Lebanese Beans

Are peas beans? I am not going to pretend to be an expert on this, so I don't know

Nor do I care if they are beans or not. Fresh peas are a delicious juicy appetizer before the next beans meal

As for the main meal, it is my favourite Lebanese Stew ever - yakhneh assasa

Fresh small beans emptied of their shells by hand then turned into a stew with meat and tomatoe sauce and eaten over rice - with the taste perfected with a squeeze of fresh lemons and home made pickles

I am counting on leftovers... yum

   

My Favourite Meals - Yakhneh Fasoulia Arida

These are broad beans (Fasoulia Arida). I wrote about those earlier (Read Fasoulia Arida). 

The ones I made were from dried beans. 

Those ones are fresh and in season in Lebanon.

They are green, soft and way tastier than the dry ones.

Cooked as a stew with tomatoes, meat and tomato sauce; it is one of my favourite meals.

Eaten along rice with vermicelli.

I personally like squeezing lemon juice on top and eating it with home made pickles and/or olives.

I very much enjoyed this meal and looking forward to leftovers.

 

Wacky Yakhneh

There are a whole series of blog articles on Lebanese Stews  or Yakhneh. Basically, Yakheh is a one vegetable with one kind of meat cooked in a sauce and eaten over rice.

Yakhneh connaisseurs will see the picture above and think I am making a Yakhneh Loubieh (Green Beans) and Yakhneh Bamieh (Okra).

When you see the meat, those Yakhneh connaisseurs will guess that the lamb will go with the Okra and the chicken with the green beans.

But it is Wacky Thursday. So let's mix things up. Why not mix the vegetables and have a chicken tomato stew with a melange of okra and green beans.

And a lemony meat stew with the same vegetables melange.

Time for a taste test. 

The green beans with the lemon sauce and lamb worked okay, but definitely lemon sauce belongs to Okra.

On the other hand, the tomato and chicken worked exceptionally well with the melange and made for a fancy wacky rich Yakhneh.

Wonder what happens if I keep the vegetable solo and mix the meats next time? Or the sauces??

For full recipes of all stews, click on Lebanese Stews Recipes.

Shishbarak

Those of you who read yesterday's article - A Worldly Evening - would have came across Shishbarak.

The name sounds Turkish to me, but both my mother and some Turkish reader will sure correct me tomorrow. 

Either way, it is a delicious dish and happy to share the recipe with you.

Traditionally, Lebanese women will spend hours making dough and rolling it into those shell-like balls, stuffed with meat.

I, unfortunately, don't have the skill or the time to do this. Instead, I bought ready-made meat perogies.

But rather than boiling them, I roasted them in a 475 oven until they turned brown.

The way to eat this with the balls over rice and covered with cooked yogurt.

Preparing the yogurt is the toughest part of making Shishbarak. So I had to resort to an extremely valuable recipe from my mom - "cooking yogurt".

First, you soak 0.5 cup Italian rice in water.

You then mix a large yogurt container (750 g) with 1 Tbsp corn starch. Pass through a colander into a pot. Add the equivalent of the yogurt container in water. 

Turn the heat on medium and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Once boiled, add the soaked rice (with no water). Stir until the yogurt starts making tiny bubbles.

The secret ingredient for flavour, though, is "Alleyeh" (click HERE for recipe).

Simply, "Alleyeh" is a pre-prepared crushed garlic and chopped cilantro fried lightly in olive oil.

Add a generous amount of this to the yogurt, bring to a boil again and it is ready to eat.

Shishbarak is best eaten warm, not boiling hot.

Again, just pour those crunchy balls on top of rice, cover with the yogurt mix and enjoy.

And it is addictive, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, eating the leftovers cold!

Lebanese Stews Series - Yakhneh Sélék (Chard)

10 stews in Lebanese Stews Series for now - click here for the full series and make some on those cool (rather cold) spring nights.

And the power of Alleyeh, a key ingredient in Lebanese stews, can cure any ailment you may have.

Mom reminded me of this recipe when she saw those beautiful chard growing in le jardin from last September stock. 

I kept them growing and invaded the jardin tonight - you need a lot of chard for this stew.

Ideally, you should not feel you are eating leaves in this stew - all should melt to close to paste.

As such, the chard needs to be chopped fine (less an inch wide chopping).

You start by frying some pine nuts and putting those aside.

The meat of choice for this stew is ground beef. I used some pre-made patties and separated them into small chunks.

You then add the meat to the pot, followed by the chard.

Add juice of two lemons, a bit of salt and all spice (or pepper), a couple Tbsp of water, a heaping Tbsp of Alleyeh and the pine nuts.



Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes and enjoy over rice.

Sheikh El Mehshi by Mom

I blogged Sheikh El Mehshi in my first 15 days blogging (read Sheikh El Mehshi).

Almost two years later, mom showed me that I have done it all wrong. So for my sake and the sake of those readers who like this kind of food, the real recipe follows.

But before we go further, if you are into meats and vegetables with rice, check out the Lebanese Stews Series recipes - there is one for every bean or vegetable imaginable (or almost).

This stew is best made with what I call Lebanese zucchinis - light-coloured zucchinis you find in spring/summer at Chinese, Iranian or Indian markets. I bought mine at 910 Supermarket (4355 Main Street).


Step 1: Cut the zucchinis lengthwise into 3 slices - half boil and lay into a baking dish. Sprinkle with fried pine nuts.

Step 2: Mix one can of tomato paste with 2 cups of water until it is a sauce and add to the zucchinis.

Step 3: Top with some cooked ground beef (for recipe of ground beef cooking, read The Art of Ground Beef).

Step 4: Bake in a 400 degrees oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens. 

Step 5: Like any Lebanese stew, serve over rice and enjoy.

Lebanese Stews Series - Fasoulia Aarida (Large White Beans)

Fasoulia Aarida means literally wide beans and in Lebanon we love our beans' stews (see Fasoulia, Assasa & Loubieh stews entries).

The premise of this stew is identical to all Lebanese stews - see details at Lebanese Stews kick off entry.

You start with cooked large white beans.

You can use stewing beef or cooked chicken with this one. I personally prefer this stew with cooked chicken. 

You then add tomato sauce (for increased flavour, you can add 1/2 cup chicken broth as well).

Add the Alleyeh and simmer for 30 minutes.

In previous Lebanese Stews Series entries, I talked about how some go well with plain rice while others go better with rice prepared with vermicelli. This one is definitely a rice plus vermicelli kind of stew (and remember to use long grain rice, not Basmati rice).

Now I have to call my mom to remind me of an eighth Lebanese stew to feature.

Click on Lebanese Stews Series under label to the right hand side and see other Lebanese stews recipes.

Lebanese Stews Series - Bazella (Peas)

Yes, in Lebanon you can make a full meal out of peas in the form of Pea Stew (Yakhnet Bazella). And what is better than such fall nights to make one.

The recipe for this followed any other Lebanese Stew Recipe (see formula at Lebanese Stews Series). In this case, the meat used was sliced roasto (see Mom's Roasto), the sauce was lemon and water, and the flavour enhanced with "Alleyeh" (see recipe).

This stew is eaten over plain rice. If you are a pea fan (or have jardin peas frozen like the above), try it out - simple, healthy and warming.

 

Lebanese Stews Series - Assasa (Beans)

Those of you who read my latest Lebanese Stews Series - Fasoulia are wondering why I am featuring what resembles the same stew all over again.

Well, in Lebanon, not all beans are the same. Fasoulia is regular beans, Loubieh refers to green beans and Assasa are fresh beans that are red and white on both the outside and inside.

This is the first time I find them in Canada, thanks to the latest trip to East Hastings (see Roaming Hastings Sunrise). And now I have the seeds, they are going to be all over le jardin next year.

The recipe is identical to the Fasoulia recipe, except that those beans are fresh and cook faster.

Note how they lose their markings when cooked. 

The stew follows the same recipes in any of the Lebanese Stews Series - cook the meat on low heat with no oil, season with salt/pepper, add the beans, tomatoe sauce, and "Alleyeh".  

A perfect meal for this fall evening.  

Lebanese Stew Series - Fasoulia (Beans)

First Loubieh (green beans) stew was blogged, then Bamieh (okra) and today is Fasoulia (beans) - by far my favourite Lebanese stew.

The picture above shows three key parts of this stew: (a) the stewing beef cooking in their own fat on low heat; (b) the beans boiling away until cooked; and (c) the lovely new arctic mint counters as picture border.

Once the meat and beans are cooked, mix together, add a large can of tomato sauce, salt, pepper and Alleyeh (see Lebanese Stew Series for recipe), cook for 20 minutes and it is ready to eat.

As mentioned in previous entries in the series, Lebanese stews are served with one of two types of rice: plain white long grain rice (not Basmati rice) or white long grain rice with vermicelli. Fasoulia stew is definitely a vermicelli rice stew. A sprinkle of lemon juice goes very nicely with this stew. Try it and enjoy.