Loubia - Moroccan stewed white beans
These simple stewed white beans have lots of comforting yet bright flavors. Great as a meal in itself or as a side.
Servings: 2 or more as side
Calories: 487kcal
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Ingredients
- ½ lb dried cannellini beans or other small white beans eg Navy/haricot
- water to soak beans, as needed
- ½ onion medium
- 1 tomato
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ tablespoon tomato paste UK: tomato puree
- 1 ½ tablespoon chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt (less if stock is salty)
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups vegetable stock or water
- ½ tablespoon cilantro coriander, chopped, to garnish
Instructions
The night before
- Soak the beans in plenty of cold water overnight, topping up the water if needed if the beans are no longer covered with water.
The day of cooking
- Drain the beans and grate the onion and tomato (keep separate). To grate the onion, I find it easiest to peel back the skin but leave attached at stem to have something to hold, and for the tomato, cut in half and grate the inside, then discard skin (both shown in video). Crush or finely grate the garlic and chop the parsley.
- Warm the oil in a Dutch oven or other heavy-based pot over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook a couple minutes to soften. Add the garlic, stir through a minute, then add the tomato and cook a few more minutes to soften.
- Add the dry beans, tomato paste, parsley and dry spices (cumin, paprika, salt and ginger) and mix through then add the stock. Cover and turn up the heat a little if needed to bring through to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to keep the mixture at a steady simmer.
- Cook the mixture for around 1 ¼ hours, or a little more or less as needed, until the beans are cooked through and tender, without being completely broken up. Check the liquid now and then as it cooks and top up if it is reducing too much - the beans should stay covered with liquid as they cook. Once done, the sauce should have reduced a little so the beans are peaking through - it will still be a bit liquid but not watery (it will reduce a bit more on serving). Check and adjust seasoning, if needed, Serve warm, topped with the cilantro.
Video
Notes
½ lb dried beans is around 1 ¼ cups. If you are rushing and want to use canned beans, use about 1 ½ cans, drained, to pair with the other quantities. Then follow the same steps to make the dish but they only need around ½ hour to cook, and I'd suggest with the lid part-off to help the liquid reduce a little quicker.
Nutrition
Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 1601mg | Potassium: 2316mg | Fiber: 19g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1602IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 302mg | Iron: 13mg