Ingredients
Check off ingredients as you go
Serves 6
- 1.2 kg (2.6 lb) tender stewing beef, cut into chunks (shank, chuck roast, cheek)
- 2 onions, sliced
- a few sprigs of parsley
- 2-3 tomatoes, peeled and grated, or 50 g (3 Tbsp) good-quality tomato paste
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 6 handfuls dried white beans such as cannellini or navy beans, about 250 g (1¼ cups), soaked overnight
- 1 tsp harissa (to taste)
- 3 Tbsp neutral oil (sunflower)
- Salt, pepper
The day before, soak the white beans in a large volume of water.
In a pressure cooker, heat the sunflower oil and sauté the sliced onions for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the beef chunks, then the paprika, turmeric, grated tomatoes (or tomato paste) and the beans. Cover with water, a little more than just to the level of the meat. Close the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for about 1 hour (in a regular Dutch oven, cook longer, until the meat and beans are tender). You should end up with a thick, velvety sauce with almost no liquid left.
As a bonus, if you like, you can make little dumplings that cook right in your sauce. Called “koukla,” they are traditionally added to loubia, and some people also put them in tfina with harissa and wheat (a Tunisian Shabbat stew). To make them, simply mix 2 eggs with 150 g (1¼ cups) flour (or fine semolina) and spices to taste (cumin, paprika, garlic), shape into small quenelles and drop them into your loubia to cook. You’ll need a little more liquid in the pot, since these little dumplings need it to cook and puff up.
Bsal ou Loubia is usually served with couscous on the side and Tunisian Italian bread or challah; everyone can choose how they want to eat it.
Tips and variations
- Like all slow-cooked dishes, it’s even better reheated the next day, which makes it an ideal Shabbat dish.
- There’s a variation of this dish called Loubia bel camoun, meaning with cumin: just add a level Tbsp of cumin at the end of cooking.
- Finally, another variation: if you add slices of previously fried eggplant during the last half hour of cooking, the dish is then called Derbali.