Abgoosht
Tehran's working lunch, simmered for hours in clay pots called dizi. It is eaten in two acts: first the broth, poured over torn bread, then the solids, pounded with a pestle into a coarse paste called gusht-e kubideh. The flavour has two protagonists — long-cooked lamb on the bone and dried limes, which give the soup a distinctive fermented sourness no fresh lemon can reproduce.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking the pulses 720 min
- Simmering the meat 150 min
- Potatoes and tomatoes 30 min
- Pounding the gusht 10 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the chickpeas and beans overnight
Cover the chickpeas and beans with cold water and soak overnight, then drain. Both must cook in the same time as the meat — unsoaked they could stay hard even after three hours.
Ingredients: 1000 g lamb shank · 150 g chickpeas · 100 g white beans · 2500 ml water
Brown the meat with onion and turmeric
Heat the oil in a tall pot and brown the shank with the onion for 5 minutes, add the turmeric and fry a minute. Turmeric in fat releases colour and aroma; dropped into water it stays raw and faintly bitter.
Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil · 2 pcs onions · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs dried limes · ½ tsp cinnamon · 1 pinch saffron · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
Pierce the dried limes
Pierce each dried lime with a knife in three places. The broth must get inside to draw out the sour flesh — unpierced limes float on the surface and give little.
Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil · 2 pcs onions · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs dried limes · ½ tsp cinnamon · 1 pinch saffron · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
Three piercings — otherwise the lime floats and gives little flavour.Simmer with spices two and a half hours
Add the pulses, limes, cinnamon, saffron and water and simmer 2.5 hours over low heat, lid ajar, until the meat pulls from the bone. Skim at the start.
Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil · 2 pcs onions · 1 tsp turmeric · 4 pcs dried limes · ½ tsp cinnamon · 1 pinch saffron · 2 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
Two and a half hours — until the meat leaves the bone.Add the potatoes and tomatoes
Add the potatoes, halved tomatoes and purée, season with salt and pepper and cook 30 minutes more. Salt only now — the broth has reduced a lot over two and a half hours, so it is easier to get the seasoning right.
Ingredients: 500 g potatoes · 3 pcs tomatoes · 2 tbsp tomato purée
Separate the broth from the solids
Strain the broth into a separate pot, and put the meat, potatoes, tomatoes and pulses into a deep bowl. Discard bones and gristle. Squeeze the limes into the broth with a spoon and discard the skins — in the gusht they would taste bitter.
Ingredients: 1000 g lamb shank · 150 g chickpeas · 100 g white beans · 2500 ml water
Pound the gusht with a pestle
Pound the meat with the pulses and potatoes with a heavy pestle into a coarse, dense paste, adding a spoon of broth if too dry. Do not blend — gusht should have texture, not the consistency of a sandwich spread.
Ingredients: 1000 g lamb shank · 150 g chickpeas · 100 g white beans · 2500 ml water
A pestle, not a blender — gusht should have texture.Serve in two acts
First tear bread into bowls and pour over the hot broth — the first course, called tilit. Then serve the gusht with bread, raw onion, pickles and fresh herbs, eaten spread on the bread.
Ingredients: 4 pcs flatbread · 1 pcs raw onion · 150 g pickles · 1 bunch fresh herbs and radishes
Before you start
Dried limes are irreplaceable
Limoo amani are limes dried in the sun until black. They taste sour, faintly bitter and fermented — impossible to reproduce with fresh lime. Look for them in Persian, Arab or Indian shops.
Lamb fat
Traditionally a piece of sheep's tail fat goes into the pot, giving abgoosht its silkiness. A shank with bone and marrow is an easier-to-find substitute — enough fat without making the soup heavy.
Even better the next day
Abgoosht keeps three days in the fridge and is better on the second. Keep broth and solids together and separate and pound them only on reheating — pounded gusht dries out in the fridge.
