Khoresht Karafs Recipe

Khoresht Karafs is one of those Persian foods that have a lot of fans but cooking this stew is a little bit difficult and challenging. Loaded with tender beef, perfectly cooked celery pieces, and fragrant herbs.

About This Recipe

Celery stew is a Persian stew that is cooked with celery stalks and herbs such as mint and parsley. This stew is usually cooked with beef or lamb, but the vegan version of this stew is also very tasty. Celery stew usually has a slightly sour taste, but you can adjust the sourness to your own preference. A good celery stew needs time to simmer in order to allow all of the flavors to blend together.

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Uses pantry ingredients: This stew is one of our favorite family meals! An easy stew made with basic pantry ingredients. Packed with nutrients with a straightforward recipe.
• Easy to make: You don’t need to have a lot of experience in Persian cuisine to cook a delicious celery stew. By following the recipe step by step, you will definitely get amazing results and surprise everyone at the table.

What You Need to Make Khoresht Karafs

• Herbs: Mostly, Khoresht Karafs is cooked with mint and parsley but some people also make Khoresh Karafs without the use of herbs.
• Celery stalks: Look for celery with fresh leaves, crisp stalks, and bright green colors. Wash celery stalks and leaves under running water. cut celery stalks into 1-inch pieces. Finely chop small and bright green celery leaves. Do not use large and dark green colored leaves. Celery stalks and leaves should be lightly sauteed in oil before being added to the stew. You can prepare celery stalks and herbs in advance and keep them in the freezer.
• Beef or lamb: In this stew, like most Iranian stews, lamb or beef is used. Lamb makes this stew more delicious, but if you do not like the taste of lamb, you can use beef. Cut lamb or beef into small cubes.
• Onion: Use yellow onion.
• Ab-Ghooreh (unripe or ‘sour’ grape juice): Most people like this stew to have a sour taste, so they add ab-Ghooreh or one or two dried limes(Limoo Amani).

Instructions

• To clean celery, cut off the base and leaves. Rinse the celery stalks thoroughly under cold, running water and dry them with a clean kitchen cloth.
• Then cut the celery stalks into 1-inch pieces. Chop the celery leaves, parsley, and mint, then sauté with oil.
• Cut the onions thoroughly. Then sauté with oil to make it soft and golden. Chop the lamb or beef into small cubes. Add meat, turmeric, and pepper to the onion. After changing the color of the meat, add chopped celery stalks, then pour a few glasses of water and let it cook and soften with low heat.
• When the meat is soft, you can add fried vegetables. With gentle heat, let it simmer and cook well in order to bring out the flavors for 60 minutes.
• Add unripe or ‘sour’ grape juice(Ab-Ghooreh in Persian) to the stew toward the end of cooking.

Khoresht Karafs Variations

This is a classic celery stew recipe, but some people like to prepare this dish in other ways. In some variations of this stew, instead of mint and parsley, Ghormeh sabzi herb mix is used. Also, in some recipes, only celery and its leaves are used. In some recipes, one or two tablespoons of tomato paste are added to thicken the stew. In some recipes, pinto beans are also added to the stew.

Vegetarian Khoresht Karafs

You can easily omit the meat from this recipe to make a vegan celery stew. You can either add pinto beans, chickpeas, or kidney beans and instead of water add vegetable broth. It’s better to use one cup of cooked beans at the step where the broth is added.

Tips And Tricks For Cooking Khoresht Karafs

• If you have difficulty measuring the vegetables, do the following: Celery leaves (finely chopped) 5 tbsp, peppermint (finely chopped) 1 tbsp, and parsley (finely chopped) is also 4 tbsp.
• Depending on the taste, you can use dried limes instead of 3 tablespoons of lemon juice or Ab Ghooreh(unripe or ‘sour’ grape juice). Khoreshte Karafs has a great flavor with Ab Ghooreh. We suggest you try it.
• If you do not have mint and parsley, you can use celery leaves. If you wish, instead of red meat (beef and lamb) you can also use white meat (chicken and turkey).
• Of course, in some cases, like Ghormeh sabzi stew, white beans or red beans are used in Khoresht Karafs stew.

Did you like the Khoresht Karafs recipe? Try my Kookoo Sabzi recipe as well! Leave your comment below and If you make this recipe, be sure to tag your photos #yummynotes 

Khoresht Karafs Recipe

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 180 Minutes 180 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.9/5

( 16 voted )

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Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 300gr beef or lamb
• 400gr celery
• 50gr fresh mint, chopped
• 150gr fresh parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons ab-ghooreh

Instructions

Step 1

To clean celery, cut off the base and leaves. Rinse the celery stalks thoroughly under cold, running water and dry them with a clean kitchen cloth.

Step 2

Then cut the celery stalks into 1-inch pieces. Chop the celery leaves, parsley and mint, then sauté with oil.

Step 3

Cut the onions thoroughly. Then sauté with oil to make it soft and golden. Chop the lamb or beef into small cubes. Add meat, turmeric, and pepper to the onion. After changing the color of the meat, add chopped celery stalks, then pour a few glasses of water and let it cook and soften with low heat.

Step 4

When the meat is soften, you can add fried vegetables. With gentle heat, let it simmer and cook well in order to bring out the flavors for 60 minutes.

Step 5

Add unripe or 'sour' grape juice(ab-ghooreh in persian) to stew toward the end of cooking.