Abgousht Recipes

ABGOUSHT

Steps:

• Wash the meat and put it in a medium size pot (deezee for traditionalists), half filled with water, add the beans, the onion, turmeric, salt and pepper and let it cook for 1-2 hours on medium-low heat.
• Next, add the potato, rice, and the tomato (they get too soft too soon if you add them at the beginning), and let it cook on low heat until all the ingredients are soft.
• Take the pot out, separate the juice from the ingredients and pour the ingredients in a bowl, separate the bones and using a potato masher (gousht-coob) or something similar, finely mash the whole mixture.
• Taste a small portion and add more salt/pepper if needed.
• When the mixture has a smooth texture, it can be served.
• The soup (juice) is also served in a separate bawl.
• The idea is to mix it with small pieces of bread (not American bread loaves, more like pita bread, tortilla bread, or any kind of Iranian bread you can find in specialty stores).
• Notes: Soak the dried beans and the rice before hand.
• It speeds up the cooking process.
• The best kind of meat for this dish is what is called muscle meat (mAheecheh) which has plenty of meat, fat, and bones (the name used to refer to it escapes me unfortunately. Shank maybe?).
• The tomato, potato, and the rice are all optional.
• They give richer flavor, color and texture to this dish.
• In more traditional versions they don't use any of these ingredients.
• While mashing the ingredients, you can also add finely chopped raw onions.
• The onion juice gets mixed in and gives it a different flavor.
• At the table, this dish is served with Iranian bread, raw onions, radishes and fresh herbs such as parsley, basil leaves, mint leaves, leeks, etc.

ABGOOSHT (PERSIAN LAMB AND CHICKPEA STEW)

Steps:

• The night before you plan to cook, season the lamb with turmeric, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cover and refrigerate. Place chickpeas and beans in a medium bowl; add 3 cups water and a generous pinch of salt. Refrigerate overnight.
• To cook: Set a large Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat. Add lamb, onions, tomato paste and 8 cups water. Drain chickpeas and beans and add to pot. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve tomato paste, and cover pot partially with a lid. Reduce heat and simmer stew for 2 hours.
• Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Add potatoes and Omani limes to pot and continue simmering until potatoes and meat are both completely tender, about 1 hour. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the broth with salt and pepper.
• Remove limes from pot, and one by one, juice them into the soup through a sieve by pressing down on them with a spoon. (Avoid letting the seeds through the sieve, as they can be bitter.) Taste the broth after juicing each lime and add just enough so that the broth is tangy and bright.
• Use the sieve to remove the meat, potatoes and beans from the pot and transfer them to a large bowl. Use a fork to pull the meat off the bones. If any of the bones have marrow, use a skewer to remove it and add to the bowl. Use a potato masher to mash meat, beans and potatoes into a soft, uniform paste - this is called goosht kubideh, literally "mashed meat." If the mixture appears dry, add a few spoonfuls of broth and continue to mash until unctuous and smooth. Taste the paste and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and Omani lime juice, as needed.
• To serve, bring broth and goosht kubideh to the table, along with bowls of liteh pickles, salad-e Shirazi, warmed sangak bread, fresh herbs and, if you like, doogh. All of the sides serve as palate cleansers to balance the richness of the dish.
• Traditionally, the broth is eaten first with sangak bread, which can hold up to the broth without disintegrating. Typically, the bread is torn into bite-size pieces and added to broth to soak for a couple of minutes before digging in. This process is called tilit.
• Serve the goosht kubideh separately after everyone has had a bowl of broth. Traditionally the meat paste is made into small sandwiches with fresh herbs, and eaten with alternate bites of salad-e Shirazi and liteh pickle. Leftover goosht kubideh makes for a great sandwich or baby food, and freezes well for up to 2 weeks.