Sabzi means greens, and in this qorma the greens are the sauce. The spinach is chopped fine and cooked down slowly under a lid until it has collapsed into something dark and dense. The lamb is cooked separately with onion, garlic and a long red chilli until tender, then folded into the spinach with a cup of its broth and a handful of coriander and garlic chives fried in oil, and the two simmer together for a final quarter of an hour. It is eaten with plain white rice and a spoonful of yoghurt, and it is the dish Afghan families serve at Nowruz, the spring new year. This version cooks the lamb in a pressure cooker; a heavy pot and an hour on the hob do the same job.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 250 ml sunflower oil (divided)
- 1 large onion (finely diced)
- 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 1 long red chilli (thinly sliced)
- 1 kg boneless lamb leg (in chunks)
- 750 ml water (for the lamb)
- 2 tbsp salt (for the lamb)
- 1 kg bunched spinach (roots and stalks removed)
- 125 ml boiling water (for the spinach)
- 80 g fresh coriander (finely chopped)
- 60 g garlic chives (finely chopped)
- salt (to taste)
- plain white rice (to serve)
- plain yoghurt (to serve)
METHOD
- Heat half the oil in a pressure cooker over a high heat and fry the onion, garlic and chilli for about 5 minutes, until golden.
- Add the lamb and sear until browned. Add the 750ml water and 2 tbsp salt, close the lid and bring up to high pressure.
- Turn the heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, then take off the heat and let the pressure drop naturally.
- Meanwhile, chop the spinach finely and put it in a large pan with the boiling water. Cover and cook over a medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until all the liquid has gone.
- Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the coriander and garlic chives for about 5 minutes.
- Add the lamb, 250ml of its cooking liquid and the fried herbs to the spinach. Stir, and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes. Season with salt.
- Serve with plain rice and a spoonful of yoghurt.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Garlic chives from Wing Yip, See Woo or most Chinese grocers; in Afghanistan the same role is played by gandana, which Afghan grocers in Southall, Hounslow and Ilford sometimes stock. Large bunched spinach from South Asian or Turkish grocers is cheaper and better here than bagged baby leaf. Lamb leg or shoulder from any butcher. No pressure cooker: add 500ml more water and simmer the lamb, covered, for about an hour, until roughly half the liquid remains. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Garlic chives from H-Mart or any Asian grocer. Bunched mature spinach, not baby leaf. Boneless lamb leg from Whole Foods or a halal butcher. No pressure cooker: add 2 cups more water and simmer covered for about an hour. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Cook the spinach until all its water has gone before the lamb goes in. Wet spinach thins the broth and the qorma never thickens.
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