July 27, 2009

Recipe for Ethiopian Fosolia/Lebanese Loubeih Bi' Zeit

Question: What is that delicious ethiopian food I just ate tonight and how can I make it myself at home?

This answer comes from a brilliant recipe I found on another blog about vegan cooking for a cross between ethiopian fosolia and lebanese loubieh bi'zeit:

ingredients:
5 cups stringbeans, cut in half and ends removed
2 normal-large onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
half a bag of baby carrots
16-oz can stewed tomatoes, crushed (squish in your fists)
olive oil
1 cup white wine sweetened with agave (to approximate tej, ethiopian honey wine - don't use anything too dry)
1-2 tsp salt
berbere to taste (2 tbsp or 3tbsp if you like it really hot)

cook your garlic and onions in oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent; then add your stringbeans. get them coated in oil and saute until they turn bright green, and add the rest of your ingredients (start out with a teaspoon of berbere, add more as you go). bring the mixture up to a boil, and basically, let it stew and reduce. if you boil off the liquid before the carrots and string beans are nice and soft, add extra wine or water; if it starts to burn, add a little more oil. it takes a LONG time to cook down, but requires pretty much no monitoring, so this is a good one to put on the stove right when you get home, and then read a book/play with your dog/do your dishes/drink the rest of that tej.

the mixture is done when the liquid is pretty much gone, the onions and tomatoes are undetectable in a sort of red sauce, the green beans are soft and way way smaller than they were, and the carrots can be cut with a spoon. it looks like nothing on earth, but tastes SO good, with a hint of caramel from the tomatoes, carrots, and agave. i recommend eating it with crusty bread.

1 comment:

  1. this is a great recipe!! made it for friends this thanksgiving. thanks for posting it up :-)

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