Khoresh-e Karafs
خورش کرفس·(kho-resh-eh ka-rafs)
Jomeh: The Friday Simmer
At six o'clock on a Tuesday, chopped celery hits a heavy Dutch oven and blisters in hot oil, a forty-five minute alternative to the all-day simmer of Ghormeh Sabzi and the task of frying its fenugreek until nearly black. Braised in an emerald bath of deeply fried parsley, mint, and tender beef, this stew requires you to peel the fibrous strings off the celery and cook the herbs until they surrender their water; it takes time to find its glaze—the legendary ja-oftadeh—but the sharp tang of verjuice cutting through the herb-infused oil makes it worth every minute. No tomato paste to muddy the waters. Ladle the stew over a wide plate of basmati, grab a spoon, and eat.
Before you start
String the celery.
Take a paring knife and pull the tough, fibrous strings down and off the outer curves of the celery stalks before cutting; it takes an extra five minutes but transforms supermarket celery from fibrous to velvety.
Dice the onions finely.
The finer you dice the onion, the thicker the final stew will be, eliminating any need for Western thickeners like flour or cornstarch.
Respect the mint ratio.
Ensure your herb mixture is strictly two to three parts parsley to one part mint; overdoing the mint or burning it in the pan will render the entire stew irreversibly bitter.
Ingredients
- neutral cooking oil4 tbsp
- yellow onion1 large
- beef chuck roast or lamb shoulder1 1/2 lb
- ground turmeric1 tsp
- kosher salt1 tsp
- freshly ground black pepper1/2 tsp
- hot water or low-sodium beef broth3 cup
- celery1 large bunch
- fresh flat-leaf parsley2 large bunches
- fresh mint1 small bunch
- dried mint1 tbsp
- unsalted butter or ghee2 tbsp
- ab-ghooreh or fresh lemon juice1/4 cup
- Limu Omani2 large
Method
- 01
Build the foundation.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat, adding the finely diced onion and sautéing for 10 to 12 minutes until deeply golden and caramelized.
- 02
Brown the meat.
Add the beef or lamb cubes, turmeric, and black pepper, sautéing for 7 to 8 minutes until the meat is browned on all sides and the turmeric has bloomed.
- 03
Begin the braise.
Pour in the hot water, bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting, cover, and let it simmer gently for 1 hour.
- 04
Sear the celery.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat and sauté the celery pieces for 10 minutes until they are slightly golden and glossy, then remove them with a slotted spoon.
- 05
Fry the herbs.
In the same skillet, add the remaining oil along with the chopped parsley, fresh mint, and reserved celery leaves, frying over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes until drastically shrunken and dark forest green. Stir the dried mint in during the final minute.
- 06
Marry the ingredients.
After the meat has simmered for an hour, scrape the fried celery, the dark herb mixture, the salt, and the pierced dried limes into the Dutch oven with the meat.
- 07
Simmer to a glaze.
Cover the pot and simmer on low for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the meat falls apart with a fork, the celery is tender but holds its shape, and a beautiful layer of herb-infused oil separates and floats to the top.
- 08
Add the sour finish.
Stir in the ab-ghooreh or lemon juice, simmer for 5 more minutes, and taste to adjust the seasoning before serving over a bed of steamed basmati rice.
Notes
Cheat time without cheating flavor.
To adapt this for a realistic weeknight, use an electric pressure cooker to compress the three-hour stovetop simmer into just 45 minutes.
Pressure cook the base.
Sauté the onions and meat on high, then add 2 cups of water, the pre-fried celery, pre-fried herbs, and salt, cooking on manual high pressure for 30 minutes before executing a 10-minute natural release.
Bulk-fry on weekends.
To make Wednesday night cooking practically instantaneous, prep and fry the celery and herb mixtures on Sunday and freeze them in portions to drop straight into the pot.
From Cook Persian in America.