couple of weeks until they are rock-hard.

If you don’t want to make them yourself, you can buy dried limes online or at your local Middle Eastern grocer or Persian or Arabic markets. 

How to serve Ghormeh Sabzi?

Time is the key to having a delicious Ghormeh Sabzi. You need to give it some time to get a tasty result.

Even after you finish cooking the dish, you still need to give it more time. Letting it sit for 30 minutes to helps the flavours improve.

When serving ghormeh sabzi, it is alone. In Iranian culture, stews are always served with polo (cooked rice).

You can also serve it with herb salad, shirazi salad, yogurt, pieces of bread, doogh (a yogurt-based drink), and pickled cabbages.