a pretty good stew
a friend asked me to leak the recipe so here i am. as some of you may know, i maintained my rancho gordo bean club subscription for the entire first year i lived in berlin because i spent so long on the waitlist and couldn't imagine losing access to those sweet sweet beans (i have since committed to a life in europe and accepted that schlepping 6-10 lbs of beans per visit home is not tenable).
anyway, the recipe, using some white alubia blanco beans from rg and loosely based on roberto:
- 300g alubia blanca beans
- 3 merguez sausages
- 3 tbsp spice mix
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp harissa paste
- 1/2 fennel bub
- 2 celery ribs
- 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 cups of water
- 1 tbsp chicken boullion
- 4 oz can of tomatoes
- 200g kale
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt, to taste
steps:
- soak beans overnight in enough water to cover + ~ 1 tsp of salt
- make spice mix (black pepper, cumin, coriander, black cardamom, sesame seed, kashmiri chili powder, turmeric, cinnamon, clove), toasting spices and then grinding in a mortar and pestle
- slice sausage into bite size chunks in a dutch oven and brown in 2 tbsp olive oil. set aside sausage for later
- dice aromatics (fennel, onion, celery, garlic) and saute in olive/sausage oil
- sautee tomato and 1 tbsp harissa paste until they darken in color, followed by blooming 2 tbsp spices and lemon zest in oil for 30 seconds
- add 6 cups of water, chicken boullion powder, bay leaf, thyme and beans and simmer in a moderate oven for 2-3 hours, until beans are tender
- one hour before serving, tear up can of tomatoes and add to the stew
- 30 minutes before serving, tear kale into bite size pieces, wash and add to stew
- just before serving, make a tadka with 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp spice mix and 1 tbsp harissa, pour over stew along with 1 tbsp fish sauce and juice of 1/2 lemon
- serve with freshly chopped cilantro, lemon wedges and yogurt for germans who can't handle spicy food
it was good! had some nice slovenian orange wine with this guy 