Princess YaYa and the Bootie Queen

This is one of my favorite Arabic recipes, and I’m sure you all will love it too.  It’s called Fasoolia (fa-soo-lee-ah), a simple beef stew served over rice that doesn’t take many ingredients and is great for those chilly (or in Texas, mild mid 60s – 70s) fall days.  Lucky you, you can eat it any time of year because green beans are available pretty much year round.  Produce Pete gives great tips on selecting the best green beans here http://www.producepete.com/shows/beans.html

 Beef & Green Bean Stew

Ingredients:

1lb Beef (I prefer to use NY Strip, Ribeye, or T-Bone steaks, but stew meat works well)

1lb Green Beans

1lb Tomatoes (Roma tomatoes that are very red and ripe give the best sauce)

 2 Cloves Garlic – Crushed

Spices:

Ground Coriander

Cumin

Black Pepper

Salt

Instructions:

In a pressure cooker, put beef, approximately 1tblsp salt, plus 4 cups water and cook with top rocking at a medium pace for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut ends from green beans, split and cut into 1″-1 1/2″ pieces.

Reserve 1 cup of beef broth.

Add green beans to cooked beef and replace pressure cooker cover.  Cook for an additional 5 – 7 minutes (depending upon your personal preference for amount of snap in your beans).

Chop tomatoes into large chunks and place in blender or food processor with 1 cup of reserved beef broth.  Blend to a smooth consistency.

Add to tomato smoothie and crushed garlic to green beans & beef.  Add spices; start with about 1 tsp each spice and after bringing stew back up to heat, adjust spices to taste.  I use about 2 tsp of cumin and ground coriander, 1tsp black pepper, and salt to taste. 

Serve with a side dish of rice…or alone because as the Arabs say, ‘As you like!’

*NOTE – If you are not using a pressure cooker, follow the same steps cooking the beef on a low temperature until tender (about 2 hours), and the green beans will need about 10 – 15 minutes.