Celery stew

This is one of the few khoreshes without tomatoes! At least this version of it.  Two more things: My experiment with making traditional Iranian stews without meat (in fact, by replacing meat with some sort of beans) has been very successful.

However, celery stew (khoresh karafs) is one of the few, in my opinion, that won’t turn great without meat. And it absolutely must accompany plain rice!

Ingredients(serving 4-5 )

• Veal or beef , 400 gr., cleaned, washed and cut in small pieces.
• Celery 1 large head.
• Onions, 2 medium, thinly sliced.
• Fresh mint and parsley, one bunch each.
• Fresh lime juice, 2 tbsp.
• Turmeric, ½ tbsp.
• Cooking oil, 5 tbsp.
• Powdered saffron, a pinch.
• Salt and Black pepper.

Method: In a frying pan sauté onion until slightly golden. (piaz daagh, comme d’habitube). Add meat and fry with onions for 5-6 minutes. When the color changed, add turmeric and fry another 2 minutes. Cover with hot water, add salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until tender (usually, in less than an hour).

Wash celery. Cut off the leaf part and keep them separate. Cut stalks into small pieces and fry them in hot oil until slightly golden, but not too soft. Finley chop mint, parsley and celery’s leaf and fry slightly in oil, sprinkling saffron near the end of the frying process. Add celery’s leaf, mint, and parsley to the meat and continue cooking for about 15 minutes. About five minutes before serving, add lime juice. Always taste for adjustment.