I did not update Tameshk In Kitchen for some time now; Laziness I guess.
Celery Stew Recipe:
Celery Stew is my favorite Persian stew and by far my mom is the ultimate creator of this most delicious and often underestimated Persian stew. This recipe is based on my mom tips, but this by no means is her Celery Stew, for the Magic of cooking does not pass easily to one’s children:
So here, I will give you my version of the stew, which is limited to my American kitchen. Like most Persian stews, Celery Stew is best to be served with rice. I personally like it with bread, but that is perhaps only me.
Farsi name for celery stew is Khoresh-t-e Karafs (Kho- Resht-e Ka- Ra- Fs)* and there are two kinds of celery stew: I categorize them by their colors: red celery stew and green celery stew. The red one has tomato paste with a little bit of mint and parsley. The green one doesn’t have tomato paste and it has a good amount of mint and parsley. By my own classification this is a Green Celery Stew.
Ingredients:
1½ lbs. Beef:
Lean boneless beef cut into average (1inch) stew cubes. My mom uses lamb if you want to go with lamb use 2 pounds of lamb. I rinse the meat before chopping.
1 Celery Bunch:
4-6 cups of chopped celery: chop it into even slices; don’t make it too thin. It is better to buy a celery bunch rather than loose celery stalks, and used the leaves. 
2 Onions:
average size, finely chopped
2 ½ cups Fresh Parsley:
washed and finely chopped; I sometimes use dried parsley (1 ½ cups)
½ cup Fresh Mint:
washed and finely chopped (just use the leaves). You can go with ¼ cup dried mint
¼ - 1/3 cup Lemon Juice:
Lime Juice is better but reduce it to ¼ cup. Add the lemon juice at the end of cooking about the last 10min. ( if you use Omani Lemons (dried lime) use only 2 tbsp lemon juice)
Canola Oil:
about 3 Tbsp
4 cups Water:
(about 4 cups)
Spices:
½ tsp Turmeric:
(ground turmeric)
Dash of Saffron:
Persian Saffron is preferred!
Salt & Black Pepper:
I go with about ¾ tsp of black pepper. It might be a little more than needed. I like the taste of black pepper; the distinguished taste of black pepper goes well with both celery stew and Ghormeh Sabzi.
2 Omani lemons:
It is actually dried limes. I use them as they are, round and dry; I just partially crack their skin by pressuring the two Omani lemons against one another in one hand.
Rice
You can have this stew with any kind of cooked rice: my Rice recipe is here.
Directions:
1- Heat the chopped celeries in a large pan with close lid. No water is needed. After they get juicy add about 1Tbsp oil to the pan and stir. Remove the lid. Add salt and let it be for about 5 min more. Then turn off the heat. (This process (half-cooking celery) will take about 10-15 min) I sometimes half cook my celeries with oil and slat and freeze it ahead of time and to use it later. Rather than let it cook with its own juice, many people fry the celery. I don’t. I like the vegetables to keep their original taste.
2- Heat the oil in an average pot. Fry or sauté the onions until the color changes to semi-golden. Add turmeric. Let it be for 30sec and then add the beef to the pot. After 3-5 min the beef will change its color. Wait for the beef to get a bit juicy then add 2 cups of water to the pot. When the water is boiling, reduce the heat (leave it on medium).
3- You can start cooking the rice at the same time as you are following number 2.
4- Add half cooked celery. Add the chopped parsley and mint. And add one more cup of water. Let it boil, No need for increasing the heat. Add black pepper here (no salt yet). Let it simmer on low heat for about 30min with closed lid. Please note that people often sauté mint and parsley. I don’t.
5- Add lemon juice and salt and Omani Lemons. Stir. Add water if need. Cover the pot let it come back to boil and serve it after 10mint.
Celery Stew; Khoresht-e Karafs!
Noshe Jan (نوش جان)!
Bon Appetit!
*PS. The T after Khoresh, in Khoresht-e Karafs (Kho- Resh- T – e Ka- Ra- Fs), my mother rightly mentioned that, is a common mistake to make the
pronunciation easier: the correct version would be Khoresh-e Karafs (Kho- Resh – e Ka- Ra- Fs).
