Eat Healthy and Cheap
Loubia
Loubia is the bean stew ladled from big pots at Moroccan lunch counters, scooped up with torn bread by workers on a break. Its sauce gets no help from cream or a roux: toasting the tomato paste in the dry pot until it turns brick red builds the same savory depth oil usually supplies, and mashing a spoonful of the finished beans back into the pot thickens the broth with their own starch. The result tastes long-simmered in twenty-five active minutes, brightened at the end with lemon instead of salt.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Cannellini beans, dried, soaked overnight
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves Garlic, sliced
- 1 tbsp Ginger, grated
- 3 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups Canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 1 tbsp Sweet paprika
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne
- 1 Bay leave
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped, divided
- 1 Lemon, juiced, plus wedges to serve
Method
- Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water by 2 inches, and simmer until tender but still holding their shape, 45 to 55 minutes. Drain, keeping 1 cup (240 ml) of the cooking liquid.
- Toast the cumin seeds in the dry, empty pot over medium heat until they smell nutty and start to pop, about 1 minute. Grind them coarse and set aside.
- Sweat the onion in 3 tbsp (45 ml) water in the same pot until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Push the onion to the side and add the tomato paste to the bare spot of the pot. Let it sit undisturbed until it darkens to brick red, about 2 minutes, then stir it through. That color is caramelized sugar, and it replaces the depth oil would otherwise add.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, ground cumin, paprika, cayenne, bay leaf, black pepper, and the reserved bean liquid. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes to concentrate the sauce.
- Fold in the beans. Mash a spoonful against the side of the pot; the starch they release thickens the sauce with no flour needed. Simmer 15 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until the sauce clings to the beans rather than pooling around them.
- Off the heat, stir in half the lemon juice and half the cilantro. Taste, and brighten with more lemon rather than salt if it needs lift. Serve hot, topped with the remaining cilantro and lemon wedges.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 300 calories, 16 g protein, 13 g fiber. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt.
