Peel and thinly slice onions, then fry in oil until slightly golden. Wash and cut meat into small pieces and fry in onions until color changes. Add 3 glasses of hot water and bring to boil. Turn heat down and let boil slowly for about 45 minutes, adding more hot water during cooking if needed.
Wash okras and cut their stems only but do not cut the bases. Add okras, salt, pepper and tomato paste to the meat and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Take care not to overcook the okras so that they do not become slippery.
Add lime juice and adjust seasoning. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. Khoresht Bamieh should be served with white rice.
If desired, potatoes can also be added to Khoresht Bamieh. In that case, 500 grams of potatoes should be washed, peeled and cut into small pieces, and added in with 500 grams of okras (or slightly earlier; required cooking time depends somewhat on the size of the cut pieces).
Roxana & Farzin Mokhtarian
Jan 2004