Saturday, January 30, 2010

North African Bean Stew



I tried a new recipe from Shelley Young's Cookbook today. The recipe was by Lisa El-Kerdi. It was pretty good - I'm counting on it being even better tomorrow. I've included a few photos of my project. Tomorrow I'm going to make the Moroccan Mint Salad that is supposed to go well with this stew.

This is a recipe you would make when you have lots of time. It took me a couple of hours. But now I have several meals prepared where I won't have to spend much time at all. I keep just enough in the fridge to last me for a few days, and I freeze the rest into serving sizes. But don't microwave this to heat it up - let it defrost in the fridge, then gently heat it on the stove.

North African Bean Stew

1 1/2 cups uncooked 7 bean and barley mix, soaked overnight, rinsed, and drained
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp cinnamon
4 cloves garlic
2 onions, quartered
4 carrots, cut into chunks
1 large or 2 small eggplant
Real Salt
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 or 3 yellow squash
2 or 3 zucchini
4 chopped tomatoes
1 tsp to 1 Tbsp Real Salt
Olive oil


DIRECTIONS:
Cover beans with 2 1/2 inches of water in large pot and add bay leaf and cinnamon. Bring to boil and skim off foam. Reduce to low heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.





Chop garlic, onions, carrots, and celery in food processor. Add to beans after 30 minutes cooking. Simmer until beans are cooked, 1-1 1/2 hour.





Cube and generously salt eggplant. Let sit 1/2 - 1 hour. Chop peppers. Rinse eggplant and squeeze out juices.




While eggplant is salting, saute spices in olive oil. Add to beans. Add eggplant and peppers. Simmer 1/2 hour.





Cut squashes in half lengthwise and slice. Add to stew. Simmer 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and salt to stew. Simmer 10 minutes. Adjust salt to taste. Ladle into deep bowls and top each serving with 1 Tbsp olive oil (or to taste)


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