Ghormeh Sabzi — cookly.recipes

The colour and the depth both come from how dark you dare take the herbs before any liquid goes into the pot.

WHAT YOU GET

The chef's hidden note — the technique no cookbook prints
Every component built from scratch, each with its own spec
Films on choosing and judging the produce before you buy it
Gross and net gram weights for every ingredient, per portion
Time and temperature at each stage, as run in the restaurant
A photo at every step that can go wrong
Substitutions for anything hard to find where you live
What usually goes wrong, and what to do about it

Yours for good once bought. Updates from the chef included.

BEFORE YOU BUY

Equipment: Wide 32 cm skillet for frying the herbs, Heavy 5 L stew pot, Non-stick rice pot with a cloth-wrapped lid
Allergens: Milk (butter and yogurt)
Method: 30 steps · 22 photographed · 6 filmed
Components: 4 made from scratch
Films: 3, 39 min

4 RECIPES INSIDE THIS RECIPE

Each with its own weights, steps and timings

The sauce, the cure, the dough, the dressing — a restaurant makes these itself, and so will you. Every one below is a full sub-recipe: its own ingredient list, its own method, its own yield and shelf life. Nothing says «use shop-bought».

Sabzi (fried herb base)

Film

Parsley, cilantro, leek and fenugreek chopped fine and fried down to a dark, oily mass.

Frozen sabzi is chopped wet and steams in the pan, so it never reaches the colour you need.

Flat-leaf parsley000 g
Cilantro000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 7
Time: 1.3 h
Hands-on: 60 min

Makes About 700 g from 2 kg herbs; 3 days chilled, 2 months frozen

A day ahead, the flavour rounds out

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Piaz dagh (turmeric onion base)

Onions fried slowly to deep gold, then bloomed with turmeric before the meat goes in.

This base sets the sweetness of the whole stew and no jarred version is cooked long enough.

Yellow onions000 g
Turmeric000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 5
Time: 45 min
Hands-on: 30 min

Makes About 400 g; 4 days chilled

Same day, straight into the stew

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Limu omani (dried limes)

Film

Whole dried limes, pierced and softened, giving the stew its sour and faintly bitter edge.

Ground dried lime muddies the sauce and cannot be taken out once it has gone too far.

Dried limes (limu omani)000 g
Hot water000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 4
Time: 40 min
Hands-on: 8 min

Makes 8 limes, enough for one six-portion pot

One hour before they go into the stew

Weights and method unlock on purchase

Chelow with tahdig

Film

Parboiled basmati drained and steamed under a cloth, with a crisp saffron crust at the base.

It is half the dish, and nothing bought gives you separate grains or a crust that lifts whole.

Aged basmati rice000 g
Salt000 g
Something cured000 g
A hard cheese000 g
The bitter leaf000 g

Steps: 9
Time: 2 h
Hands-on: 45 min

Makes 6 portions plus one full tahdig disc

Soak the rice 2 hours ahead, steam to order

Weights and method unlock on purchase

WEIGHED

INGREDIENTS

A taste of the list · the rest locked

A few ingredients to show you what the dish is built on. Every one on the full list carries a gross and a net weight per portion, and a note on what you can swap it for where you live.

Lamb shoulder000 g
Flat-leaf parsley000 g
Cilantro000 g
Persian leek (tareh)000 g
Dried fenugreek leaves000 g
Smoked something000 g
A whole bulb000 g
Cold-pressed oil000 g
Aged for weeks000 g

The full list, weighed, unlocks on purchase

WATCH BEFORE YOU SHOP

3 films · 39 min

Most of what goes wrong is decided at the counter, before you cook anything. These are filmed by the chef: what to buy, how to tell it is good, and how to set your own kitchen up for it.

CHOOSING11:00

Tareh, Leek and Fenugreek: Buying Herbs for Sabzi

TECHNIQUE16:00

Two Kilos of Herbs Down to Seven Hundred Grams

KIT12:00

Rice Pots, Damkoni and Lifting Tahdig Out Whole

METHOD

STEP BY STEP — 30 STEPS

22 photographed · 6 filmed

Written the way a restaurant writes a technical card: one operation per step, each with its own time and temperature. 22 of the 30 carry a photo of what it should look like at that moment, and 6 carry a short clip for the parts a still cannot show.

Hardest step: frying the herbs without burning — step 18 of 30.

01
Read the whole method before you start, then weigh everything out. Every timing below assumes the next ingredient is already within reach.
Free preview
02
03
04
05
06
+ 24 more steps, timed and photographed

WHERE IT USUALLY GOES WRONG

3 things Mehrdad Kashani watches for every service. You can read what they are right now — the answer to each one comes with the recipe.

01
Herbs still wet when they hit the oil
What to do about it
02
Too much fenugreek turning the whole pot bitter
What to do about it
03
Beans added raw to an acidic pot and never softening
What to do about it

The chef's hidden note

The herbs go two shades past the point that looks safe, and the limes join the pot far later than most cooks expect.

Written by Mehrdad Kashani. Visible only to people who bought this recipe.

Read it — $14.99

NOTES FROM THE KITCHENS

563 verified cooks · 86% said it worked

Only people who bought the recipe and showed the dish they made can leave a note. Nobody is paid for it.

PAY $14.99 ONCE

563 people cooked it, 86% got it right, and that is the entire reason it costs $14.99 rather than nothing. It has reached the top of the ladder.

One payment · Yours for good · No subscription