Algerian Broad Beans Garlic Fèves En Sauce Recipes

MY LOUBIA / LUBIA / LOOBIA - CLASSIC ALGERIAN BEANS!

Steps:

• The night before you want to make loubia, place the dried beans in a large bowl & cover with cold water. Allow to soak overnight, then rinse & drain before use.
• In a large stock pot, dutch oven or casserole dish (about 4.5 L capacity), seal the meat in the olive oil. Add the beans, paprika & cumin, mix well & cook on low heat for a few minutes.
• Pour 2 litres of water over the beans, add the salt & pepper. Cover & cook on a medium heat - so the loubia is on a fast simmer - for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, add 500ml extra water & the pureed / liquidised tin of plum tomatoes / passata. Add the garlic, 2 tsp salt, 2 1/2 tsp paprika & 1 1/2 tsp cumin.
• Cover & cook for 30 minutes on medium heat as before.
• After 30 minutes, remove the lid & simmer uncovered for a further 30 minutes. Do not let the sauce become too thick as when you add the olive oil & vinegar for serving, it thicken the sacue up automatically.
• Check seasoning, you may need additional salt, then serve piping hot with plenty of fresh crusty bread.
• Either add 1 tablespoon of olive oil & 1-2 tsp vinegar to each bowl before serving or let people add it themselves at the table.

SPRING BROAD BEANS IN YOGHURT

Steps:

• Cover the beans with water and simmer until tender, the time can vary from a few minutes for very small beans or 20 minutes for more mature beans.
• Drain and slip any outer shells off any tough beans.
• Mix garlic and yoghurt together.
• Stir yoghurt mixture into the beans and season with the salt and pepper.
• Warm through gently and serve.

MEHMET'S BROAD BEANS

Steps:

• Fry the onions in the olive oil, and add the garlic for the last few seconds.
• Add the beans and tomatoes and cook uncovered until the beans are tender.
• Add water towards the end if necessary.
• When the beans are cooked, add yoghurt off the heat and in small amounts at a time.
• Add the tomato paste.
• Re-heat gently, season and serve as a side dish, or cool and serve as a salad.

FèVES AU LARD (TRADITIONAL QUEBEC NAVY BEANS)

Steps:

• Put the beans and water into a jar with a lid for 18 hours (counting the cooking time, that's 5 hours later than you want to be eating them the next day, so if you want your beans at 5 pm on Tuesday, soak them at 10 pm on Monday. It's ok to give or take a couple hours, but I'd rather give than take.).
• When the 18 hours are almost up, finely dice the fatback, discarding the skin, and dice the onion.
• Put the diced fatback in the pressure cooker, lid off, and cook it on medium heat until it starts to sizzle.
• While you're waiting for it to sizzle, drain the beans, reserving the water.
• Also, mix together the molasses, ketchup, mustard and savory in a small bowl, adding a little bean water so it can pour easily.
• When the fatback sizzles, stir it a little and add the beans.
• Then, add the onion, about half of the water and the condiments and stir well.
• Add more bean water just until it covers the beans, using it to rinse the remaining condiments from the small bowl if necessary.
• Put the lid on (with the high pressure valve, not the one for vegetables), put on high heat until steam comes out and reduce the heat to the lowest you can without stopping the whistling sound (for me it's a little lower than medium).
• Cook that way for 40 minutes, take the cooker off the heat and wait at least 20 minutes before opening it.
• Troubleshooting and tips : if there's a significant amount of liquid left on the bottom of the cooker, stir the beans, screw the lid back, put on high heat, let the pressure build and take off the stove as soon as it whistles. Then, wait 10 minutes before opening.
• Also, beans are at their best when reheated. Once refrigerated, always stir them well before serving the first leftover portion, so as to distribute the sauce that will have settled to the bottom and hardened.

ALGERIAN HELOUWA TA'ABA (LEMON OR SESAME COOKIES)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat the eggs & the oil.
• Add the baking powder (& lemon zest if using), & slowly add the flour, mixing the ingredients with your hands until a dough forms. You will probably not need all of the flour.
• Once you have a firm dough, you can shape your helouwa.
• To shape, you have 2 choices: you can roll out to 5mm thickness & cut out with your favourite cookie cutters OR you can roll into a 1cm thick 'sausage' & make rings & straight lengths them decorate with a 'Nakkach' or fork if you don't have one. (See photos).
• If making the sesame version, once you have cut out all your cookies, brush a little beaten egg over the top of the cookies & sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
• Place on a tray lined with aluminium foil (shiny side up) & bake for 25-28 minutes. The cookies should be pale but hard when tapped. (Unless you want them soft on the inside, in which case you should take them out after 20 minutes).
• Allow to cool then store in an airtight container for upto 2 weeks.

ALGERIAN BROAD BEANS & GARLIC ( FèVES EN SAUCE )

Steps:

• Top & tail the bean then remove the strings. Leave the beans in their pod. Cut into bitesize pieces - approx 1" long.
• Peel & mince the garlic & place in a large, heavy bottomed pan (I like to use my Le Creuset Casserole / Dutch Oven) with the beans. Saute for 2 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, cover & simmer until beans are tender - approx 25-30 minutes. Once the beans are tender, reduce the sauce to your prefered thickness & mix in the vinegar.