koreshteh-kadoo1-custom

Before I begin this post, I want to make a little announcement. A while back Eric, one of the loyal readers, asked me for recipes that feed one to two people.  When I cook, I have a tendency to make quiet a bit of food leaving us with some leftovers for a couple of days.  However, after our conversation I realized that he does have a point and that I should be more conscious about posting small batch recipes.  I will try my hardest to post as many recipes possible under a brand new category: Meals for Two.

With this said, remember that if you want to make this dish for more than 2-3 people all you have to do is double the ingredients.

One of my favorite khoreshts that I remember my grandma making is Khoreshteh Kadoo with Gooreh, unripe grapes.  To this day it is still one of my favorite khoreshts.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any gooreh, so I used Limoo Amani. Alternatively, you can also use lemon juice.

Ingredients

1/2 lb stewing meat, cubed

1 medium onion, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp turmeric

1  14.5 can of diced tomatoes

1 Persian Lime

1 tsp tomato paste

1 tsp advieh

2 medium zucchini

salt & pepper

koreshteh-kadoo2-custom

Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add turmeric give it a stir.

koreshteh-kadoo3-custom

Add meat and let brown on all sides.

koreshteh-kadoo4-custom

Crush Persian Lime and add to pot. Season with salt and pepper.

koreshteh-kadoo5-custom

Add can of  tomatoes.

koreshteh-kadoo6-custom

Add 1/2 cup of water to the empty can and pour water in the pot. Cover and bring the juices to a boil.

koreshteh-kadoo7-custom

Place tomato paste in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the juices and mix well. Pour the tomato paste in the pot. Cover and cook for 1 and half hour, until the meat is nice and tender.

koreshteh-kadoo8-custom

In the mean time cut the zucchini in three sections. Then cut length wise in three more sections.

koreshteh-kadoo9-custom

Here is a close up of the cut zucchini.

koreshteh-kadoo10-custom

Warm up a bit of vegetable oil in a skillet and lightly fry the zucchini.

koreshteh-kadoo11-custom

They don’t need to cook all the way through, they just need to get slightly golden. Fry in batches without crowding the pieces.

koreshteh-kadoo12-custom

Add advieh to the stew. Mix well. Adjust seasoning if needed.

koreshteh-kadoo13-custom

Place the fried zucchini on top. Gently pour some of the juices on top of the zucchini. Cook covered for 45 minutes to 1 hour longer on medium low.  Do not at any point stir the stew, just leave it alone as you don’t want the zucchini to fall apart while stirring.

If there is too much liquid cook with the lid slightly open for about half hour of the cooking process.

Serve over rice.