Feb 20, 2012
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Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill)

Eggs cooked with dill-scented lima beans is a comforting northern Iranian specialty. This recipe first appeared in our March 2012 issue, with Anissa Helou's story The Land of Bread and Spice.
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Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill) Enlarge Image Credit: Ali Farboud
SERVES 4

Ingredients

6 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ tsp. ground turmeric
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups finely chopped dill
1 cup dried lima beans, soaked overnight, drained
¼ tsp. crushed saffron
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 eggs
Saffron threads, to garnish

Instructions

Heat butter in a 12″ skillet over medium heat. Add turmeric and garlic; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add 3 cups dill and the beans; cook until dill is slightly wilted, about 2 minutes. Add crushed saffron and 5 cups water; boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until beans are tender, about 1½ hours. Season with salt and pepper; stir in remaining dill. Using a spoon, form 4 shallow wells in bean mixture; crack an egg into each well. Cook until eggs are cooked over-easy, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle with saffron before serving.
Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill)

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #145

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Ratings & Reviews (5)

The recipe sounds tasty, but I will not be making it because it requires 4 cups of chopped fresh dill. Wow! The grocery stores sell dinky little packages of fresh dill (for 3 or 4+ dollars each), and when you chop it up you can get a few tablespoons out of it. 4 cups of chopped fresh dill would run over $60, for the dill alone. Might as well buy the live Maine lobster instead; it would be cheaper than this recipe!
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That is a lot of dill! I'll hang on to this recipe until dill becomes available in our local farmers markets. The recipe sounds delicious!
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This is a gardeners recipe and dill is basically a weed. Too much fresh dill for the average house. A reasonable substitute could be anise bulbs (the base of the plant) available in super-markets (on the west coast - not sure about the rest of the country). More subtle but easier to get & won't dissolve during the cooking, and just use dill as the garnish. Another approach might be to use a dill tea to soak the beans, cook with the sliced anise bulbs & garnish with some more fresh dill before serving. Love lima beans (another west coast product)since childhood , but recipes that are interesting are few. Lentils could also work. Sounds great & can't wait to give it a try.
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Maybe I'm weird, but this was not too much dill and the dill did not break down. I found fresh dill at Whole Foods and even though it used half the bunch, I never have a use for ALL the dill.

Very flavorful and perfect over brown turmeric rice.
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Loved this recipe. I used three cups of dill and it took a little bit more time to get the beans tender, but this is a fabulous dish with tons of flavor. I'll be making it again...and again!
http://www.sparrowsandspatulas.blogspot.com/2012/03/baghali-ghatogh-lima-beans-with-eggs.html
Baghali Ghatogh (Lima Beans with Eggs and Dill) 5 5 2 5

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