Spinach, Lamb, Dried Lime and Pigeon Pea Stew
Spinach, Lamb, Dried Lime & Pigeon Pea Stew - packed with so much Iron you will be flying off the walls! This is a recipe my grandmother absolutely adores. She learnt it in Zanzibar from her Iranian in-laws and of course in true fashion made their adaptions to work with what they have. It’s a take on Persian Ghormeh Sabzi but with adaption of using Spinach in addition to coriander and pigeon peas instead of kidney beans. Much of our family recipes are all adaptions of heritage but with so many different variations due to what was on the island.
Dried limes really make this dish amazing so if you leave it to steep for a day the flavour will intensify and be 10 times better than the first day! So make sure to have leftovers and enjoy.
Cooking notes:
Make sure your lamb pieces are cut into small 2inch pieces.
You can work with frozen spinach. The bags of spinach I use are roughly 500g each.
This needs time to stew - you won’t get the taste of the dried limes if you don’t do this!
Ingredients:
4 Bags Fresh Spinach (500g each)
1/2kg Lamb pieces (no bones)
1 Tin Pigeon Peas or Gungo Peas
Bunch of Coriander (Chopped finely)
1 Onion (Chopped into thin slices)
5 Dried Limes (Pierced)
Salt
1 TBSP Garlic Puree
1 TBSP. Baharat
Neutral Oil (100ml)
2 Green Chillies
In a saucepan combine the onions, baharat, salt, chillies, garlic, spinach, coriander and oil. Fry till spinach has wilted. And then Bibi (my grandmother) says you need to keep frying till the spinach releases an aroma - it takes at least 10-15 minutes a while so make sure you have some oil on hand incase it dries up.
Add in your dried limes and lamb and fry off briefly.
Follow in with the water till the lamb is covered (take into account it’s quite a watery stew).
Leave it to boil for 45mins-1hour then add in peas and cook for a further 25minutes. Again the longer you leave this the more time the dried lime has to work it’s magic!
We serve this up with some fresh white rice and a yoghurt based salad.
Enjoy!