Holy Week Foods - Loubieh Bi Zeit

I wanted to do a series on Holy Week Foods so I asked the Internet what did Jesus eat. The results were a bunch of 'Jesus diets' - think not. I asked my mother what do people eat on Holy Week and that got me somewhere. Here's the first of a five-day Holy Week Foods series and recipes - Loubieh Bi Zeit (Green Beans in Oil).

Simple, easy, healthy, vegan.

All you need are the beans and four ingredients: Onions, garlic, tomatoes and olive oil.

The green beans typically used for this dish in Lebanon are wider and flatter than the green beans I am finding in Vancouver (imagine a longer snap pea but slightly thicker skin).

Anyways, green beans are green beans so I am making this with the green beans that I could find.

The other thing is the flatter beans are tougher to cook, so they are typically boiled first for this dish.

In today's case, I decided to experiment with adding the green beans raw and see what happens.

Okay, now for the recipe.

Slice the onions and the garlic into big slices.

Heat a generous amount of olive oil and fry the onions and garlic until start to change colour.

Now add the green beans (pre-cooked or raw), snapped in half.

Top with slices of tomatoes, sprinkle with more olive oil, a pinch of salt. Cover and let it simmer slowly on low heat.

In about 30 - 40 minutes (shorter if beans are precooked), you'd find the beans looking well cooked and the tomatoes wilted and mixing with the beans.

Pour into a serving plate and let cool.

Thoroughly enjoyed with huge loafs of Markouk bread baked in Lebanon only 3 days ago.