Khoresh-Karafs (Ghermez)
Chicken stew with celery and tomatoes
Servings: 4 (to 6)
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 8 skinless chicken thighs on the bone
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
- 1 red chilli (minced - optional)
- 1 medium leek (medium sliced)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 3 tbsp tomato purée
- 650 ml water
- 1 bay leaf
- Juice of 1 lemon or lime
- 1/8 tsp ground saffron (bloomed in 2 tbsp of water)
- 1 head celery (chopped in 2 inch chunks)
- 5 small / medium tomatoes (halved)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Chopped fresh parsley (to garnish)
Instructions
- Place a shallow casserole pan or equivalent on a medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil. Seal the chicken thighs on both sides, remove from the pan and leave to one side until ready to use.
- Add 2 tbsp oil to the pan and add onions. Cook until the onion turns golden. Then add garlic and chilli and stir in until evenly distributed.
- Add leek to the pan and and cook until softened. Add turmeric and stir. Follow with tomato purée and stir in until evenly distributed. Then add water, bay leaf, lemon juice, saffron water and stir.
- Add chopped celery. Then evenly arrange the chicken thighs in the pan so that they are just submerged in the liquid of the stew. Place the tomato halves evenly in the stew.
- Bring stew to a boil and then lower the heat to allow to simmer with a lid on the pan for about an hour or until the chicken is practically falling off the bone. If the stew is too watery, allow to simmer further without the lid on to thicken the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley before serving. Serve with saffron Kateh.