Persian Khoresh Gheimeh with Split Peas
Khoresh gheimeh is a Persian stew of small-cut beef with yellow split peas, tomato, turmeric and pierced dried limes, simmered for an hour and a half over low heat. It's served over white rice and topped with fried potato sticks.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 95 min
- Total
- 115 min
- Calories
- 440
Photo: Alice Wiegand — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Khoresh is the word for a stew in Persian cooking, and it's always served over the rice rather than beside it. Gheimeh is the best known, and its gentle sourness comes from the dried limes.
Method
-
1
Onion and beef
Fry the onion until golden, add the turmeric and stir for thirty seconds, then the beef and stir until browned.
⏱ 15 min -
2
The tomato paste
Add the tomato paste and cook it over medium heat for three minutes until it darkens — this removes the raw taste.
⏱ 5 min -
3
Cooking
Add water to cover the meat along with the pierced dried limes, cover, and simmer for an hour until the beef is tender.
⏱ 62 min -
4
The split peas
Add the drained soaked split peas, salt, cinnamon and saffron, and cook for another half hour until done but not collapsed.
⏱ 32 min -
5
Potatoes and serving
Fry the potato sticks until golden and pile them on top of the khoresh at the table, over white rice.
⏱ 12 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Pierce the dried limes with a fork — sealed, they give nothing.
- The split peas go in after the meat is tender; added early they disintegrate.
- The potatoes go on at the moment of serving so they stay crisp.
People also ask
No dried limes?
Use the juice of a large lemon at the end of cooking — a different flavour, but the acidity is there.
My khoresh tastes bitter.
The limes were left in too long or broke open. Remove them after forty minutes; broken ones turn it bitter.
How is it served?
Over Persian white rice (chelow), not beside it — that's essential to Persian service.
Cook mode
Persian Khoresh Gheimeh with Split Peas
-
1
Onion and beef
Fry the onion until golden, add the turmeric and stir for thirty seconds, then the beef and stir until browned.
-
2
The tomato paste
Add the tomato paste and cook it over medium heat for three minutes until it darkens — this removes the raw taste.
-
3
Cooking
Add water to cover the meat along with the pierced dried limes, cover, and simmer for an hour until the beef is tender.
-
4
The split peas
Add the drained soaked split peas, salt, cinnamon and saffron, and cook for another half hour until done but not collapsed.
-
5
Potatoes and serving
Fry the potato sticks until golden and pile them on top of the khoresh at the table, over white rice.
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