Middle East

Khoresh Gheymeh: Iranian Lamb and Yellow Split Pea Stew with Dried Lime

Name: Khoresh Gheymeh: Iranian Lamb and Yellow Split Pea Stew with Dried Lime
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Iranian
Ingredients: 900 g Lamb; 240 ml Yellow split peas; 1 large Onion; 2–3 tbsp Tomato paste; 4–5 Dried limes; 1/2 tsp Turmeric; a pinch Ground cinnamon; 1 tsp Rose water; to taste Salt and pepper; 4 tbsp Vegetable oil; as needed Water; 2 large Potatoes; as needed Frying oil

Iranian home cooking: khoresh gheymeh with lamb or beef, yellow split peas, tomato paste, dried lime and turmeric. Why the tomato paste is fried first, preparing dried lime, keeping the peas from breaking down, serving with fried potatoes on top, and its background as a dish shared during Muharram.

Published: October 25, 2026Total: 2 hr 20 minLevel: Easy

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 6

Soak the dried limes and fry the tomato paste

5 min

Frying tomato paste in a small pot and turning off the heat when the color has deepened a little — Fry the tomato paste until the color has deepened just slightly

Soak the dried limes in hot water for 5 minutes, take them out and pierce in several places with a fork. Put 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a small pot over medium heat and add the tomato paste. Stir well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, and when it has blended in, the color has deepened just slightly and the sourness has cooked off, turn off the heat.

STEP 22 / 6

Cook the onion and turmeric, and brown the meat

15 min

Searing the onion, colored yellow with turmeric, and the lamb in the pot — Add the turmeric to the onion, then brown the lamb all over

Put 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a large pot, heat over medium heat and cook the onion. When the onion is translucent, add the turmeric and cook for about 1 minute. Add the lamb and sear until the color has changed all over and it has taken a light brown. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon.

STEP 33 / 6

Add the split peas and tomato paste

5 min

Adding tomato paste to the lamb and yellow split peas and stirring — Stir until the red color coats the meat and peas evenly

Add the rinsed split peas and, over medium heat, stir together for about 5 minutes, until oil has coated the surface of the peas and their aroma rises. Add the fried tomato paste and stir until the red color coats the meat and peas evenly.

STEP 44 / 6

Add water and dried limes and simmer

1 1/2–2 hours

Lamb, split peas and dried limes simmering in red sauce in a covered pot — Cover and simmer over low heat until the lamb is tender

Pour in water to cover the ingredients by 2.5 to 5 cm, add the dried limes and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to low, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the lamb is tender. Stir from the bottom from time to time, and if the liquid has reduced and the ingredients are showing, add water. At the end, taste and adjust with salt and pepper. It is done when the peas are tender enough to crush with a finger while keeping their shape, and the sauce has a pleasant thickness. If using rose water, add it 10 minutes before the stew is done.

STEP 55 / 6

Fry the potatoes

15 min

Frying thinly sliced potatoes golden in 170°C oil — Fry the potatoes until golden, and drain the oil

While the stew simmers, peel the potatoes and slice them about 3 mm thick, soak in water and then dry them well. Heat the frying oil to 170°C and fry the potatoes in several batches until golden brown. Lift out onto a rack to drain and sprinkle lightly with salt.

STEP 66 / 6

Serve and top with the potatoes

3 min

Gheymeh in a large bowl, piled generously with fried potatoes — Top with the fried potatoes just before eating

Put the gheymeh, cooked until the lamb is meltingly tender, into a large bowl and pile the fried potatoes generously on top. Topping with the potatoes just before eating keeps a crisp texture.

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Ingredients

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Stew

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Lamb	900 g	Small cubes. Beef also works
Yellow split peas	240 ml	Pick over and rinse
Onion	1 large	Finely chopped
Tomato paste	2–3 tbsp
Dried limes	4–5	Soak in hot water for 5 minutes, then pierce with a fork
Turmeric	1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon	a pinch
Rose water	1 tsp	Optional
Salt and pepper	to taste
Vegetable oil	4 tbsp	1 tbsp for the tomato paste, 3 tbsp for the onion
Water	as needed	Enough to cover the ingredients by 2.5–5 cm

2 / 2

Potatoes for the topping

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Potatoes	2 large	Peeled and thinly sliced
Frying oil	as needed

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Beside fluffy white rice, a generous serving of reddish-brown stew. In the thick sauce are tender lamb and small yellow peas. On top, a heap of crisp fried potatoes. Put a spoon in, and the sweet, sour, slightly bitter fragrance of dried lime wafts up. Khoresh gheymeh is a stew of meat and peas that Iranian households have loved for a long time.

The dish that is handed out during Muharram

On an Iranian street corner in Muharram, people being handed gheymeh from a large pot

Khoresh is the Persian word for a stew. There are countless Iranian stews eaten over rice, and gheymeh is among the most familiar. Azita Mehran, an Iranian food blogger, writes on her blog Turmeric & Saffron that gheymeh is one of her five favorite khoresh, and says that making it makes her feel at home no matter how many years she has been away from her country.

According to the blog of the Iranian travel company Visit Our Iran, gheymeh is also deeply tied to religious observance. In Muharram, the Islamic month of mourning for Imam Hussein, stalls appear on the streets and sweet drinks, tea and food are given out for free. This custom of sharing food is called nazri, and the dish named as its representative is gheymeh, a stew of lamb and split peas served with rice.

What defines the flavor of gheymeh is dried lime. It is a whole lime that has been dried, called limoo amani in Persian as well. As it simmers, sourness and a distinctive bitterness leach out from within, sharply tightening the sweetness of the tomato and the fat of the lamb.

Did you know

Mehran writes that she serves gheymeh in a large bowl topped with fried potatoes, together with basmati rice, yogurt with cucumber (mast-o-khiar), a tomato and cucumber salad (salad shirazi) and pickles (torshi).

Ingredients (serves 4)

Ingredients for khoresh gheymeh: cubed lamb, yellow split peas, onion, tomato paste, dried limes, turmeric, cinnamon and potatoes

The ingredients follow the Turmeric & Saffron recipe (4 to 6 servings). Pounds and cups have been converted to grams and ml.

Yellow split peas are dried peas that have been hulled and split in half, and are available at import food stores and online. Dried limes are sold at Middle Eastern food shops. Pierce the dried limes before simmering, and the cooking liquid gets all the way in, making the sourness come out more easily.

Tip

Mehran writes that the ideal is for the peas to turn tender while keeping their shape, and if you are worried, to parboil the peas in a separate pot and add them in the last 30 to 40 minutes of the simmer.

How to make khoresh gheymeh

Prep takes about 20 minutes, and the simmer takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The potatoes are fried while the stew simmers.

Caution

When frying the potatoes, dry them well before they go into the oil. Any moisture left makes the oil spatter. Do not take your eyes off the frying oil, and dispose of used oil only after it has cooled.

Tip

Frying the tomato paste first in a separate pot takes out the raw sourness and gives the color and flavor of the stew more depth. The guide is to stop before it scorches, when the color has deepened just a little.

Over basmati rice

An Iranian table set with khoresh gheymeh, basmati rice, a small dish of yogurt and a salad — To the table with basmati rice, yogurt and salad

Gheymeh is eaten with white basmati rice. It is delicious to spread the rice on a plate, spoon the stew over, and eat while breaking up the fried potatoes. The sweetness of the peas that have soaked up the savor of the lamb, the sourness of the dried lime, and the saltiness and crispness of the potatoes mingle with each bite. Adding yogurt and salad gives a refreshing palate cleanser.

If you want to know more Iranian stews, try the green ghormeh sabzi (in Japanese), cooked down from plenty of fried herbs, or the sweet-sour fesenjan of pomegranate and walnut. Add tahdig (in Japanese), the crisp base of the rice pot, and you have an Iranian family table.

Frequently asked questions

Leftover gheymeh in a storage container, with the fried potatoes kept separate

Can I make it with beef?

Yes. The Turmeric & Saffron recipe also says to use either lamb or beef. With beef, the guide for the time to simmer until tender is the same.

The split peas fall apart.

How peas cook differs by pea. If you are worried about them breaking down, parboil the peas in a separate pot until they just hold their shape, and add them in the last 30 to 40 minutes of the simmer.

Can the dried lime be eaten?

Dried lime is there to pass sourness and aroma into the sauce. After simmering you may remove it without eating it.

What should I do with leftovers?

Cool the stew and refrigerate, and eat it soon. When reheating, heat it thoroughly in a pot until it bubbles. Keep the fried potatoes separate from the stew and top it with them when eating, and the texture stays.

Sources

Azita Mehran, “Khoresh Gheymeh: A Traditional Iranian Dish with Meat and Yellow Split Peas,” Turmeric & Saffron, 4 March 2010. Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://turmericsaffron.blogspot.com/2010/03/khoresh-ghaymeh-traditional-iranian.html
Mitra Gholami, “Muharram and Ashura-Tasu'a Rituals in Iran,” Visit Our Iran, published 18 September 2019 (updated 8 May 2024). Accessed and checked 22 October 2026. https://visitouriran.com/blog/ashura-and-muharram-rituals-in-iran