Baghali Ghatogh

The eggs are cracked in whole at the end and there is no meat in it at all.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter).

Ingredients

• 400 g borlotti beans, soaked overnight, or 500 g podded fresh
• 100 g dill, chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, sliced
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 60 ml sunflower oil
• Kateh, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THE EGGS ARE CRACKED IN WHOLE AT THE END AND THERE IS NO MEAT IN IT AT ALL. Its article makes a point of the second part: by definition this is a khoresh, a stew, and although stews in this tradition normally contain meat, this one is vegetarian. And the eggs are the protein instead -- cracked straight onto the surface of the finished beans, four of them spaced apart, the lid put back, and five to seven minutes on a low heat until the whites are set and the yolks still soft. Beaten in, you get a scrambled mess bound through the beans; left whole, each person gets an egg sitting on the stew.
2. THE BEANS ARE THE DISH AND THE RIGHT ONE IS A BORLOTTI. Its article names pach-baqala, a local bean it compares to Italian borlotti, and says that outside Gilan the dish is made with other large or flat beans -- lima, kidney or fava -- depending on what is available. So borlotti is the closest match and the substitutions are sanctioned rather than invented.
3. THE GARLIC IS SLICED AND THERE IS A LOT OF IT. Eight cloves, sliced rather than crushed, fried gently in the oil until just colouring before the beans go in. With four ingredients and no meat, garlic is a main flavour here and not a background one.
4. THE DILL IS A HUNDRED GRAMS AND IT GOES IN TWICE. Half with the beans so it dissolves into the sauce, half in the last five minutes so there is still some fresh. Dill, garlic, turmeric and beans is the whole flavour of the dish.
5. THE BEANS ARE SOAKED AND THEN SIMMERED UNTIL CREAMY. Twelve hours in cold water, drained, then simmered in fresh water for an hour and a quarter until they are soft enough to crush against the roof of your mouth. Underdone beans leave the dish watery because nothing else in it will thicken.
6. IT SHOULD BE THICK BEFORE THE EGGS GO IN. Crush a ladle of the beans against the side of the pan and stir them back in. The eggs need a surface to sit on; in a thin liquid they sink and poach out of sight.
7. TURMERIC IS THE ONLY SPICE. A teaspoon and a half, fried with the garlic. No advieh, no cinnamon, no saffron.
8. IT IS EATEN WITH STICKY RICE. Its article pairs it with kateh, the undrained Caspian rice, as on its own page, and that is the right partner: a loose bean stew with a soft egg wants a rice that holds together under it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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