Gheymeh

In a medium or large pot, saute the onions until tender and then add the cut up pieces of meat. Note: you can use more that .5 lbs of meat, but I typically use small amounts of Khoreshte Gheymeh meat. Stir the meat and onions, then add turmeric, salt, and pepper. After a few minutes of stirring everything and allowing the meat to cook a little add 1 1/2 to 2 cups water. At this time you can add the dried lime and/or the powder, the tomato paste, and some lemon juice. Cover the pot and leave it on medium heat. In a frying pan add a bit of oil and put it on medium – low heat. Wash the split peas and then drain the water. Add the split peas to the pan and saute them a bit. If you skip this step and add the split peas to the stew before they are slightly sauteed in oil they will become mashed up and not hold their form. Once you have cooked them for about 5-10 minutes, pour them into the pot and stir in with the rest of the stew. Take the temperature of the pot down to a medium-low heat after about 15 – 20 minutes (after you add the split peas). I also added some liquid saffron to the stew at this time. Now you will need to chop up the potato french fry style to prepare it and set aside. I did this and placed them in a bowl and rinsed them then soaked them in water. I added salt to this water as well. This way the color of the potatoes wouldn’t change and I could fry them when my stew is almost done. Once you fry the potatoes you can set them aside until 5 minutes prior to taking the stew off the stove. If you throw the fries in too early they will make the stew watery. I usually set some of the fries aside to decorate on top of the stew once I have poured it into a serving bowl. Note: instead of fries you can buy the shoe string potatoes at the grocery store and use those. The amount of ingredients listed above is enough to feed 4-6 people (possibly more). Edit