Video and Recipe by Bani Taghaboni
One of Kerman’s most beloved dishes, Boz Ghormeh is made with tender meat, chickpeas, onions, garlic, and kashk, slowly cooked until rich, creamy, and deeply comforting. In my version, I also added saffron for its beautiful aroma, along with dried mint and a touch of dried tarragon. Some families even add a potato, though that’s entirely optional.
Ingredients:
500g meat with bone
3 onions
1 head garlic
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup kashk
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
l ¼ tsp black pepper
saffron to taste
1 tbsp dried mint,
dried tarragon (optional)
1 potato (optional)
oil as needed
Instructions:
Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water, then drain; heat a generous amount of oil in a large pot and fry the chopped onions until golden, setting aside about a third for garnish, then add the minced garlic along with the turmeric and black pepper to the remaining onions and fry until fragrant before adding the meat with bone and searing it on all sides; pour in enough water to cover everything generously, add the drained chickpeas and the salt, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for a couple of hours until the meat is falling off the bone and the chickpeas are very soft, adding the peeled and cubed potato partway through if using so it cooks through without falling apart; once tender, remove the bone, lightly mash the meat and chickpeas together in the pot to thicken the stew, then stir in the kashk and a bit of saffron bloomed in hot water, letting it simmer a few more minutes to meld; separately fry the dried mint (and dried tarragon, if using) briefly in a little oil until fragrant, and use this along with the reserved fried onions to garnish the stew just before serving hot with flatbread.
