When I think of rhubarb, I think of spring, red, tart and pie and cobbler. Most of the recipes you find for rhubarb are for lovely sweet things – desserts mostly, with a few jams and chutneys thrown in for variety. Rhubarb is the first thing to emerge from the garden’s long winter’s sleep. I like to use new rhubarb as much as possible for two reasons – the more you pick rhubarb, the more it produces (with a little compost dressing on the side) and that early rhubarb is tenderer than mid season tougher stalks.
Last year I was talking to my mom about rhubarb and she mentioned that she grew up eating a rhubarb stew. Rhubarb in a savory stew was something I had never heard of. Doing some research, I see that there are lots of variations of the savory rhubarb stew from the Middle East region, some are very simple – meat and onions – stewed with rhubarb added at the last minute. My mom’s version is a bit more complex. Most Persian stews rest on a base of seasoned meat that you can adapt to your pickier eaters. Once that stew base is created, you can add variations of herbs, vegetables and legumes to create several different tasty stews.
The stew base requires a bit of time – you can’t start a khoreshte at 5 pm and expect it on the table at 6 pm. I remember coming home from school to a house filled with the smell of stewing beef and realizing that dinner that night would be a khoreshte. If you are a more organized person than myself, you can make the stew base ahead of the time, freeze it and take it out to thaw in the morning and then add the other ingredients and let it simmer until ready to serve.
Like most stews, this will taste better the next day, but don't over cook the rhubarb - you want to see the pieces not a mush.
Basic Khoreshte base (iteration number one)
Serves 6 Americans or 3 Iranians
1.5 lbs of stewing meat – chuck or top sirloin, trimmed of most of the fat and cut into 1” cubes
2 onions - sliced
2 T butter
4 c water
5 T olive oil
2 T tomato paste
Salt and pepper to season
1 t turmeric
The rhubarb part
4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1" sections. If rhubarb is big - slice stalks in half and then cut into 1" sections.
1/2 cup fresh mint chopped
1 cup fresh parsely chopped
1 T lemon juice
Salt to taste
Heat butter and 2 T olive oil to frying pan at medium heat. Add meat and begin browning the cubes turning to make sure all sides have been sealed , this should take about 7 to 10 minutes. Make sure you don't crowd the meat in the pan. Remove from heat and set aside. In the remaining olive oil, saute the onions on medium heat until soft. Remove from heat. In a heavy pot - I use a le creuset small dutch oven, place seared beef and onions. Cover with water. Add tomato paste and tumeric and cook for one hour on low heat until meat is cooked and the flavors have blended. Season with salt and pepper. There should be about 1.5 cups of stewing juices remaining in the pot. Turn off pot for now.
In a medium sized saute pan, heat the remaining 1 T of olive oil. Add mint and parsely and saute for five minutes, until crisped, but not browned.
Turn stew pot on to low heat, add mint and parsely and stir until blended. Let simmer for ten minutes to marry flavors. Add rhubarb and let cook for another ten to fifteen minutes, until rhubarb is tender,but doesn't fall apart.
Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice. Season with a little more salt and pepper.
Serve with over hot polo - steamed rice.