Gondi

Chickpea flour binds it instead of bread or rice, and cardamom is the only spice in it.

Chicken, Veal, Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, chicken stock, lamb, veal.

Ingredients

• 500 g minced chicken, or minced lamb or veal
• 250 g chickpea flour
• 2 onions, coarsely grated
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1.5 litres chicken stock
• 1 onion, quartered, for the stock
• 2 dried limes, pierced, optional
• flatbread, mint, watercress and basil, to serve

Method

1. CHICKPEA FLOUR BINDS IT INSTEAD OF BREAD OR RICE, AND CARDAMOM IS THE ONLY SPICE IN IT. Its article gives the whole list: ground meat, chickpea flour -- which it notes may be made from toasted chickpeas -- shredded onion, ground cardamom and salt. That is five things, and both halves of the mark follow from it. Chickpea flour behaves quite unlike a breadcrumb binder: it absorbs water and sets firm, so the dumplings come out dense and smooth rather than light and crumbly. And cardamom alone, at two full teaspoons, is a startling amount of one spice and is what the dish tastes of.
2. THE MIXTURE IS RESTED BEFORE IT IS ROLLED. Half an hour, covered, in the fridge. Chickpea flour needs time to take up the moisture from the meat and the onion; rolled straight away the balls are tacky and they fall apart in the pot.
3. THE BALLS ARE ROLLED WET-HANDED AND THEY ARE BIG. Wet your palms with cold water and roll them to the size of a plum -- large enough to stay dense in the middle, which is the texture wanted.
4. THEY ARE POACHED IN CHICKEN SOUP AND SERVED IN IT. Its article has them served as part of chicken soup. Lower them into barely simmering stock and give them forty-five minutes. A rolling boil knocks them against each other and they break up.
5. THE STOCK MUST NOT BOIL AND THE POT IS NOT CROWDED. They swell. Leave a ball's width between them and cook in two batches if the pan is small.
6. DRIED LIME IS AN OPTION ITS ARTICLE MENTIONS. Pierced twice and added to the stock, which gives the broth the sour note that runs through most of these pages.
7. THE RECIPE VARIES FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE AND ITS ARTICLE EXPLAINS WHY: the dish passes between families by example rather than in writing, so the spicing and the choice of meat differ considerably between households. Lamb, veal and chicken are all named, and the cardamom is the one thing that does not move.
8. IT IS A SHABBAT DISH AND IT IS EATEN WITH BREAD AND RAW GREENS. Its article has it on the table for Friday evening and other holidays, sometimes as a side dish or a first course, with Middle Eastern bread and raw mint, watercress and basil alongside.

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