Ghormeh Sabzi, Stew (Khoresh)
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The history of cooking stew in Iran dates back to a long time ago and in the cookbooks remained from Safavid Dynasty, the recipes of several kinds of stews can be found. The common characteristic of all the Iranian stews is the existence of meat along with bean, vegetables and herbs. It is worth mentioning that the stew made of chicken, instead of meat, is called “Mosama”.
Among the most popular and national Iranian stews are Ghormeh sabzi, Gheimeh and Fesenjān. There are some stews which are cooked seasonally like quince, pumpkin, rhubarb, Cirsium vulgare and okra. There are some native stews like Almond Slices Stew, cabbage stew and Gheimeh Nesar (a kind of stew with almonds and fried onions; a specialty of Qazvin province).
The diversity of stews in Iran is very high and one specific stew can be cooked in various ways depending on the tastes of the people and different seasonings used in with the aim of marinating the stew and removing extra fat.
It is interesting to know that some stews are ritually used in Iran, Gheimeh is the most important one of them which is mostly used in mourning ceremonies of Muharram.
