White Beans with Meat and Rice (Fasoulya)

This stew is a traditional Lebanese dish. When my youngest brother went to a boarding school in Lebanon for a few years, they used to serve it to the students with white beans, meat and rice every Wednesday, and as he got homesick sometimes, this dish made him remember his home and made him feel good.

He’s a lot bigger than he used to be then, but even now when he knows I have it for lunch, he gladly invites himself over to eat. But I have to make bigger portions. A lot bigger.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of dried white beans
• 300 gs of beef meat cut into large cubes
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tablespoon of ground dried coriander
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• Cooking oil

Preparation:

• Soak the white beans with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with water, overnight
• The next day the beans double in volume – drain them form the water and wash them
• In a casserole put 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and fry the meat then cover it with water, cook for about one hour until the meat is tender (to save time you can use the pressure cooker)
• In another casserole boil the beans until it is almost tender, then drain again the water
• Put the beans over the meat, add the tomato paste, salt and pepper, cover with water and let it boil on low heat in the covered casserole
• Crush the garlic with salt, add the fresh and dried coriander and mix all the ingredients well
• In a small saucepan, heat some oil and fry the mixture of garlic and coriander then add it to the casserole of beans with meat
• Finally, you can put the lemon juice
• Serve this delicious food with cooked rice.

ET VOILA ..C’EST TOUT:)