Stew
Gheimeh Stew
خورش قیمه
The pattern above is ornament, not a photograph of the dish.
- Hands-on time
- 30 min
- Cooking time
- 2 h 45 min
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Makes
- 4 servings (Estimated)
- Kind
- Stew
- Where it is eaten
- Popular national dishes of Iran
- Serving
- 300 g
Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
- lamb or beef, cut into small cubes 400 g
- yellow split peas, soaked 120 g
- onion, finely chopped 2 medium
- tomato paste 2 tbsp
- dried Persian limes (limu omani), soaked 4 whole
- potatoes, cut into matchsticks and fried 3 medium
- turmeric 1 tsp
- cinnamon stick 1 piece
- saffron, steeped 2 tbsp
- oil 4 tbsp
- salt 1 tsp
- black pepper 0.5 tsp
Method
Soak the split peas for at least five hours, changing the water two or three times. Soak the dried limes separately in warm water.
Fry the onion in the oil until golden. Add the turmeric and pepper, then the meat, and turn it until the colour changes.
Add the drained split peas and fry them briefly with the meat. This short fry is what stops them collapsing into mush over the long cook.
Add the tomato paste and fry for two minutes so it loses its raw edge, then add about 1 litre of hot water. Simmer covered on low heat for 1.5 hours.
Pierce the soaked limes and remove their seeds, then add them with the salt. The seeds are what turn the stew bitter, and soaking first is the other half of the same problem.
Add the cinnamon stick and the steeped saffron in the last half hour, not earlier — long boiling flattens both.
Meanwhile cut the potatoes into matchsticks and fry them in hot oil until golden. Spread them in a single layer to cool; stacked, they go soft.
Cook until the oil rises to the surface. Serve with rice, with the fried potatoes piled on top rather than stirred in, so they stay crisp.
Cook's notes
Gheimeh is most often made with red meat, which is the version here. Chicken works and is common in home cooking, at the same weight and about an hour less on the stove.
Fried aubergine instead of potato makes قیمه بادمجان, which many households treat as the finer version. Some regions add خورشتی plums for extra sourness. In Bushehr the potato is mashed into the stew rather than fried on top, and cumin is added — that version is different enough that we treat it separately.
If you are short of time, a pressure cooker takes the meat and split peas stage down to about 30 minutes. Add the limes, cinnamon and saffron afterwards, on the open stove, or their flavour is lost.
We consulted authoritative Persian cooking sources to prepare this recipe. Visit them for more detail and for regional variations of this dish.
Sources consulted:
- Kalleh — طرز تهیه خورشت قیمه برای ۴ نفر 2026-08-13
- Setare — خورش قیمه سیب زمینی و نکات طبخ 2026-08-13
- Fararu — خورشت قیمه خوشمزه و جا افتاده برای ۴ نفر 2026-08-13
- Mamanpaz — خورش قیمه مجلسی 2026-08-13
Reviewed: 2026-08-13
Background
Gheimeh is both an everyday stew and one of Iran's important nazri foods, especially at religious observances and large communal gatherings. Regional versions may use potatoes, eggplant, or different seasonings.
Nutrition
| Energy | 390 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 29 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
Where this comes from
Official documentation strongly supports the dish or geographic attribution, but all recipe fields are not traceable to one dish-specific official recipe page.
Record: IR0002 · Evidence: B (Officially supported)
Open the source page https://visitiran.ir/fa/type/persian-foods