abgoosht or abgusht, a { water-meat } story...
Ābgusht (Persian: آبگوشت, literally translates to "water-meat"), is a traditional Persian and Mesopotamian beef stew
{per sahar's request, this is my abgoosht recipe, the way i imagine our grandma used to make it}: my cousin and i grew up together until the age of eleven or twelve when she moved to another country, and life as we knew it came to an abrupt end. when i say we grew up together, i mean we did everything together-i saw her first thing every morning on the school bus that took us to the same school-we learned to swim, attempted to dance, rode horses, made snowmen, climbed trees (or not so much), picked and ate fruit from said trees, made makeshift “houses” (and a huge mess) out of furniture pieces and fabrics, consumed (lots of) candy, laughed and cried together. sadly, we still live too far apart these days, but the strong bond and love we shared as kids remains strong-i miss her. she's been following this little blog she encouraged me to start, and it makes me so happy to know that it’s connecting us through the collective love for the food we enjoyed every friday around our grandmother's table. preparing my stew today, i realized this dish (and the incredible aroma it creates in the house as it slowly cooks) is intertwined with so many of our shared memories: of family, comfort, and love. (first published 05/25/2012)
ingredients:
2 pounds organic grass fed beef or veal shank (or lamb), 1 pound stew (grass fed) meat (or all shanks works too)
2 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced or cubed
2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed, and sliced
1 cup (or slightly more) cooked garbanzo beans+
1 cup (or more) cooked white beans+
3-4 sm/medium potatoes (I used organic golden potatoes)-peeled and quartered or halved
2-3 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp ground saffron (or saffron strands seeped in a few drops of hot water)
sea salt & freshly cracked pepper (white pepper is best)
2 tsps tomato paste (or one ripe medium tomato, blended into a puree)
3 ripe tomatoes
4-5 whole (pierced) persian limes-"limu -omani" *you can substitute juice of 2-3 fresh limes
1-2 tbsps oil (i use avocado oil)
at least 5-6 cups water
3-4 italian eggplants, peeled (and halved if large) *optional*
+ soak your beans overnight and cook them in salted water separately for about 30-40 minutes. they will cook again with the stew, so do not over cook them. you may also add them uncooked to the stew from the beginning (when you add the water), but that is not my preference as they tend to either disintegrate or not cook enough-you can also use canned beans if you'd like.
sautee the onions and garlic in the oil in a large heavy pot(a dutch oven is a good choice) for a minute or two, then add the beef shanks. sprinkle with the turmeric, salt, and pepper, and brown on both sides.
2. once the beef is browned on all sides, add the pierced dried lemons, tomato paste and water. cover and simmer for about an hour.
3. after simmering for an hour, add the cooked beans, potatoes, and eggplants, and simmer for another 45 minutes. add the quartered tomatoes and saffron, and simmer for another 15 minutes. how to serve this? continued below...
4. for the "tileet"(or soup):-serve the liquid (soup) in small bowls with flat bread broken in to it in small pieces:
5. for "goosht koobideh" or mashed beef: take a portion of the ingredients (the stewed beef and some of the shank, potatoes, beans, etc.) and mash them up. this is easy to do because it is all braised really well and soft-add some freshly ground pepper, and serve with flat bread and fresh herbs ( such as lemon basil and mint-you make little bites or sandwiches). this is delicious in a sandwich cold the next day.
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