Sabzi (Spinach and Lamb Stew) Recipe (2024)

FYI, this is an afghan dish. To the person who commented that the name is misleading, in Afghanistan, sabzi means spinach, not vegetable. To the person who said it traditionally has lime & fenugreek - that’s true for the Iranian version of this recipe, but not for us in Afghanistan.

Ghormeh sabsi needs dried fenugreek to give it its unique flavor. It also traditionally has kidney beans and dried lemons. Try the version in Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij. It's a lot of work but honestly, it's what I ask my Iranian husband to make me on my birthday.

The results are wonderful but this is a time consuming recipe. Be forewarned. Not the cooking time for the lamb but the other steps....taking the ribs off two pounds of spinach, cooking the cilantro. I cut cornets with the rice and just rinsed it, then cooked it with the cumin and cardamom seeds.

Could a pressure cooker be used for the lamb meat up front? How much time would be needed under pressure?

I have not cooked this, but reading the recipe it looks to me like a lot of oil and salt. I don't think I have ever used 1 cup of oil and 2T salt in any recipe with similar proportions of meat and vegetables. I do not eschew fat and salt ever. I am just wondering. Can anyone explain how the proportions of these ingredients work?

The time-consuming element of this dish (even the longer cooking time) is partly what makes this dish a joy to cook and yields deeper and more umami flavor that characterizes Iranian cuisine

I used a pressure cooker to speed things up. I cooked the meat with aromatics and 1 c water in the Instant Pot for 15 minutes at high pressure and let it depressurize naturally for 10. Then, I added the greens and pressure cooked at high pressure for an additional 5 minutes. The meat was tender and flavorful. I’ll definitely be making this again.

afull 1/12-2 hours at low heat 325 degrees, either in the oven or stove top, adding only enough water/chicken bouillon as you need to make a soupy dish of aromatic tender lamb chunks. Then you can add aal the spinach & herbs in their proper sequence (without need to de-rib every leaf of spinach!!!!) as well as all the other herbs and spices, fresh and fdried all in their proper sequence, only adding enough water/chicken bouillon to compensate for any loss through evaporation, sabzi worth eating!

Thank you Layla. I was about to question the absence of fenugreek and dried limes- but that appears to be the Iranian version. (Ive cooked the Iranian version, then, many times. It scales up beautifully. Last summer a friend coaxed me into preparing the dish for 30).

Used Instantpot...cooked 18 min on high, 10 min release. Then added veggies (I used peas, spinach, zucchini, chives and cilantro from garden) hi pressure for 4 minutes with quick release. I also added some garlic, turmeric, coriander to coat meat when browning and topped with cilantro and toasted cumin seeds when serving. I know....I changed allot. but Im leaving these notes to show how forgiving the recipe is. It was excellent, a perfect spring/summer stew. will make again.

I would agree with the others it was a bit bland, though when we first make a recipe we try to not do many changes. We used baby spinach, so did not spend the time trimming, and some purple kale which we did. Won't be making again though.

Great dish. But this looks as if someone was trying to translate their mother’s notes into an NYT recipe. Brown some cut up lamb in oil with onion, chilli, and not too much garlic became take two inch cubes of lamb and brown in half a cup of oil with one onion, two cloves of garlic, and chilli. Enough salt became two tablespoons. Cook this for a fabulous experience, but please use common sense!

As others have mentioned, it needs more garlic, chile pepper and add fenugreek. Also too many steps. Some seem unnecessary.

Too salty. And I love salt.

overall very disappointing in terms of flavor, compared with Ghormeh Sabzi. Really BLAND . I kept going back to see if I missed something .....Needs limu omani. I added a bunch of lemon juice and cumin (trying to take clues from the recipe) but nah.. I won't make this again

We halved recipe but less than half oil salt.

Made this vegan with seitan instead of lamb and 3T oil instead of a cup. It was excellent.

Used Instantpot...cooked 18 min on high, 10 min release. Then added veggies (I used peas, spinach, zucchini, chives and cilantro from garden) hi pressure for 4 minutes with quick release. I also added some garlic, turmeric, coriander to coat meat when browning and topped with cilantro and toasted cumin seeds when serving. I know....I changed allot. but Im leaving these notes to show how forgiving the recipe is. It was excellent, a perfect spring/summer stew. will make again.

Bought the book “Parwana” who’s author created the recipe which calls for 20 min in pressure cooker slow release after browning the onions garlic and lamb. I roughly chopped baby spinach with stalks attached. No issues. Odd to me no spices included although a strong dose of salt and pepper went a long way to flavor it up. Also a quick spritz of lemon juice right before serving. Next time will use frozen spinach.

I used chicken instead of lamb- cholesterols concerns - as well as availability. Because chicken has less umph, and it needed some dimension, I added cardamon seeds. A great but different taste that blended well with the spinach. And the size of the batch I found important for the flavor to integrate, so my advise: don’t try to scale it down.

This was ok, but I will not make it again. It was quite bland and the amount of spinach left me with spinach teeth. It needed some acid, and I added a bit of lemon juice and served it with yoghurt. I much prefer the Indian/Pakistani version, Lamb Saag.

This was so bland. Any ideas on adding some spice?

Absolutely delicious and exactly what one wants to eat in the spring. Following suggestions in the comments I guess I made it Iranian style with some crushed fenugreek and Omani dried lime, also coriander because it seemed like a good idea, and braised the lamb in the oven at 325 for 2+ hours until the leg of lamb chunks were tender. Left lid ajar for last hour or so to reduce broth. Didn't have garlic chives/scallions. Served with saffron rice. I'd say only about half hour of actual work.

03/29/22 - I usually only make private cooking notes but felt I had to share here. TRULY bland. I used half lacinato kale and half spinach, and thank heaven because it would have been a pile of mush with all spinach. Added fresh black pepper and a tsp leftover toasted cumin seeds from a previous recipe—right move—then served with chili paste, which helped elevate this dish to ‘good’.

Can I make this a day in advance?