You need to soak every kind of bean for several hours to make them more digestible and tender while it is cooked. So, the night before making Ghormeh Sabzi, place the beans in a water-filled bowl to soak for 6 to 24 hours. To make them more digestible and easier to cook, change their water with cold fresh water every couple of hours. You can use either red kidney beans or pinto beans for this stew; the kidney beans give this stew a colorful look, while some believe pinto beans make it tastier.
Peel and wash the onion and dice it into small pieces. Then pour some vegetable oil into a pan and place it on medium heat. Be careful not to add olive oil since it carries a flavor that can affect the taste of the stew. Once the oil is hot enough, add the chopped onion and let it become translucent and start to take a little bit of color.
When the onions get transparent, add the turmeric and black pepper to the pan. Sauté them for a while until it releases their aroma and gives a golden hue to the onion.
Cut the meat with a sharp knife into medium size chunks. Depending on how you like the meat to show in the stew, you can cut them into 4 to 6 centimeters chunks, but be careful not to cut them into too small or too large pieces since they will reduce in size while simmering, and they need to be cooked all through. The next thing to notice is to use meat that has some fat in it; this will give this stew a nice look and taste.
Add the meat to the onion and sauté them for 10 to 15 minutes until it changes color. Stir and shake them once a minute to resettle every piece of meat to sauté on all sides. The meat will release some liquid while sauteing and absorb it back again.
Drain the beans in a colander and add them to the meat. Sauté the beans for one or two minutes, and then pour three cups of hot water into the pot. Stir the stew and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer the stew for an hour. You can add a couple of teaspoons of brewed saffron to the stew. This stew has a dark green color, so by adding the saffron, you only enhance the flavor.
Wash and rinse the herbs to clean any dust. Drain the excess water and chop the herbs finely. The smaller you chop, the easier they cook. The critical thing about herbs is their proportion. The fenugreek gives a pleasant aroma to this stew, but you should not be extravagant with it since this will ruin the taste of Ghormeh Sabzi. The best is about 10 percent of fenugreek, and other herbs can be used in equal amounts.
Put a pan on medium heat and add three to four tablespoons of vegetable oil to sauté herbs. Once the oil is hot, add the herbs and sauté them until their color turns dark green. The longer you sauté your vegetables, the darker green your Ghormeh Sabzi will be. Stir them frequently to prevent them from burning.
After an hour of simmering of stew, add the sautéed herbs to the pot and give it a stir. Then poke the dried lime with a sharp knife or a fork to let the broth penetrate and add it to the pot. This will give a tart taste to the stew. You can also cut them in half and remove their seeds since they will give the stew a bitter taste.
Now add the salt and fresh lemon juice (or verjuice) to the pot. If the stew is drying and the liquid goes down, you can add one or two cups of boiling water. Then put the lid on and let it simmer for another hour.
Taste the salt, pepper, or lemon juice in the last 15 minutes of cooking and adjust it according to your taste. Your stew is ready when most of the water evaporates, and you see oil accumulating on the stew. You can let it simmer to reach a thicker consistency. Prepare some Persian rice and serve it with the stew. You can prepare this stew one day earlier, and the taste will be much better. So, if you like to prepare some for your party, you do not have to rush on the day. Enjoy your meal!