This is my favorite Persian dish of all time! It’s so flavorful that it’s hard not to fall in love with it! It’s normally made with lamb and a lot of oil but my version of my mom’s recipe has zero oil and is completely vegan. We serve it with long grain basmati rice with tadig (crispy rice) – again using zero oil. Please don’t let the items that may be new to you discourage you. Both the dried person lemons (limo amani) and unripe sour grapes (ghooreh) can be found online and in many regular grocery stores. Ghooreh can be found frozen and even fresh when it is in season. When it is off season, you can also find it in jar versions.

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Vegan & Oil Free Ghormesabze and Rice with Tadig

2 bunches of green onions

1 bunch cilantro

2 bunches of Parsley (any type)

4 dried Persian lemons (Limo Amani) – soaked in hot water until soft

1 medium or large onion

1/2 teaspoon of Turmic

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of kidney beans (soaked overnight and made in the crock pot) or you can use a can

1/2 cup unripe grapes (Ghooreh) – optional

2 pinches of freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon dried Fenugreek (Shambalileh) – optional

1. Cut off ½ of the hard stems for parsley and cilantro. (save stems for juicing)
2. Place parsley and cilantro in a large bowl and fill with water. Use your hands to move around the leaves and then place it in the strainer. Repeat this wash and drain process for approximately 3x or until the water comes out clean.
3. Chop off a small section from both ends of the green onions. Rinse them off with water and be sure to rinse inside the green onions. Chop the green onions into 3 pieces.
4. Chop the onion into 4 pieces
5. Shake off the water from the parsley and cilantro
6. Process everything together carefully by pulsing and checking – don’t just turn the food processor on. You want the vegetables chopped finely but not smushed.Note: Place in the food processor by putting the parsley on the outer area and the green onion and cilantro near the inside of the food processor and then drop in your onion. Once chopped, empty the processor in a bowl and then do the next batch until done.
7. Depending on your size of food processor, you will chop and empty 4-5 times.
8. Take your soaked and softer dried Persian lemons and cut them down the middle and remove some of the seeds.
9. Put your mix of chopped parsley, cilantro, green onion, onion and Turmic into a non-stick pot with just 2 tablespoon of water and stir-fry using high heat.
10. Add 2 tablespoons of water when needed and move around the vegetables. Please note that you cannot leave them to fry like you can with oil and have to keep the vegetables moving.
11. Transfer the vegetables to a stainless steel pot or keep in the same pot. Add 2 cups of water, cut persian dried lemons, salt, kidney beans, unripe grapes, black pepper and fenugreek (Shambalileh)
12. Turn on High heat and bring to a boil and then reduce to a heat that still allows it to simmer
13. Put your timer on 40 minutes – check in every 10 minutes to make sure you don’t go low in water. If you need to add water, add it ½ cup at a time and with each time you add water, add a pinch of salt.
14. Make the no oil Long-grain Basmati Rice with Tadig
    • Put 1 cup of long-grain basmati rice in a bowl and wash with water by covering with water and -draining until the water is clear – 2-3x.On high heat, put the 1 cup of rice in a non-stick pan with 2 cups of water and ½ teaspoon of salt.Once the rice boils, lower heat and cover lid and put timer to 12 -15 minutes.The trick is to keep it on the burner long enough to get some crispy rice on the bottom (Tadig) but remove it before it get’s too dark or burns. Remove from heat and fluff up with a fork.
15. • Place 1 cup of rice on your plate not forgetting to include a little of the crispy rice (Tadig). Spoon the Ghormesabze on top of the rice or in a bowl next to it.
    Note: You can serve with the dried limes or remove.
16. Serve  with raw red onions and red turnips.

Enjoy!