Dilled Lima Beans

Baghali Ghatogh, Dilled Lima Beans

MATTHEW0 COMMENTSFROM THE LUNCH BOX, RECIPES

Mar 07

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Served Steaming Hot on the Stoop 

My first brush with Saveur‘s Iranian dinner recipes came with my trial ballon of Baghali Ghatogh, lima beans with dill and eggs. I found myself hewing to the beans and dill, and eschewing the eggs entirely. I cannot say whether this was a bit of brilliance, or a non-issue. For my liking, it did feel it needed a little something, but two of my friends raved about these beans. E and Frankie were dazzled by the earthy, dilly delight. Others who gathered on the stoop were less than impressed.

I will add simply that when we ate them with the larger meal which I’ll be posting throughout this week, the beans really complemented the dining experience.

Finely Chopped Dill, You Use the Entire Bunch!

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It’s a fairly easy recipe too. The trick was to soak the beans. I do have a habit of not cooking beans immediately. Sometimes I’ll soak beans for days, as I did this time. I just refresh the water every morning. In this instance, I didn’t have lima beans, so I just used the speckled butter beans I had in the cupboard from Amish county, Lancaster, PA.

The result was a great texture from a recipe that used the entire dill bunch that I’d purchased for the occasion. What recipe calls for an entire bunch of dill??! I was thrilled not to waste most of the herbs, leaving them for dead in the ‘fridge after cooking with only a tablespoon full or two.

Baghali Ghatogh

Ingredients

6 T unsalted butter

1/2 t ground tumeric

4 cloves garlic

4 c finely chopped dill

1 c dried lima beans, soaked overnight

1/4 t crushed saffron

fresh ground salt and pepper

4 eggs

Saffron threads to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat butter in a 12″ skillet over medium heat.
2. Add tumeric and garlic, cook until fragrant
3. Add 3c of the dill and all beans. Cook until the dill is slightly wilted.
4. Add the crushed saffron and 5 c water
5. Simmer, covered until the beans are tender (at least 90 minutes)
6. After 90 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste, stir in remaining dill.
7. Using a spoon, form four shallow wells in the beans, crack an egg into each well. Cook until eggs are over-easy. (3 minutes)
8. Garnish and serve

Cooking Tips:

• Prepare this up to step 6 a day or two ahead of your big Persian dinner.  The beans gain flavor over the days they sit in your ‘fridge or on your stovetop. The day you are ready, prepare this dish about 30 minutes before dinner by bringing pot to a rolling boil again, then reduce to a simmer and add in the dill and eggs.
• Also prepare a side of yoghourt sauce for this dish:

1-2 c of Greek Yoghourt

1-2 6″ Persian cucumber(s) grated finely,

1T dried mint from the Halal butcher shop.

Ground salt and fresh ground pepper

Combine and place into a serving dish for dollops with the beans.

- See more at: http://www.alunchboxblog.com/baghali-ghatogh-dilled-lima-beans/?preview=true&preview_id=2481&preview_nonce=6563307b22#sthash.ADvVm1ls.dpuf