What Should You Do to Add Oil (Grease) to Ghormeh Sabzi?

According to the Family Service of Saed News, to cook a delicious Ghormeh Sabzi that releases oil, you should follow these tips:

Chopping the herbs
Unlike soups and kuku (Persian omelets) where herbs don’t need to be finely chopped, for Ghormeh Sabzi stew, the herbs must be chopped very finely. Coarsely chopped herbs, even after long cooking, won’t cook properly, and as a result, your stew won’t release oil. If you use a herb chopper, chop the herbs twice. If you use a knife, do this patiently and carefully. Be sure to use a sharp knife because the herbs need to be chopped, not mashed.

Frying the herbs
Frying the herbs is one of the key tips that helps Ghormeh Sabzi release oil. The longer you sauté the stew herbs, the darker and oilier your stew will be in the end. However, this can reduce the herbs’ nutrients, so it’s better not to overdo it.

Making Ghormeh Sabzi release oil using ice
If after cooking your stew doesn’t look well-set or oily enough, add a few small ice cubes to the stew. This helps the stew release oil and appear perfectly cooked.

Adding liquid oil
Another way to make Ghormeh Sabzi release oil, which is also the easiest, is to add some oil during cooking and let all the ingredients slowly fry in the oil.

Avoid adding too much water
No matter how much you like watery stews, you can’t expect Ghormeh Sabzi to be both very watery and well-cooked with oil released. The best approach is to add enough water from the beginning so you don’t have to add more later during cooking.

At the end of cooking, when you are sure your stew is ready and the herbs and meat are cooked but there is still too much water, you can increase the heat and remove the lid to let the water evaporate until the stew thickens and becomes glossy.