My obsession with Persian food continues. This is my version of a ‘khoresht’, a slow cooked lamb dish with wonderful dried limes, to me they are the real flavour of Iranian cooking. Their strong , slightly bitter, citrusy aroma is so unique!
There are quite a lot of ingredients, but please do nor despair, it is not a complicated dish.

• for 4-6 people
• soak 200 gr yellow, split peas over night
• ( I used Moong Dhall a smaller pea and soaked it for 4 hours only, for lack of time)
• 1 1/2 kg lamb shoulder, get the butcher to cut it into 5 cm pieces, leaving the bones in
•  2 medium Spanish onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 140 gr tomato concentrate
• 6 dried limes ( you find them in middle eastern stores)
• 400 gr baby beans cut into 2 cm peices

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 heaped teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole pepper corns

• crush the coriander and pepper corns in a mortar

• in a large pan add some butter and olive oil and gently fry the onion and garlic
• now add all the spices, and let them gently cook for a few minutes

• add the lamb, turn the heat up and brown it on all sides

• now add about 400 ml water
• scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, to release any sticking bits
• add the tomato concentrate, mix
• put the lid on the pan and cook over low heat about 40 minutes

• pierce the dried limes with a fork, all over and add them to the stew

• now put the yellow split peas in
• cover with the lid and let it all gently cook for an other 50 minutes, stirring from time to time
• squash the limes against the sides of the pan to release all their juices
• add the beans and cook for another 10 minutes, they should still be a little crunchy
• taste for salt

• I served the khoresht with boiled white rice
• you can prepare the khoresht in the morning if you like and then just heat it up
• may be add the beans only when you heat it up, I like them a little crunchy as a contrast!