Gamaj Kabab - Lamb Stew With Herbs And Walnuts Cooked in Terracotta Pot
Gamaj Kabab is a mouthwatering dish from the Gilan province in northern Iran. Gamej is a piece of Persian Terracotta-style cookware for cooking meat and fish.
This tasty stew is made of lamb, fresh herbs, pomegranate molasses, and walnuts. If your mouth isn’t watering already, it will when your kitchen fills with the scent of this heavenly combination.
I don’t own a Gamaj (yet), so I prepared the dish in my shallow cast-iron pan with a lid. I encourage you to use whatever you have. Don’t miss out on this delicacy because you think you don’t have the right piece of equipment.
Serve this mouthwatering stew with aromatic Persian saffron rice.
You can download this recipe as a printable PDF for a small fee here.
Cook the most popular Persian dishes at home with the help of my e-book.
Time
Drying time: 2 h
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 2 h
Total: 2 h 20 min
Ingredients (serving 4)
500g / 1.10lbs lamb leg or shoulder + bone marrow (optional)
2 onion
5 cloves garlic
120g crushed walnuts
3 tbsp pomegranate molasses (It depends on the sourness of the molasses. The one I used is homemade and very thick and sour)
4 tbsp tomato paste
70g parsley cleaned and ready to chop
70g coriander cleaned and ready to chop
50g mint cleaned and ready to chop
2 tbsp dried chochagh (native northern Iranian herb) (optional)
8 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
Salt to taste
3 tbsp pomegranate seeds to garnish
Method for cooking Gamaj Kebab
Prep the ingredients
2 hours in advance
Remove the stems of the parsley and mint. You don’t need to remove the coriander stems.
Wash the herbs, keeping the mint separate and let them dry.
Prep before cooking
Cut the meat into 4cm / about 1.5 inch cubes.
Skin off and finely chop the onions and garlic.
Finely chop the parsley and coriander.
Finely chop the mint, keeping it separate from the other herbs.
Finely crush the walnuts using a food processor.
Sautéing the herbs
Heat a frying pan, add 3 tbsp vegetable oil, and sauté the parsley and coriander for about 7 minutes until dark green in color. Stir regularly. Remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Sauté the mint in 1 tbsp vegetable oil for about 3 minutes until dark green in color. Stir regularly. remove it and set it aside.
Searing the meat
Sear the lamb pieces over high heat in 4 tbsp vegetable oil until golden brown on each side. Remove the meat from the pan.
Caramelising onions and garlic
Gently caramelise the onion over low to medium heat in the same oil you seared the meat in. After about 15 minutes add the garlic and gently fry them together for a few more minutes.
Get the stew cooking
Keep the heat on low.
Return the meat and sautéed herbs to the pan with the caramelised onions and garlic, add the crushed walnuts, dried chochagh (if using), tomato paste, turmeric and black pepper. Combine everything well.
Add the bone marrow if you have one.
Add 2 cups of freshly boiled water.
Add the pomegranate molasses, season with salt and let the stew simmer for 1h 15min to 1h 30min until the meat is perfectly tender.
Add more boiled water if needed at any time.
Serve your delicious Gamej Kabab
Serve your Gamej Kabab with plain Persian style Abkesh rice. Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I’d love to see your Gamaj Kabab! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!
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