Aabgoosht aka Dizi – Persian Lamb Beans and Potato Stew

A while back my Maman sent me these beautiful Dizi stone pots. I finally used them for the very first time to cook delicious Aabgoosht over charcoal on my BBQ. But don’t worry, if you don’t have a garden, a BBQ or Dizi pots. You can prepare Aabgoosht in a regular pan on your stove.

Aabgoosht is a traditional Persian potato bean and lamb stew. The name aabgoosht literally translates to ‘water meat’, perhaps because the original recipe, that’s hundreds of years old, consisted only of meat, legumes and water. This made it a nutritious, high in energy dish.

Nowadays Aabgoosht has more ingredients, making it more delicious but just as nutritious. Every region, if not every family, has their own recipe. It’s such a simple and flexible comfort food, ideal in these times that we can’t or shouldn’t leave the house to get specific ingredients. You can use whatever you have at hand!

If you prefer a vegetarian stew, leave out the meat. The legumes alone provide a great source of protein. Use any beans you have at home, dry or canned.

If you have special Dizi pots, you can add these ingredients to each of the pots to prepare one portion per pot.

If you cook your aabgoosht in a regular pan, multiply the ingredients by the number of servings you plan on making and transfer them all to the pan.

Ingredients (per portion)

80g / 2.8oz lamb shoulder, shanks or ribs (you could also use beef)

1/4 onion (approx. 30g)

1 heaped tbsp chickpeas (canned or dried)

1 heaped tbsp beans (canned or dried) (I used navy beans but you could use any beans you have)

1 dried lime (optional)

1 garlic clove

1/2 medium size potato (40g)

1/2 tomato (40g)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp turmeric

Black pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Bread to serve

Method of cooking Aabgoosht

If you’re using dried chickpeas and beans, soak them in water, starting the night before. Change the water a couple of times, for example before you go to bed and first thing in the morning.

Cut the meat into large cubes. If you’re using ribs, leave the meat on the bones. The bones will give the stew extra flavour. Also the fattier the meat, the better. In Iran people use dombeh (lamb tail) because of its high fat content.

In a regular pan

Multiply the ingredients by the number of portions you want to prepare. Transfer all the ingredients to the pan and add just enough water to cover them.

Bring the stew to boil, then let it simmer over low to medium temperature for about 3 hours. Make sure to check, if more water needs to be added once in a while.

In Dizi pots

Transfer the ingredients to the Dizi pots (one portion each, or more, depending on the size of your pots). Add water until the ingredients are just covered.

In the oven: Place the pots on a tray and put it in a preheated oven at 160 degrees C / 325 degrees F / Gas mark 3 for 3 to 3.5 hours. Make sure to check, if more water needs to be added after half the cooking time.

On the BBQ: Fire up the charcoal and once it has turned white, place the pots in between the charcoal or on top of the BBQ grate. Especially in the beginning the temperature will be high and so I recommend placing the pots on the grate. Once the temperature lowers, you can put them in between the charcoal.

Let the aabgoosht simmer gently for about 3 hours. Make sure to add more charcoal as needed and check, if more water needs to be added once in a while.

Serve the aabgoosht

Once the meat is nice and tender, serve the aabgoosht. Traditionally the broth is served first, together with bread, that is torn into pieces and dropped in it to soak up all the delicious flavours.

Then the meat, beans and potatoes are served separately and mashed to be eaten on its own or on bread.

You can serve your aabgoosht with fresh herbs, pickled and/or red onions. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! If you have any questions please let me know in the comments, I’m always happy to help. 

I’d love to see your Aabgoosht! Feel free to tag me with @igotitfrommymaman on Facebook or Insta so I can take a look and give you a thumbs up!

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Looking for more recipes? Here are my other Persian classics!

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