Description
The green almond is the unripe form of the almond. The entire pod is edible and is slightly sour. In this Persian stew, it compliments beautifully with the mint & parsley.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 cups, packed (8 oz) American parsley
- 3/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 cup, packed (2 oz) fresh spinach
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (2 oz) lemon juice
- 1 cup, packed (2 oz) fresh mint
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp saffron, ground
- 2 cup (16 1/2 oz) beef broth
- 1 1/2 lb (.7 kg) green almonds
- 2 lb (.9 kg) beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 onion, chopped (approx. 1 cup)
- 2 limes, dried, quartered
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together the stew meat with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp turmeric & 2 tsp flour until meat is coated evenly.
- Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil.
- When oil is hot, sauté the chopped onions. Cook until onions start to soften, approximately 7 minutes
- Stir into the onions 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, & 1/2 tsp turmeric.
- Cook for 2 minutes, then raise the heat to medium-high, add stew meat and brown all sides, approximately 7 minutes.
- Stir in beef broth & lemon juice.
- Using a wooden spoon, scrape up browned bits of meat from the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in the dried limes.
- Reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for 2 hours, stirring the stew every 30 minutes.
- Using a food processor (or chop finely with a knife) chop parsley, mint & spinach.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil.
- Sauté chopped greens for 5 mins then add to the meat mixture, along with the saffron.
- Cook stew covered over low heat for another 30 minutes.
- Cut in half and remove the inner seed from the green almonds.
- Stir in halved green almonds into the stew, cover pot and cook for 30 mins.
- Serve hot with basmati rice.
Notes
- The inner seed is removed because it can turn bitter during the cooking process.
- Some people skip this step and use the whole pod in the stew.
- This is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day.
- This dish can also be made vegetarian by omitting the meat and by using vegetable broth.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours 20 mins
- Category: Stew
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 380