Persian Green Almond Stew (Khoresh Chaghaleh Badoom) is a real special meal made with parsley, mint, beef, dried lemons and green almonds (available in the spring).
It is mid-spring and I love my weekly trips to the market where I find so many of my favorite produce coming back to life: artichokes, asparagus, peas and rhubarb. And in the Persian and middle eastern markets, you can find green almonds, chaghaleh badoom.
Want to learn more about this unusual fruit? Well, read on!
About chagaleh badoom
If you never seen the almond fruit, well this is a real treat. The fruit itself has a green fuzzy skin, similar to peaches. When you find green almonds in early spring, the fruit is small, about 1-inch long. At this size, the entire fruit is edible.
At this stage, the skin and flesh are soft. The heart of the almond fruit, where the nut forms, is a clear gel and tastes tangy and sour. Persian love their sour foods and chagaleh badoom is one of our favorite snacks.
By mid to late spring, as the green almond fruit gets larger, the flesh gets tougher and should not be eaten. The nut center is still not fully formed, so you can still open it up and enjoy the sour center.
How to eat chagaleh badoom
As explained above, when the fruit is small and the flesh is soft, you can eat the entire pod. To balance the sourness of the green almond, we like to sprinkle salt over chagaleh badoom and enjoy this fiber packed fruit simply like this. When the fruit gets larger and the flesh gets too thick to eat, you can peel and enjoy the sour center.
And of course, you can make this delicious green almond stew, Khoresh Chaghaleh Badoom.
About khoresh chaghaleh badoom
The base of this green almond stew is pretty much the base of another Persian fabulous stew, khoresh karafs, using mint and parsley and dried limes. But instead of adding celery to the stew, you halve and add green almonds.
The meat for khoresh chaghaleh badoom can be lamb shanks or beef, depending on personal preference and what you have available. I also like to throw in spinach for more added nutrition.
During the cooking process the inner almond nut can turn bitter, so it is typically removed for this recipe. BUT, don’t discard it. It is still edible and can be munched on while you cook away… to give you energy, right?!
But many Persians combine the two stews, serving the herb base with both celery AND green almonds. So knock yourself out deciding which version you want to try.
And like all Persian stews, it is served on a bed of fluffy basmati rice.
Green almonds are not available everywhere, so consider yourself lucky if you come across some. And be a little adventurous in your culinary journeys and try something new and unfamiliar!
Persian Green Almond Stew (Khoresh Chaghaleh Badoom)
Persian Green Almond Stew (Khoresh Chaghaleh Badoom) is a real special meal made with parsley, mint, beef, dried lemons and green almonds (available in the spring).
Ingredients
- 2 lb beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp groundblack pepper
- 3/4 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp all-purpose flour (optional)
- 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped (approximately 1 cup)
- 2 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 dried Persian limes, quartered
- 3 cups parsley, packed
- 1 cup mint, packed
- 1 cup spinach, packed
- 1/4 tsp ground saffron
- 2 lb green almonds
Instructions
- In a large bowl mix together stew meat 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp turmeric and 2 tsp flour until meat is coated evenly.
- Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat and add 1 TBS olive oil.
- When oil is hot, add chopped onions.
- Cook until onions start to soften, approximately 7 minutes and add 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp turmeric.
- Cook for a 2 minutes, then raise the heat to medium-high, add stew meat and brown all sides, approximately 7 minutes.
- Stir in beef broth and lemon juice.
- Using a wooden spoon, scrape up browned bits of meat from the bottom of the pot.
- Add dried limes to the stew, reduce heat to low, cover pot and simmer for 2 hours, stirring the stew every 30 minutes.
- Using a food processor (or chop finely with a knife) chop parsley, mint and spinach.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 TBS olive oil.
- Sauté chopped greens for 5 minutes then add to the meat mixture, along with ground saffron.
- Cook stew covered over low heat for another 30 minutes.
- Cut in half and remove the inner seed from green almonds.
- Stir in halved green almonds into the stew, cover pot and cook for 30 minutes.
Notes
Serving Suggestions: The inner seed is removed because it can turn bitter during the cooking process. Some people skip this step and use the whole pod in the stew. This is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day. Serve with basmati rice.
Cooking Tips: This dish can also be made vegetarian by omitting the meat and by using vegetable broth.
Nutrition Note: The nutrition information listed below does not include the nutritional information for green almonds because I have yet to find a database that gives me the nutritional information for green almonds.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
2 cupsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 521 Total Fat: 16g Saturated Fat: 5g Trans Fat: 1g Unsaturated Fat: 10g Cholesterol: 150mg Sodium: 842mg Carbohydrates: 46g Fiber: 3g Sugar: 25g Protein: 52g
My Man's Belly says
I’ve been playing around with green almonds, but haven’t yet actually made anything. This dish looks/sounds fantastic. I’ve got another batch of the almonds coming this week…so we’ll see what they get turned into.
Laura says
So glad you can find them in your area. Have fun cooking with them!
kitchenriffs says
Well I’m one that has never heard of, nor had, a green almond! So I have been missing out. But I won’t in the future, because I’ll know what to look for. Nice dish and really nice photos. Good read – thanks.
Laura says
Definitely try looking at middle-eastern stores – we love our baby almonds!
Lana says
I have two Persian stores very close and I ogle these almonds every time I shop (which is at least twice a week:) Now that I know what to do with them, I’ll have to buy them! Pinned it (that’s my new “to try” place:)
BTW, in Serbian we say “badem” for almond, which is probably Farsi, via Turkish:)
Laura says
You ogle the almonds, Lana? ha! ha! Definitely give them a try. And yes, in farsi, badam = almonds.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
As you mentioned, I’ve never heard of or seen a green almond. How interesting!
Laura says
And you can educate your foodie friends all about the green almond!
Nancie McDermott says
The progression of beauty in these photographs takes my breath away. I want to make this. I’ll be on the lookout for Persian markets with green almonds, but I can make the celery version right now. And that rice! I just happen to have some exquisite Persian saffron right in my very own NC kitchen! 🙂
Laura says
Nancy, I’m so happy I was able to get to know you at camp. You really are an amazing spirit that can always make me smile! Enjoy the saffron!
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts says
I am going to have to keep an eye out for green almonds, they sound interesting! What a great stew, so flavorful!
cookingrookie says
This stew must be amazing! I have made khoresht-eh karafs, but have never heard of this one. I love all the ingredients, except I never saw green almonds, not even in Persian grocery stores. And probably using regular almonds won’t do, right? sigh… oh, well, I’ll keep an eye out for green almonds – I’m always happy to learn of new ingredients 🙂
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Green almond is new to me! I love learning new ingredient and hoping to see it in market. I remember you then. 😉 The stew looks wonderful and I can eat myself eating this with the basmati rice… I still have hours before lunch (and finished breakfast not a long ago), but my tummy really made noise seeing your photos!
Sarah @ Homestyle Cooking Around The World says
I have never heard of the green almond. It sounds interesting and the stew looks so wonderful. I just came across your blog from Nami’s and really am enjoy reading about your dishes. I love the Iranian spices and dishes and look forward to seeing more of your food!
Viviane@Taste-Buds says
In Lebanon we eat the same way: sprinkled with salt, but cooking with them is a first with me. I noticed that here in the USA they are unheard of, so yeah if I come across some I will be getting them ASAP.
I do have some celery in the fridge that need to be used, this stew might be a good idea, I love stews made the Lebanese way, never tried Persian way or even any Persian food for that matter. It has always been on my list I guess it is a good way to start!