It's hard to think of a vegetable more overlooked and underrated than celery. I'm reminded of this whenever the weather cools and I have the urge to make khoresht-e karafs. In Farsi, the name means, simply, "celery stew.”

"There is so much brightness and aroma to be found in celery's elegant stalks,” Yasmin Khan wrote in her newest cookbook, "Sabzi,” a collection focused on vegetable-forward cooking. As a longtime fan of Khan's work, I was excited to see her pull from her Iranian and Pakistani heritage for many of the dishes in "Sabzi.”

I loved how she suggests coconut oil as a finishing element for her mung dal. In July, when it was too hot to cook, I made her cooling yogurt and cucumber soup, a popular and beautiful summertime dish from northern Iran. Her eggplant and barberry kuku, another Iranian dish, combines the meatiness of eggplant and tartness of dried barberries. Like most of Khan's recipes, it's full of pleasure and brightness, but it's neither ostentatious nor laborious.

While flipping through the main-course chapter, I was immediately drawn to her variation of khoresht-e karafs. The Persian celery stew, dense with aromatics and herbs, typically features chunks of beef or lamb. Here, Khan omits the meat in favor of cranberry (also called borlotti or Roman) beans. It's a fantastic, inspired swap.

"My mom would make this quite often,” Khan told me. "Mainly because, out of all the Persian stews, it's relatively quick to make. It doesn't take hours.” Indeed, many of Iran's most famous stews take most of the day to cook. Though they're worth the effort, they're not something most of us have time for during the week. Stewing celery, unlikely as it may sound, results in a deeply satisfying dinner in less than an hour.

"I love the texture the celery has when it's cooked. It cooks down, but it retains some bite and also becomes really silky,” Khan said, noting that, when she was developing recipes for her new book, she wanted to preserve that textural element.

I've made Khan's recipe with the specified cranberry beans, but also with chickpeas, as well as pinto, navy, cannellini and kidney beans. They all work wonderfully, but the cranberry beans keep their shape quite well as the stew simmers, and their flavor - nutty, slightly sweet - is a fine match for celery's verdant savoriness. This may surprise Iranian readers, but I've come to believe that Khan's bean-based karafs is better than the original.

It's not only easier and somewhat quicker - the recipe calls for canned beans, so you only need to simmer it until the celery is soft and silky - but it's also somehow just as rich. This is probably due to the finishing elements that Khan's recipe prescribes: olive oil and lime juice. "My Persian and Pakistani heritage taught me that vegetable dishes that incorporate pulses benefit from a little extra fat,” Khan said. "So I like to add a touch of butter or oil at the end. You don't have to be shy with adding fat to beans and pulses. The olive oil here doesn't cook out or get absorbed by the other ingredients. It keeps its vibrancy.”

The most labor-intensive part of this recipe is chopping all of the herbs. It's two fairly big bunches, one mint and one parsley, and I wouldn't skimp on either. Khan says you can use a food processor if you prefer, but if you don't mind chopping, just put on a good album and set aside an extra few minutes to get it done. You'll be rewarded with a pot that's deep golden green with a flavor both refreshing and grounding.

This recipe makes enough to serve six people, and although you can freeze the leftovers, Khan suggests they'd be good the next day over a roasted potato or thinned with more broth into a soup. I pureed mine into a dip, which was just right with pita chips - especially with an extra drizzle of olive oil on top.

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Khoresht-e Karafs (Persian Celery Stew)

Traditionally, this Persian celery stew contains lamb or beef, but this vegetarian variation features borlotti (cranberry) beans. Celery, typically overlooked among vegetables, shines in this dish, lending it satisfying heft and surprising, aromatic brightness. The most time-consuming step of this recipe, adapted from Yasmin Khan's cookbook "Sabzi,” is chopping the fresh parsley and mint. The rest of the dish comes together quite easily and, as with most stews, tastes even better the next day. To optimize your time, cut the onion and start cooking it while you prep the other ingredients.

4-6 servings

Total time: 1 hour

Storage note: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Ingredients

-3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

-1 medium yellow onion (8 ounces), diced

-1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

-4 garlic cloves, minced

-1 teaspoon ground turmeric

-1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

-1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper, plus more as needed

-Leaves and tender stems from 1 large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley (3 1/2 ounces total), finely chopped

-Leaves from 1 bunch fresh mint (2 ounces), finely chopped

-1 medium bunch celery (about 10 ribs/14 to 16 ounces), sliced at an angle into 3/4-inch or bite-size pieces

-Two (14-to-15-ounce) cans borlotti (cranberry) beans, drained and rinsed

-2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

-1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 to 2 limes), plus more as needed

-Cooked basmati rice, for serving

Directions

In a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the onion and a big pinch of salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and starts to caramelize, 18 to 20 minutes. Add the garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin and white pepper, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, followed by the parsley, mint and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the herbs release most of their moisture and the bottom of the pot appears dry, about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans, broth and the 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a steady simmer. Cover and cook until the celery is very soft but holds its shape, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the olive oil and lime juice, and simmer for another 1 to 2 minutes. Taste, and season with additional salt, pepper and lime juice, if desired. Serve family-style, with rice on the side.

Substitutions: White pepper >> 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Fresh mint >> 2 tablespoons dried mint. Borlotti beans >> cannellini, navy or kidney beans, chickpeas or lentils. Canned beans >> 3 cups home-cooked beans (see related recipe). Lime juice >> lemon juice.

Nutritional information per serving (1 1/3 cups) | 274 Calories: 29g Carbohydrates, 0mg Cholesterol, 14g Fat, 12g Fiber, 9g Protein, 2g Saturated Fat, 742mg Sodium, 3g Sugar

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian's or nutritionist's advice.

Adapted from "Sabzi” by Yasmin Khan (W.W. Norton, 2025).

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