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Torshe tareh
Torshe tareh (ترشه تره): Gilan's sour herb stew with black-eyed beans and eggs
Torshe tareh is one of the dishes that marks Gilan's cooking as different from the rest of Iran: a dark, sour, garlicky stew of finely chopped greens, cooked down with rice flour and soured with bitter orange juice or dried sour plums, then finished with eggs. It is made in the Rasht area all year round and eaten with kateh rice, often alongside salted fish for those who eat it; this version is vegetarian with black-eyed beans for body. The common mistake is undercooking the herbs, which leaves the stew grassy instead of deep and savoury. Chef's tip: fry the chopped herbs until they turn almost black-green and stop smelling raw before any liquid goes in.
- Total time
- 65 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
To serve
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Fresh ingredients (7)
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat the 5 tbsp sunflower oil in a wide pot over a medium heat. Fry the 1 onion for 8 minutes until golden, add the 6 cloves garlic and 1 tsp ground turmeric and stir for 1 minute.
9 minStep 2: Add the 14 oz mixed herbs: parsley, coriander, mint, dill, spring onion greens and 5 ½ oz spinach and fry, stirring often, for 15 minutes until they have shrunk right down, turned very dark green and smell cooked rather than grassy.
15 minStep 3: Sprinkle over the 2 tbsp rice flour and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in the 2 cups water a little at a time so no lumps form, then add the 8 ½ oz black-eyed beans, cooked, 1 ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper.
3 minStep 4: Simmer gently for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the stew is thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir in the ½ cup bitter orange juice, or half lemon juice and half orange juice juice and simmer 3 minutes more; taste and add more juice if it is not clearly sour.
18 minStep 5: Crack the 4 eggs onto the surface, cover and cook over a low heat for 5–7 minutes, until the whites are set and the yolks still soft. Serve with 4 portions cooked kateh rice.
7 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 360 kcal
- Protein
- 17 g
- Carbs
- 26 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fibre
- 8 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does torshe tareh take?
- About 65 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 45 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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