Khoresh Rivas - Rhubarb Stew with Meat

Ingredients

400 grams (14 ounces) fresh rhubarb, chopped into 2.5cm (1″) pieces
500 grams (1.1 lb) lamb or beef, chopped into bite-size cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 large handful parsley, roughly chopped
1 small handful mint, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 tablespoons white sugar (or to taste)
500 ml (2 cups) water (could also use half-strength chicken stock)

Directions

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil on medium-high heat and fry the onions for 5 minute or so until softened. Add in the turmeric, mix well, then add in the meat and mix again.
Turn the heat to high, add in 1 tablespoon of sugar, stir well and fry for another 2 minutes or so.
Add in your water or stock, stir, and bring to the boil. Turn the heat all the way down, cover, and simmer for 1 hour until your meat is cooked but still firm (because we’ll still have another 30 minute or so of cooking to do with it.)
Then, add in the parsley, mint, and cover again to simmer for 15 minutes.
Then, heat the olive oil in a frypan and fry the rhubarb for 1 minute, ensuring that all sides of it are sautéed.
Add the rhubarb into the stew, cover, and simmer on low for a final 10 minutes or until the pieces are tender.
Add the final tablespoon of sugar if the stew is too tart, then serve.

My Notes

I doubled this recipe, but used minced chicken, full-strength mushroom stock, and a small handful of dried shiitake mushrooms. I also used brown sugar instead of white.
I’m not sure what was accomplished by sautéeing the rhubarb, except dirtying a frying pan. 😉 Perhaps I should have let the rhubarb darken a bit more for some Maillard reaction action?
This turned out really nice, I’ll definitely want to try it with beef or lamb when we have it in the house next.
Until then, we’ve frozen the extra for another time. 🙂

Just after adding the rhubarb: