Beef loubia — white beans in red sauce
Beans that have absorbed the red sauce during 1 hour 30 minutes of cooking, meltingly tender beef and a concentrated garlic, tabil and harissa sauce: the Friday stew of the Jews of Tunis, even better after a night's rest.
Ingredients for two
| 300 g | Minced beef, freshly minced by the butcher For 12 meatballs |
| 480 g | Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin) 2 × 400 g tins, drained and rinsed |
| 120 g | Yellow onions 1 medium onion |
| 20 g | Garlic 4 cloves |
| 45 g | Extra virgin olive oil 4 tbsp and 1 tsp: 25 g to sear the beef, 20 g added before the onion |
| 45 g | Double-concentrated tomato purée 2 heaped tbsp |
| 20 g | Harissa 1 heaped tbsp; 15 g for mild heat |
| 4 g | Sweet paprika 2 level tsp |
| 5 g | Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend) 2 tsp |
| 2 g | Ground cumin 1/2 heaped tsp |
| 8 g | Fine salt 1 g for the beef, 7 g added to the casserole 30 minutes before the end |
| 0.5 g | Ground black pepper 1/4 tsp |
| 300 g | Water Hot |
| 120 g | Bread (baguette or country loaf) For mopping up the sauce |
Method
- Drain the beans in a colander and rinse under cold water. Chop the onion, peel and crush the garlic. Heat 300 g water in the kettle. Mix the minced beef with 2 g salt, 1 g cumin and 1 g tabil, taken from the recipe quantities. With damp hands, shape into 12 walnut-sized meatballs.
- Heat 25 g oil in the casserole over a medium-high heat and brown the meatballs for 4 minutes, rolling them around: brown outside, still raw in the centre. Transfer to a plate, leaving the browned bits in the pan.
- Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 20 g oil and soften the onion for 6 minutes, until translucent with golden edges. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato purée, harissa, paprika, remaining tabil and cumin, and pepper; stir for 2 minutes until the paste darkens and smells fragrant.
- Pour in the 300 g hot water, scraping up the browned bits, add the remaining 6 g salt, return the meatballs and coat them with sauce. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes: the meatballs should be firm to the touch and the sauce deep red.
- Add the drained beans, folding them in gently to avoid breaking them, and simmer over a low heat, partially covered, for 12 minutes. Mash a spoonful of beans against the side to thicken the sauce until it coats the beans. Taste and adjust the salt.
- Rest off the heat for 2 minutes and serve in shallow bowls, with bread for mopping up and a spoonful of harissa on the side.
A quick weeknight loubia: minced beef meatballs and tinned beans in the same red sauce. It has less depth than the dried-bean version, but is ready in 45 minutes.
Lighter version
- Extra virgin olive oil : 25 g
- Dried white beans, for loubia : 140 g
- Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 60 g
In step 2, sear the beef in 15 g oil; in step 3, add only 10 g oil before the onion.
In step 5, pour in 500 g hot water instead of 600 g: with fewer beans, they should still be just covered.
Half the oil, a little less bread and fewer beans: the sauce is unchanged and the dish keeps its full flavour.
On your plate
Recipe
956 kcal · protein 64 g · carbs 85 g · fat 38 g
Quantities per person
- 175 g Stewing beef, shoulder or neck, cut into 4 cm cubes
- 100 g Dried white beans, for loubia
- 60 g Yellow onions
- 10 g Garlic
- 22.5 g Extra virgin olive oil
- 22.5 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
- 10 g Harissa
- 2 g Sweet paprika
- 2.5 g Tabil (Tunisian coriander, caraway, garlic and chilli spice blend)
- 1 g Ground cumin
- 4 g Fine salt
- 0.25 g Ground black pepper
- 700 g Water
- 60 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)
Cooking tips
The 185 minutes exclude the 12-hour soak, which should be done the day before; particularly firm beef may need another 20 minutes. Cooking the beans in the red sauce is what makes loubia. If you prefer to use two pans, pre-cook the beans for only 40 minutes in unsalted water, until barely softened, then finish them in the sauce for 50–60 minutes, using 200 g of their cooking water instead of the 600 g. Prepare loubia on Friday to reheat the next day; cool quickly in a shallow container and refrigerate. Reheat leftovers gently with a splash of water.
Tunisian beef loubia in a red sauce of tomato purée, garlic and tabil, using soaked dried beans cooked in the sauce.
Comments and reviews
No comments published yet.
Share your experience
Your first name will appear with your comment. No additional email is required. Comments are reviewed before publication.