Vegetarian Khoresht Gheymeh (Yellow Split Pea Stew)
Vegetarian khoresht gheymeh is a real crowd-pleaser and doesn’t necessarily scream vegetarian when you double the yellow split peas and top it with extra fries. Gheymeh is the second most popular dish on my site, the first being gheymeh bademjan.
Start the dish by heating your oil and frying the onions until slightly golden. Then, add the seasoning, tomato paste and garlic, and cook the mixture to a beautiful yellowish orange color.
Next, add yellow split peas, limoo amani, saffron and hot water and bring the stew to a gentle boil and cook until the split peas are tender.
While the stew is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into matchstick pieces. Then, fry the potatoes to a golden color, and drain on paper towels.
Your vegetarian stew is ready when the yellow split peas have cooked and the sauce has thickened.
If you want the split peas to stay intact, always use the slow cooking variety.
After tasting and adjusting the seasoning, transfer the stew to a serving platter and top with the golden fries.
Vegetarian Khoresht Gheymeh (Yellow Split Pea Stew)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Ready in: 1 hour
Yields: 4 Servings
INGREDIENTS
1 large onion peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons regular olive oil plus ¼ cup for fries
3 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped (optional)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
pinch of saffron (optional)
3 large or 5 small limoo amani pierced with fork
¾ cupyellow split peas, picked over, rinsed and drained
3 cups hot water
3 small potatoes peeled and cut into matchsticks
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a medium pan. Add chopped onions and fry over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes or until onions are slightly golden. Stir occasionally to prevent onions from burning.
Mix in chopped garlic, tomato paste, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the tomato paste is fried and the oil color is yellowish orange.
Add yellow split peas, limoo amani, saffron and hot water, and bring to a gentle boil. Lower heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the split peas are cooked.
While the stew is cooking, peel the potatoes and cut them into matchstick pieces. Heat ¼ cup oil in a large frying pan and fry the potatoes over medium-high heat until golden, stirring occasionally. Transfer the fries to a platter lined with paper towel and sprinkle with salt to season.
This Vegetarian Khoresht Fesenjan with its creamy and thick sweet and sour sauce makes a great and satisfying meatless dinner and it’s an easy, no-fuss Persian khoresht you can make right at home. This stew can be made with meatballs, duck, turkey or chicken. For the chicken version, check the fesenjan recipe I posted few years ago. If you serve this dish to those who have never tried it before, make sure they are not allergic to nuts.
I’ve made this vegetarian khoresth fesenjan with tofu twice so far and once without any meat alternative. Personally, I prefer it without any meat alternative, but feel free to add the protein of your choice.
As with all Persian stews, you start the dish by heating the oil first. You then fry the onions until slightly golden and add your spices. Some add cinnamon or Persian advieh, but I keep mine simple.
To save time in the kitchen, always multitask. While your onion is frying, toast the walnuts and process in the food processor until finely ground. The finer the ground walnut is, the smoother and creamier your sauce would be. I turn mine into an almost paste consistency. You can add a little water to process it easier. If you prefer a little texture in your stew, leave the walnuts finely ground. You can always buy ready to serve fresh pomegranate arils for added texture and color, when in season of course.
The last step of the recipe is to add in your walnuts, pomegranate molasses and water and cook the stew until it comes together. I used two different brands of pomegranate molasses, half of each. The Indo-European brand had less sugar and was more sour than the Mid-East brand. If sugar is listed first on the ingredient list, chances are the molasses is real sweet and you may need to add lemon juice. On the other hand, if sugar is listed as the second or third ingredients, you may end up adding more sugar unless you like your stew on the sour side.
As the stew cooks, liquid reduces in volume and the sauce starts to thicken and darken in color. The flavors also intensify and this is the time you want to give your sauce a taste and adjust the seasoning or flavors. The way to adjust the flavors is to add about 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar if the sauce tastes too sour, then stir to blend the flavors. Let it simmer for few minutes before adding more. Conversely, if the sauce tastes too sweet, adjust the balance by adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Again, simmer for few minutes and taste before adding more. The thickness of the sauce can also be easily adjusted by simply adding more water to thin it or simmering it uncovered to thicken it.
In making any Persian khoresht, you often hear the saying “it has to come together” and what that means is the oil has to separate to the top, just as you see in the photos above. That’s a sure sign that it’s ready. I always skim off the excess fat and leave enough for flavoring.
If you’re using tofu, you can add it toward the last 20 minutes of cooking. For a complete instruction on preparing tofu, refer to my vegetarian khoresht kadoo recipe. I just drained and used the tofu in this stew, but I think the chewy texture of fried tofu works better with Persian stews.
Always taste and adjust the seasoning before your serve your dish :).
Pomegranate arils add a dash of color, texture and flavor to your dish.
Vegetarian Khoresht Fesenjan (Pomegranate and Walnut Stew)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 hour 20 min
Ready in: 1 hour 35 min
Yields: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1½ cups walnuts
2 tablespoons regular olive oil
1 medium onion peeled and chopped
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1¾ cups water
¾ cup pomegranate concentrate/ molasses
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
¼ teaspoon saffron (optional)
½ cup pomegranate arils
One 14 oz. package extra firm tofu (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat oil in a small pot. Add chopped onions and fry over medium-high heat for about 15 or until slightly golden.
In the meantime, toast the walnuts in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat for about 3 to 4 minutes or until fragrant. Stir frequently to prevent walnuts from burning.
Add the toasted walnuts to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until the walnuts are finely ground. If the walnuts stick to the sides of the bowl, stop the food processor to scrape down the sides.
When the onion is ready, stir in the salt, pepper and turmeric. Cook for a minute or so then add ground walnuts, saffron, pomegranate molasses and 1¾ cups of water. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 1 hour or until the oil separates to the top. As the sauce thickens, the walnuts settle to the bottom of the pot, so gently stir the bottom of the pot a few times toward the last 30 minutes to prevent walnuts from burning.
Pomegranate molasses can be very sweet, very sour or in-between depending on the brand used. Taste the sauce before using it and balance the sweetness and tartness according to your preference. The way to adjust the flavors is to add about 1 to 2 teaspoons of sugar if the sauce tastes too sour, then stir to blend the flavors. Let it simmer for few minutes before adding more. Conversely, if the sauce tastes too sweet, adjust the balance by adding 1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Again, simmer for few minutes and taste before adding more. The thickness of the sauce can also be easily adjusted by simply adding more water to thin it or simmering it uncovered to thicken it.
If using tofu, add toward the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Skim the excess walnut oil from the surface of the sauce before serving the dish. Serve over fragrant basmati polo.
Vegetarian Khoresht Beh Aloo (Quince and Plum Stew)
Vegetarian khoresht beh aloo is a savory fruit-based Persian stew made of fragrant quince, sweet and tangy dried plums aloo Bukhara and spices. Quince is a seasonal fruit that is not always easy to find. It has a light yellow and gritty flesh that is tough and sometimes very sour, but when cooked, it becomes real soft and fragrant.
I wanted to keep the flavors of this stew authentic, so I didn’t add any protein alternative, but feel free to add the protein of your choice. For the meat lovers in your family check out my khoresht beh recipe and to use yellow split-peas as your protein source see my vegetarian khoresht beh recipe.
As with all Persian stews, you start the dish by frying your onions. To develop a richer and more flavorful sauce, fry the onions for a good 20 minutes, then add the spices. When I first started cooking, I used to slice my onions thinly and evenly and spend an hour to caramelize them. I still do that when I’m cooking for a party, but for everyday cooking I just chop the onions quickly and fry them for up to 10 minutes for meat dishes and 20 minutes for vegetarian dishes.
Beh (Quince)
While the onions are frying, cut the quinces into pieces. Since they discolor quickly, it’s best to cut them just before adding them to the stew. However, if you decide to cut them sooner, make sure you keep them in a bowl of water mixed with lemon juice, ¼ cup lemon juice to 1 quart of cold water. There is no need to peel their skin. I’ve cooked them both with and without skin.
Quince is a very hard fruit to cut and core. I found the easiest way to remove the tough and fibrous core without wasting some of the flesh is to place each quince upright on a cutting board and cut into quarters first. Then cut each quarter into two wedges. You will end up with eight wedges. Each wedge is then cut in half and the core is removed by cutting across it at an angle.
When the onions are ready, stir in salt, pepper, turmeric and cinnamon. Add quince pieces and aloo, and cook for about 5 minutes mixing once or twice. You may want to soak the aloo for 20 minutes if they are very dry. The ones I used didn’t need presoaking.
Add saffron, hot water and lemon juice to the onion mixture and bring to a gentle boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the quinces are tender.
Some varieties of quince and aloo are very sour unlike the ones I used in this recipe. Taste the sauce before adding the lemon juice. If the sauce tastes too sour for your taste, skip the lemon juice and add a little sugar to balance the flavors.
Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve over aromatic and fluffy basmati polo, yum!
Vegetarian Khoresht Beh Aloo
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Ready in:1 hour
Yields: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
4 medium or 2 large quinces washed
4 tablespoons regular olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
1 cup aloo bukhara
¾ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
1¾ cups hot water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground saffron (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat olive oil in a medium pan. Add chopped onions and cook over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes or until slightly golden, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
While the onions are frying, place each quince upright on a cutting board and cut into 4 quarters. Then cut each quarter into two wedges. You will end up with 8 wedges. Cut each wedge in half and remove the tough and fibrous core by cutting across the core at an angle.
When the onions are ready, stir in salt, pepper, turmeric and cinnamon. Add quince pieces and aloo, and cook for about 5 minutes mixing once or twice.
Add saffron, lemon juice and hot water to the onion mixture and bring to a gentle boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the quinces are tender.
Some varieties of quince and aloo are very sour unlike the ones I used in this recipe. Taste the sauce before adding lemon juice. If the sauce tastes too sour for your taste, skip the lemon juice and add a little sugar to balance the flavors.
Vegetarian Gheymeh Bademjan Khoresht (Eggplant and Yellow-Split Pea Stew)
Of all the recipes I’ve posted over the years, eggplant and yellow-split pea stew has been the most viewed recipe, so I created this scrumptious Vegetarian Gheymeh Bademjan Khoresht recipe for the vegetarians and vegans out there :). Just because you’re vegetarian or vegan doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite Persian stew. If you stumbled upon this post in search of the meat version of this stew, you’re in luck, because I posted the meat version of this Vegetarian Gheymeh Bademjan Khoresht back in December of 2014. Wow, how time flies!
To make the sauce, heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium high-heat. Then add the chopped onions and fry for about 20 minutes or until onions are slightly golden. Mix in the chopped garlic, tomato paste, turmeric, salt and pepper and cook the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the tomato paste is fried and the oil color changes to a deep yellowish orange. By letting tomato paste brown in the pan, and sautéing it with spices and other aromatic ingredients like onions and garlic, you can boost the flavor of your sauce in a huge way.
Next, add yellow split peas, limoo amani , saffron and hot water to the onion mixture and bring it to a gentle boil. Lower the heat to medium low, cover and cook the stew for about 20 minutes or until the split peas are almost tender.
Prior to adding the Persian limes limoo amani, place them on the counter over a towel. Hold them with one hand so they don’t roll off the counter and use your other hand to pierce them with a fork. This is done so that the stew’s cooking liquid flows through the holes in the limes infusing the stew with their scented tang and subtle complexity.
While the split peas are cooking, start preparing your eggplants. First cut the top stems off. Then using a sharp knife remove the leafy part overlapping the flesh by making a shallow cut around the head of each eggplant. And, finally peel the skin with a vegetable peeler. Keeping the head prevents the eggplant from disintegrating while cooking and it also makes a nicer presentation.
Fry the eggplants until golden brown.
As the split peas start cooking, the sauce begins to thickens. Split peas may require less or more water to cook depending on how old they are. The older split peas need more water to rehydrate, so make sure to adjust the amount of liquid in your stew. Add more water if it seems to be too thick. You can always cook off the extra liquid by taking the lid off.
Gently press the Persian limes against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon to release their scented and tart juices into the stew. This is done to expedite the process, because it takes time for the dry limes to rehydrate and soften and for their juices to flow through the sauce.
When the split peas are ready, gently arrange the eggplants over them. Cover the pan and cook the stew over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the eggplants are tender. Don’t stir the stew to keep the eggplants intact.
ALWAYS taste and adjust the seasoning. Just an extra amount of added seasoning toward the end could make a big difference in how your food tastes.
This dish is even better if made a day in advance or if left to sit awhile after cooking to allow the flavors to blend.
Serve this vegetarian gheymeh bademjan khoresht over fragrant and fluffy basmatipolo with a side ofPersian cucumber salad, yum!
Vegetarian Gheymeh Bademjan Khoresht
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 hour 5 min
Ready in: 1 hour and 20 min
Yields: 4 Servings
INGREDIENTS
1 large onion peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons regular olive oil plus ½ cup for frying eggplants
3 cloves garlic peeled and finely chopped (optional)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon black ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
pinch of saffron (optional)
3 large or 5 small limoo amani pierced with fork
¾ cupyellow split peas, picked over, rinsed and drained
3¼ cups hot water
4 Japanese eggplants or 1 large globe eggplant
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a medium pan. Add chopped onions and fry over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes or until onions are slightly golden. Stir occasionally to prevent onions from burning.
Mix in chopped garlic, tomato paste, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the tomato paste is fried and the oil color is yellowish orange.
Add yellow split peas, limoo amani, saffron and hot water, and bring to a gentle boil. Lower heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until the split peas are almost cooked.
While the stew is cooking, heat ½ cup oil in a large frying pan and brown the eggplants.
When split peas are ready, gently arrange the eggplants on top. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the eggplants are tender. Do not stir the stew to keep the eggplants intact.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve over basmati rice.
Who knew vegetarian ghormeh sabzi could be so delicious, even more so than the classic meat version! I think it’s because without the meat you get to taste and appreciate the other ingredients.
Some vegetarians visiting Iran comment on how difficult it is to find vegetarian dishes there or that the food is not vegetarian friendly. On the contrary, there are many wonderful vegetarian dishes if you know what to order at the restaurants. The only exception may be the traditional stews which usually contain meat. I don’t recall ever eating a meatless khoresht. If there was any leftover khoresht without meat, my mother-in-law would cook meat to add to it because no one would touch it.
In vegetarian ghormeh sabzi you can double the amount of kidney beans or add fried tofu to boost the protein content of the dish. Other types of beans or meat alternatives would also work with this recipe.
A lot of time and effort goes into making ghormeh sabzi. Most of the work involves the preparation of fresh herbs and frying the onions. When I’m making a large batch, especially if I’m cooking other dishes for a party, I clean, chop and fry the herbs a few days in advance and even fry the onions and cut the meat. All that is left to do a day before the event is assembling and cooking the stew. As the stew is refrigerated overnight, the flavors come together and it tastes even better the next day. When you break down the process into manageable parts, making this dish seems less cumbersome.
To clean the herbs, don’t go through the trouble of picking the leaves off the stems. Leave the rubber band on the bundle and use a sharp knife to cut the stems off at the rubber band. It’s perfectly okay to leave some stems on the herbs as they contain a lot of flavors. For green onions just remove the root ends and use both the white and the green parts.
If cutting the herbs by hand, place them on a large cutting board and finely chop them using a sharp knife. They can be roughly chopped too as long as there are no pieces longer than 1/4 inch. If chopping a large amount of herbs, a food processor would make the process much faster and easier. It’s best to cut the green onions by hand because they can get mushy in the food processor.
If you wash the herbs few days in advance, wrap them in a towel or layers of paper towel, place in a plastic bag and refrigerate. The towel will absorb all the liquid helping herbs fry faster.
Frying the herbs is a crucial flavor developing step in this dish. Make sure you take the time to cook them long enough for the herbs to turn dark green and aromatic, but be careful not to burn them as they turn bitter. Use a pan with large surface to speed up the process and stir frequently.
If you’re good at multi-tasking in the kitchen, you can start frying your onions and herbs simultaneously. It takes about the same time for both to get ready which means shaving off 20 minutes of cooking time.
To fry the onions, add 4 tablespoons oil to a deep pan. Add onions and cook for up to 20 minutes or until slightly golden. Start with high heat and half way through cooking reduce heat to medium low. I don’t bother caramelizing my onions because it’s real time consuming and could take up to an hour. As long as onions are fried anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, your stew will have all required flavors of a tasty Persian stew. Since this stew is meatless, I fried the onions for a good 20 minutes to create a rich and flavorful stew.
Once the onions are ready, add the seasonings and dried limes limoo amani. Persian limes transform any dish by adding a pleasantly sour and aromatic tang of citrus to it. It’s important to punch a few holes in the limes before adding them so that the cooking liquid can penetrate the hard skins and flow through the holes infusing the stew with their scented tang and subtle complexity.To punch holes in the limes, hold them with one hand so they don’t roll off the counter and use your other hand to pierce them using a fork or a knife, a fork is safer!
Add fried herbs and hot water to the onions and bring the stew to a gentle boil. Lower heat to medium low, cover the pan and cook for about 30 minutes.
Stir in the drained kidney beans. I always rinse them thoroughly to get rid of the excess salt and starch and also the metallic flavor sometimes found in canned beans. It’s best to cook your own beans if you have the time. You can add the raw beans with the fried herbs if you like, but then you have to adjust the amount of water and the cooking time since the beans absorb the liquid and take longer to cook. Another option is to cook the beans up to a few days in advance.
As the stew finishes cooking, oil separates to the top and the liquid reduces in volume concentrating all the flavors. I don’t usually add saffron to ghormeh sabzi, but a friend of mine taught me to spoon saffron water (dissolved saffron in hot water) over it after it’s transferred to a serving bowl. You can’t go wrong with saffron :).
Vegetarian ghormeh sabzi tastes more delicious the next day and keeps well in the fridge for up to few days. It also freezes well.
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 hour 30 min
Ready in: 2 hours
Yields: 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
3 cups chopped parsley
3 cups chopped green onions
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek
½ cup olive oil divided
1 large onion chopped
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground
black pepper
½ teaspoon turmeric
4 large or 6 small whole Persian limes pierced with a fork
1 can red kidney beans (15 oz.) drained
2 cups hot water
INSTRUCTIONS
Add fresh chopped herbs, dried fenugreek and 4 tablespoons oil to large frying pan. Cook over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes or until the herbs become dark green and fragrant. Stir frequently.
In a medium-sized pan, fry onions in 4 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes or until golden. Stir in salt, pepper, turmeric and limes. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add fried herbs to onion mixture along with 2 cups hot water. Stir to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.
Add kidney beans and cook 10 more minutes or until oil separates to the top.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve vegetarian ghormeh sabzi over fluffy and aromatic basmati polo.
In this vegetarian bozbash, herbs abgoosht, the herbs are sautéed in olive oil (just enough to release their aroma and add more flavor) and less water is used to make the dish heartier, more like an ash (a thick soup). Add extra water or vegetable stock for a thinner abgoosht-like consistency. Red kidney beans can be substituted for black-eyed peas for a meatier texture. For meat version of this dish, check out the recipe for abgoosht bozbash.
Vegetarian Bozbash (Herbs Abgoosht)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 hour 30
min Ready in: 3 hour
Yields: 4 to 6 servings
INGREDIENTS
2 cups chopped fresh parsley
1 cup chopped fresh green onions (scallions)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (coriander)
1 cup chopped fresh fenugreek or ¼ cup dried
8 tablespoons olive oil divided
1 large onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon dried fenugreek
1 tablespoon ground lime
1 cup black-eyed peas
6 cups water
2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
INSTRUCTIONS
Place chopped herbs and 4 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. If using dried fenugreek, add ¼ cup to the skillet. Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat the remaining oil, 4 tablespoons, in a medium pot. Add chopped onions, cook over medium-high heat for about 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly golden. Stir occasionally to keep onions from burning. Stir in chopped garlic, salt, pepper, turmeric and dried fenugreek, cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant.
Dried fenugreek rehydrates when cooked with fresh herbs and intensifies in aroma and flavor when fried with onions.
Add sautéed herbs, ground lime, peas and water to the pot. Cover, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, cook for 20 minutes. Add potatoes, cook for 10 more minutes or until peas and vegetables are tender.
Ground lime releases its flavors more rapidly than whole lime. To get 1 tablespoon of ground lime, break 1 large whole lime into pieces, remove the seeds and grind in a spice grinder. Or use 2 tablespoons fresh lime as a substitute.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Clean and chop all the herbs.
Place chopped herbs and 4 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. If using dried fenugreek, add ¼ cup to the skillet.
Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat the remaining oil, 4 tablespoons, in a medium pot. Add chopped onions, cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Stir in chopped garlic, salt, pepper, turmeric and dried fenugreek, cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until fragrant.
Dried fenugreek rehydrates when cooked with fresh herbs and intensifies in aroma and flavor when fried with onions.
Add sautéed herbs, ground lime, peas and water to the pot.
Cover, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low, cook for 20 minutes.
Add potatoes, cook for 10 more minutes or until peas and vegetables are tender.
