Persian Chicken Soup with Chickpea and Lamb Meatballs (Abgusht-e morgh ba kufteh-ye nokhodchi)

This wonderful recipe, adapted from Najmieh Batmanglij’s Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies, has an interesting provenance. “It’s a traditional dish popular among the Jews of Kashan and Hamadan, who usually serve it for Sabbath dinner,” Batmanglij wrote in her headnote. When I interviewed her in November 2020, she told me that Professor Abbas Amanat, the historian who shared his mother’s recipe with her, teaches history at Yale University. (Read our story about this soup.)

The soup is quite a production, but it’s a lot of fun to make, and the results are absolutely transporting — not to mention spectacularly delicious.

You’ll need a large piece of cheesecloth. You’ll also need dried rose petals, which are available in some well-stocked Middle Eastern or Iranian markets, or you can buy them online. Products labeled “Rose buds” often are in fact mostly petals with some buds mixed in (it’s easy to pluck out the buds). That’s the case with Sadaf brand (the ones in my pantry), for instance.

Those rose petals are part of the stuffing for the chicken, and they’re an important part of the garnish. Traditionally that garnish — which also includes fresh parsley or mint and garlic — is stirred into to the whole pot, which is set on the table for everyone to help themselves. But the garnish is absolutely gorgeous, and we like to pass it separately, letting each person garnish their individual bowl. Batmanji suggests serving the soup with saffron-flavored rice, Iranian pickles and sabzi kordan — the traditional Persian platter of herbs. We skipped the rice, as there was so much saffron in the soup, but loved having the herbs from the sabzi kordan to nibble or add into the soup.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Ingredients

For the broth

1 large onion, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground saffron, dissolved in 2 tablespoons rosewater

1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, drained and rinsed, or 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained

Chicken

Whole chicken, about 3 pounds, skin removed

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon dried rose petals

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 cup rice

Meatballs

1/2 pound ground lamb

1 onion, peeled and grated

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup chickpea powder

1 egg, lightly beaten

Garnish

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or mint

1 clove garlic, peeled and grated

1 tablespoon dried rose petals

Instructions

1. To make the broth: Pour 9 cups of water into a large soup pot with the onion, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, saffron rosewater and dried chickpeas (if using dried). Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer while you stuff the chicken.

2. To stuff the chicken, first wash it and pat it dry. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, rose petals, cardamom and rice, and stuff the chicken with the mixture. Bundle the whole chicken in a large piece of cheesecloth and tie it shut. Gently submerge the chicken into the simmering broth, cover, raise the heat to high until the broth returns to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.

3. Remove the chicken from the broth, place it in a shallow bowl and untie the cheesecloth. Remove the stuffing from the cavity to a small bowl and set it aside. Remove the chicken meat from the bones, setting aside the meat and discarding the bones.

4. Make the meatballs: In a wide mixing bowl, combine the lamb, onion, salt, pepper, turmeric, cardamom, baking powder, chickpea powder and egg. Use two forks to mix it together for a few minutes, until you have a soft paste (do not overmix). With moist hands, shape the paste into walnut-sized balls and gently add them to the broth. Bring the broth back to a boil, add canned chickpeas (if using), reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Return the deboned chicken to the pot, stir in the reserved stuffing and the chick peas (if using canned), cover and simmer another 30 minutes.

6. While the soup and meatballs are simmering, make the garnish: Combine the cilantro or mint, garlic and rose petals in a small bowl. Serve the soup with the garnish passed around for adding to individual bowls.