Gondi is a Persian-Jewish Shabbat hors d’oeuvres that I love to enjoy as a hearty meal. With dumplings made from ground chicken and chickpea flour, this recipe from my mother holds a sweet spot in my heart. I hope you feel the love when you make it yourself.
🌟Why you’ll love this recipe
🧾Ingredients in this recipe
For this chickpea dumpling stew, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground chicken or dark meat turkey or beef
- 4 chicken legs
- 6 oz. chickpea flour
- 1 yellow onion grated
- 1 yellow onion peeled and quartered
- 1/4 cup flavorless oil like canola, avocado, or sunflower seed
- 1 tbsp matzo meal panko, or breadcrumbs
- 16 oz. canned chickpeas rinsed (optional: peeled)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp Cumin seed
- Salt and pepper
- Optional: fresh herbs for garnish
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
The Simple Chicken Broth
Bring 6 cups of water and the chicken legs to boil. As foam builds, skim the top with a slotted spoon. Foam doesn’t always build, but remove it if it does.
Immediately lower the broth to a simmer. If you boil it on high boil, the chicken with get tough. Add the cumin seed, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp turmeric, bay leaves, and quartered onion. Let the chicken simmer ~20 minutes. After 20 minutes discard the bay leaves, quartered onion, and any built-up foam like you see around the edges in the photo above.
Making Chickpea & Chicken Dumplings
Mix the ground poultry, grated onion, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup oil, matzo meal, ground cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt, pepper, and chickpea powder. Mix thoroughly without over-mixing. The mixture should be soft and elastic.
When the chicken broth is ready, remove the chicken from the pot. That way, there is plenty of room for the dumplings to cook. You will add the chicken legs back to the broth later. Bring the water back to a rolling boil.
Make golf ball size balls from the ground poultry mixture. Add to the boiling broth. At this point, you can freeze the dumplings on the baking sheet, and when frozen, transfer to a sealable container. Keeps in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Add the chickpeas to the broth. Bring to boil. Now, add the chicken legs back to the pot. Lower to a simmer and simmer 30-40 minutes.
How to Serve Gondi
Enjoy as a chickpea stew, served with basmati rice or as a chickpea soup without the rice. I sometimes garnish with fresh herbs to add a pop of color since it’s a bland-looking dish, despite all the packed flavor.
🫛 More Chickpea Recipes
If you love chickpeas as much as I do, you’ll love these other chickpea recipes:
🍲 More Persian Recipes
Check out all my Persian recipes here, and these are some of the blog favorites:
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Gondi
Print Recipe SaveIngredients
- 1 lb. ground chicken or dark meat turkey or beef
- 4 chicken legs
- 6 oz. chickpea flour
- 1 yellow onion grated
- 1 yellow onion peeled and quartered
- 1/4 cup flavorless oil like canola, avocado, or sunflower seed
- 1 tbsp matzo meal panko, or breadcrumbs
- 16 oz. canned chickpeas rinsed (optional: peeled)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp Cumin seed
- Salt and pepper
- fresh herbs for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Bring 6 cups of water and the chicken legs to boil. As foam builds, skim the top with a slotted spoon.
- Lower to simmer. Add the cumin seed, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp turmeric, bay leaves, and quartered onion. Let the chicken simmer ~20 minutes. After 20 minutes discard the bay leaves and quartered onion.
- In the meantime, mix the ground poultry, grated onion, 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup oil, matzo meal, ground cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric, salt, pepper, and chickpea powder. Mix thoroughly without over-mixing. The mixture should be soft and elastic.
- When the chicken broth is ready, remove the chicken from the pot. Bring the water back to a rolling boil.
- Make golf ball size balls from the ground poultry mixture. Add to the boiling broth.
- Add the chickpeas to the broth.
- Bring to boil. Add the chicken back to the pot. Lower to a simmer.
- Simmer 30-40 minutes.
- Garnish with your favorite herbs (optional). Noush-ie-jan!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in January of 2017, but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions, and tips October of 2019.
I’m a new cook, and living far from my Persian Jewish family. This was my first attempt at gondi. While I didn’t follow the recipe 100%, it was a fantastic guideline that resulted in what tasted like my family’s gondi. I was so pleased, I nearly cried. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
You are so welcome, Melody… this is music to my ears. I am glad it was what you were looking for!
This recipe is incredible.
It came out amazing and is so simple to make!
The only thing I changed was that I put in almond flour instead of the matzo meal so that it was GF.
Thank you!
Hi DK, thank you for sharing… it’s great to know it works well with almond flour, too! I often leave it out, but find that it does help with keeping them fluffy. Thanks again, and enjoy!
My Persian jewish friend says their grandma also puts cardamon in this dish too. Can you suggest how you might add that in?
Thanks!
You can add a pinch to the meat mixture. I’ve seen this done before, but my family doesn’t add it in. Enjoy!
Need advice please. My Gondi is very soft. I did 1lb of ground turkey to about 11/2 cups of chickpea flour plus onion and spices. Do I need more or less flour to make the valleys little harder? Thank you! My mother in law was the best Persian cook and unfortunately she has passed on.
Hi Cheryl… I suggest trying my recipe, but until then… your gondi needs less of the chickpea flour. If it is falling apart, it can also be because you did not fully squeeze out the liquid from the onion. Good luck and I hope this helps!
Dear Candice,
Thank you for being here and advising us.
This is the first time that I will try to make it with lamb, all advice is welcome.
BTW, We are small community here in Copenhagen, your all welcome to pass by or you have any question 🙂
Hi Dan,
It helps if you use ground meat that is twice-ground, meaning it is run through the grinder twice.
Welcome, and let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
Do you mean freezing after being formed uncooked or cooked? If uncooked, do you have to increase the time for cooking? I’ve made gondi before and it would be a real time saver to be able to freeze them uncooked.
I freeze them after being formed. I place them on a lined baking sheet then put the whole sheet in the freezer. Once they are frozen, you can transfer them to a freezer bag.
They usually need a little longer, but no more than 10 minutes more.
It’s a huge time saver… enjoy!
So they are frozen formed but uncooked (raw) – just want to be sure.
Hi Ruth! I am not sure I understand your question… You form them into balls out of the raw mixture. Then, if you plan to freeze them, you do so raw on a baking sheet. Hope this helps! If not, please clarify.
Do you mean “keeps in the freezer for three months”?
Thanks!
Yes, exactly.
Chickpeas were new to me. Your step by step instructions are perfect for an “emerging” cook. The pictures help also. Very tasty and fun to serve.
So glad you enjoy this recipe… And a great one to keep in the freezer so it’s ready to go!