Gheymeh is a popular Iranian stew made with meat, onion and split peas, often served with rice. This stew is an old dish with a rich history that dates back several centuries. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know exactly when and where someone with good taste first combined sliced meats, caramelized onions, and tomato paste, along with various spices, to create this delicious meal!
How can we cook Gheymeh? What is Gheymeh made of?
Let’s look at the recipe of this stew. Since the taste of Gheymeh is suitable for most people’s taste and it has a simpler recipe than many other formal dishes.
Ingredients:
. 1 cup yellow split peas
. 1 onion (chopped)
. 2-3 tablespoons oil
. 1 pound beef or lamb cubes
. 2-3 tomatoes (diced) or 2-3 tablespoons tomato’s paste
. 1 teaspoon turmeric
. Salt and pepper to taste
. 2 dried limes (limoo amani) – optional
. Potatoes – optional (for frying)
To start cooking, rinse the split peas and soak them in water for about 30 minutes.
In a separate pot, heat some oil and sauté the chopped onions until they become caramelized. Then, add the meat cubes to the onions and brown them with the onions. After that, drain the split peas and add them to the pot along with turmeric, salt, and pepper.
Stir for a few minutes, and pour enough water to cover the ingredients. It’s better to use hot water and be careful to pour enough water because, during the cooking time, the ingredients will taste each other. If you add water to the stew later, you may lose the original taste.
Bring to a boil, than reduce heat and simmer for about an hour or until the meat is tender. If you are using dried limes, make sure to puncture them before adding to the stew to impart a unique flavor.
Now it’s time to add tomato, you can use tomato in different ways. Fresh tomato, canned tomato, or tomato paste. “I recommend using tomato paste as I think it has a better taste for Gheymeh.”
Continue cooking for another 30 minutes or until the stew thickens. Optionally, you can fry some potato cubes and add them to the Gheymeh for extra flavor and texture.
Side Dishes:
Yogurt
Salad
Different types of salad are good side dishes for this stew, for example, lettuce salad
Fried eggplant
You can serve fried eggplant with this stew or garnish your dish with fried potatoes and eggplant
Sabzi Khordan
A platter of fresh herbs like parsley, chives, basil, and other green vegetables
Torshi
Different types of vegetable pickled.
Naan or bread
Serving freshly baked Persian bread
You can eat Gheymeh with rice, Iranian people serve rice with saffron and also these side dishes which give you a delicious experience
