Ghormeh nesar, Qazvin royal lamb rice
A festive dish from Qazvin: finely chopped lamb, saffron-infused rice molded into a crown, cranberries, almonds, pistachios, and candied orange zest, for …
Ghormeh nesar is a specialty dish from Qazvin, traditionally served at weddings. It consists of a lamb stew with almonds, presented in the center of a saffron-infused rice crown, decorated with berries, pistachios, and candied oranges.
Ingredients and directions
- Prep time40 min
- Cook time2 hr
- Resting2 hr
- Total4 hr 40 min
- DifficultyHard
- CostBudget
- Cooking methodnibbling
- Estimated cost$16.49 $2.06 / serving Estimated price; varies by store. Converted from euros at the ECB rate of October 15, 2026.
Ingredients
- $10.08
- $3.49
- $0.01
- $0.74
- $0.16
- $0.05
- $0.14
- $0.23
- $0.92
- $0.06
- $0.53
- $0.08
Prices from US supermarkets for 9 of 12 ingredients; Belgian prices for the rest.
Directions
- Soak the rice beforehand, then cook it using the steaming method.
- Cut the lamb into small pieces and brown it with the fried onions, tomato paste, black pepper, turmeric, and a little oil. ≈ 8 min
- Pour the with 480 ml of water and let simmer for about 1 hour. Then add half of the pre-soaked almonds and continue cooking until the meat is very tender.
- Sauté the remaining soaked almonds in a little butter.
- Soak the pistachios in rosewater, then sauté them in a little butter.
- Rinse and soak the cranberries, then sauté them in a little butter, sprinkle with sugar, and remove from the heat.
- Mix a portion of the cooked rice with the saffron to prepare the saffron-infused rice. ≈ 4 min
- Spoon the hot rice into a ring mold (a mold for making jelly), so that it takes its shape. ≈ 3 min
- Then, place it on a serving dish. ≈ 2 min
- Pour servir, pour each portion, place the lamb and almond ragout in the center of the plate. Garnish with saffron-infused rice ribbons, berries, pistachios, almonds, and candied orange zest. Sprinkle with the spice mixture and serve immediately. ≈ 2 min
The bill
Ghormeh nesar, Qazvin royal lamb rice
- 500 g of lamb (leg of lamb)$10.08
- 1.2 kg of rice$3.49
- 1 tablespoon of sugar$0.01
- 2 tablespoons of fried onions$0.74
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste$0.16
- 1 tablespoon of candied orange zest$0.05
- 1 tablespoon of slivered almonds$0.14
- 1 tablespoon of chopped pistachios$0.23
- 100 g of butter$0.92
- salt$0.06
- pepper$0.53
- turmeric$0.08
Total$16.49
that's $2.06 per person
Estimated price; varies by store.
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