Beans & Meat Stew with Rice (“Fasoulya w Riz”)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of dried beans
- 1/3 cup of olive oil
- 1 large thinly chopped onion (or 2 medium-sized)
- 6 thinly cut cloves of garlic
- 500g of beef meat chunks
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cloves
- 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon of salt (or more depending on final taste)
- 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper (or more depending on final taste)
- 1 tablespoon of Lebanese 7-spice mixture (grated nutmeg, ground coriander, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground black pepper, ground cinnamon, ground cloves)
- 4 cups of hot water
- 5 tablespoons of “Terroirs du Liban” tomato paste
Preparation
- Rinse then soak beans in triple their volume of water overnight (or for about 6 hours before cooking them).
- In large pot: heat olive oil on medium temperature, then add chopped onion and diced garlic, stir for 10 minutes.
- Raise temperature then add meat chunks, stir every 2 minutes until all pieces are brown (about 6 to 8 minutes).
- Add spices over meat (ground cinnamon, ground pepper, salt, 7 spices mix and cinnamon sticks).
- Add 4 cups of hot water and let boil for 2 minutes on high heat then lower heat and close lid; cook for at least 2 hours.
- After an hour has passed, start cooking the beans in parallel: rinse them again from their water and place them in medium-sized pot with triple their volume of water and a little salt.
- Bring beans to a boil then close lid and cook for 60 to 80 minutes on low heat (while checking on them regularly until cooked, once they are well cooked they smash easily between fingers).
- Once the meat has cooked long enough, remove the cinnamon sticks and the cloves, then add the cooked beans and their water over the meat (do not throw away any of the liquids).
- Add over them the tomato paste and let simmer for 20 more minutes on medium heat.
- Meanwhile, prepare some rice to serve along the bean meal.
- Note: 7-spice mixture is not mandatory but it is essential to the meal taste; if removed, we can compensate with more ground cinnamon, black pepper and salt depending on final taste. Sold in Mediterranean shops, it tastes great with meat stews.