Dopiaza

The onions go in twice, boiled into the sauce and then fried on top.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

• 600 g lamb, in 2 cm dice, or minced
• 4 onions, 2 chopped and 2 sliced
• 400 g potatoes, in 2 cm dice
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 80 ml sunflower oil

Method

1. THE ONIONS GO IN TWICE, BOILED INTO THE SAUCE AND THEN FRIED ON TOP. Two onions is what the word means, and its article explains that the name describes the two ways the onion is used rather than a quantity: boiled in the gravy, and raw or fried as a garnish. So the first two are chopped and cooked down until they have dissolved and become the body of the sauce, and the other two are sliced, fried separately until deep brown and crisp, and put on at the end. One onion done one way gives you a perfectly reasonable lamb and potato stew that is not this dish.
2. THE SECOND LOT MUST BE FRIED DARK AND STAY CRISP. Sliced thin, in oil over a medium heat for twenty minutes until properly brown, then drained on paper. Added soft or pale they just merge into the sauce and the distinction the dish is built on disappears.
3. THE IRANIAN VERSION HAS POTATOES IN IT. Its article is specific about what distinguishes it: in Iran, dopiazeh can be made with cubed or ground lamb or chicken, potatoes, and plenty of sliced onions. The potato is the clearest difference from the versions of this dish made elsewhere, and it goes in for the last thirty-five minutes.
4. THE MEAT CAN BE DICED OR MINCED. Its article allows both, and they behave differently: diced stays as pieces and wants an hour; minced breaks up into the onion and makes a thicker, rougher dish in forty minutes.
5. THE FIRST ONIONS ARE COOKED PAST GOLDEN. Chopped, in oil over a medium-low heat for twenty-five minutes until they have collapsed and gone sweet and jammy, then the turmeric for thirty seconds, then the meat.
6. IT IS A DRY-ISH DISH, NOT A SOUP. Water barely to cover, lid on for most of the cooking, then the lid off at the end to reduce until the sauce clings to the meat and potato.
7. THERE IS NO TOMATO AND NO SOURING AGENT IN IT. Unlike almost every other meat dish on these pages, nothing sour goes in: no dried lime, no verjuice, no pomegranate. The sweetness of a great deal of onion is the flavour, and acid would cut across it.
8. PLENTY OF BLACK PEPPER. With no souring agent and only turmeric besides, pepper is the only sharp thing in the pot and a full teaspoon is not too much.

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.

Filed under Iran · All recipes