Ghormeh Sabzi

Ghormeh Sabzi

Ghormeh sabzi is a Persian herb stew. It is a popular dish and an important element of Persian cuisine, often said to be the Iranian "national dish". In Azerbaijan, the stew is called Səbzi qovurma.

The main ingredients are a mixture of sauteed herbs, consisting mainly of parsley, leek, and a smaller amount of fenugreek leaves--where this is usually the dry herb of the mix. The herb mixture has many variations; spinach and coriander are added in some regions, but do not form part of the original recipe. This mixture is cooked with kidney beans or black eyed peas, red onions, chopped chives, pierced dehydrated limes, and turmeric seasoned lamb shank or neck or veal meat. Traditional Qormeh sabzi is almost always cooked with lamb and kidney beans, while in some northwestern regions of Iran, variations with black-eye beans exist. In recent times, some people replace beans with potatoes, which is also not part of the original recipe. Also, some prefer to leave out the fenugreek, while many consider it to be an essential ingredient. The dish is then served with polo (Persian rice) or over "tahdig" (bottom-of-the-pot), the crunchy al-dente section of the twice-cooked rice.

Sabzi means greenery, and also describes various green herbs. (From Wikipedia)