Khoresht Karafs -- Persian Celery Stew

My mother and father have always made me Persian dishes..and I've only memorized two of the recipes.. I decided it was time to expand, explore, and experiment.

Earlier this week I decided to attempt Khoresht Karaf, and I must admit... it turned out pretty tastey. As I usually do... I winged some of the recipe, but here is what I did.

Ingredients

1 lb of meat

1 head of celery cut in about 2 inches long

1 onion diced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 bunches of mint

1 bunch of parsley

3 dried Persian lemons

2 tsp advieh

1/2 tsp turmeric

5 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

On Monday, after living in Winona for five years, I finally went to Rochester Fruits and Vegetables...which by far is my new favorite grocery store--fresh and college budget vegetables, fruits, spices..it's amazing.

To start..many of you probably don't know what advieh is.. it's a mix of different spices that you could probably buy at a Persian store..but it's also easy to make. Here is the recipe--which makes enough for you to save..but I actually put all of it in..I like spiced foods.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground rose petals

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Mix together and keep in an airtight container.And I am telling you right now..it smells good--but please don't taste it, it is awfully bitter. I didn't have access to all of the ingredients, so I improvised and used:

Ok. so after I made the Advieh.. I chopped up my ingredients. In a big pan--make sure it has a big lip, sauté onion, green onions, and garlic in 4 tbsp of oil until translucent. Add meat, in this case I am using stew meat, but you can use any type of meat you want, brown a bit and then add turmeric. Give it a few stirs in order for the spice to release its flavors.

Season with salt and pepper, if you were to have Persian lemons, give them a light crush and throw them in... I didn't have access to any so I used some lemon zest (experimenting). Throw them in, add 3 cups of water. Cover and cook for 1 hour.

In the meantime, roughly cut up all of your herbs.

In a separate pan, saute your celery in oil--not completely though, you still want a crunch--not an oily celery stick.

When the meat is ready, add the celery to it along with the chopped herbs, advieh, 2 cups of water, and adjust seasoning. Cover and cook on medium for 1 1/2 hours.

I ended up having to move the stew into a bigger pot so the juices didn't overflow.

This is what my Khoresht looked like and oh man did it smell amazing!

It was served with Must-a-khear (yogurt and cucumber salad--thank you Papa Zerehi for teaching me how to make that one!) and on top of tadiek and rice.
I also had found spiced cauliflower (it's pickled and has a nice zing) similar to what my step-mother, Sofy, use to make for me..which is also delicious with almost any Persian dish.

I am so thankful to have a boyfriend who enjoys trying my experiments willingly... and I have to admit I haven't gotten a complaint yet.. except when he didn't know what Tadiek was and thought I burned the rice... haha.

If you try this..let me know how it turns out!

Bon Appetite!