Loubiya has been one of my favorite meals of all time. These beans are so creamy and full of flavor, they really stand out from any other bean I have tried. This Egyptian black eyed pea stew is such a healthy and flavorful comfort dish. Loubiya is a lovely medley of onions, garlic, and luscious black-eye peas that have simmered away in a rich tomato broth. Egyptian loubiya is traditionally cooked with tender stew beef and its broth, but in our plant focused kitchen, I always make it vegan. This easy plant-based dinner is flavorful and satisfying, and best of all it is conveniently made with inexpensive pantry basics.

Ingredients

As with all of my beans and legumes, I use dried beans. Black eyed peas are available almost anywhere; and believe me when I say it is worth cooking them fresh from scratch! For one thing, you do not want them too soft for this stew. The taste is always better when cooked fresh, and not out of a can.

First, I spread the beans in a large shallow dish and let the kids pick through them for any bad pieces; they love this “game” ! I wash and rinse the beans and cook them directly without soaking because I use a pressure cooker. The Instant Pot has been my reliable choice for easy pressure cooking for over 10 years now. The beans are cooked in 15 minutes in the Instant Pot! (Click the link to purchase directly from Amazon).

Like any bean, black eyed peas are a superb source of fiber. What sets these apart though, is their creamy texture and super quick cook time. They are also particularly rich in Vitamin B, folate, potassium and iron. These beans are high in protein and a low fat and low calorie food, making them ideal for weight loss.

The tomato broth is a flavorful mix of onions, shallots, garlic, and carrots infused with fresh ground coriander and cardamom.

I love using blended tomatoes, but if I don’t have enough tomatoes, crushed tomatoes in a jar work very well. I simmer the tomato broth until it thickens and incorporates all the delicious flavors.

Loubiya stew pairs perfectly with a bowl of fluffy white rice. I serve it alongside a green salad, which makes for a filling and hearty meal you can feel good about. I hope you all enjoy! Bil Hana, wal shifaa ( Arabic for with health and healing)!

Loubiya (Egyptian Black Eyed Peas Stew)

This Egyptian black eyed pea stew is such a healthy and flavorful comfort dish made from a sofrito of sautéed onions, shallots, garlic and carrots with coriander that has simmered away in a rich tomato broth.

5 from 3 votes

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Course Main Course

Cuisine egyptian, Middle Eastern

Equipment

• Instant Pot (to cook the dry beans)

Ingredients

  

• 2 c dried beans
• 4 c water (to cook beans)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 tbsp ground coriander seed (kuzbarra)
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 shallot, minced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large carrot, minced or diced small
• 2.5 c blended or crushed tomatoes
• 2 c water or broth
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

 

• Pick the black eyed peas over for any bad beans, wash, and place into pressure cooker with 4 cups of water. Cook on high pressure for 9 minutes and natural pressure release.

  Alternatively, you may soak the beans in water for one hour, drain, rinse and then cook them covered in water in a conventional pot on the stovetop for 1.5-2 hours, until beans become fork tender.
  
• In a separate stock pot, saute onions in olive oil over high heat until golden.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and toss in coriander and cardamom spices. Move around the spices so that they become fragrant over the heat, being careful not to scorch them.
• Add minced shallots, garlic, and carrots.
• Pour in the tomatoes, followed by the water or broth. Turn heat back up to medium-high.
• Add salt and pepper to taste, starting with 1 teaspoon of salt as you can add more once you add the black eyed peas.
• Simmer the tomato broth for 10 minutes.
  
• Add the cooked black eyed peas and simmer for 5 minutes more.
• Serve with white rice and enjoy!
  

Notes

Add in stew beef with the aromatics in step 4 and simmer in water for 45 minutes to make this recipe with meat. 

Keyword beans, blackeyedpeas, stew, vegan

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Tikka Masala is easily one of the most delicious and creamy curries you can try. I love it so much I set out to make my own bulk chicken tikka masala recipe years ago, and it has consistently been a hit. Since we have switched over to a predominately plant-based diet in our home, I have created a vegan version, subbing in my favorite crunchy roasted vegetables: cauliflower and potatoes. I also include chickpeas to make the dish a complete and hearty meal with plenty of protein. Best of all, this meal takes a fraction of the time to prepare because it only uses vegetables that quickly roast in the oven. It is easily made vegan because we do not need a yogurt marinade to tenderize meat! I use the same spices and flavor profile on the cauliflower and potatoes as they roast, as well as in the sauce. The aromatic, lemony, fresh curry made of tomatoes and onions scented with a range of fresh and potent spices like coriander, paprika, cumin, garlic and turmeric blankets the crispy cauliflower and potatoes that beg to be soaked up with some bread or rice. This cauliflower and potato tikka masala promises to be one of the most flavorful and delicious recipes you can make!

Ingredients

This recipe is made so quickly because you start with roasting the cauliflower and potatoes. Simply wash, cut, and sprinkle on all the spices. They turn golden crispy delicious within 20 minutes. It’s so hard to resist not to just eat it all straight off the roasting pan. I recommend using a cast iron pan, if you have one, to get nicely crisp results. It’s also important not to overlap the cauliflower and potato pieces so they don’t steam cook and get too soft. I leave the roasting of the vegetables until just before serving, while the sauce can be prepared earlier in the day or even in advance and stored. The dish is garnished with freshly chopped cilantro leaves and squeezed lemon juice.

The spices used in tikka masala can range from each recipe. I use what I find to be the most flavorful and provide that depth of citrus and tangy spice. Almost always, I omit cayenne pepper mostly because it makes it too spicy for my kids, but the great thing about this recipe is that you can add whatever spices you like! Here are the basics I use for bright and aromatic tikka masala sauce: coriander seed, cumin seed, and paprika. Toasting the spices in a dry pan for 1-2 minutes really brings out the nutty fragrance of the cumin and citrus notes of the coriander. I use fresh garlic, ginger, and turmeric root, keeping this dish as fresh and flavorful as possible.

I then add in fresh garlic cloves, turmeric root, and ginger root because the flavors are a lot more potent. I love using these in most dishes because they have so many great health benefits!

The tomatoes used in this sauce can either be fresh tomatoes diced then blended, or a jar of crushed tomatoes. I prefer blending the ginger and turmeric root so that they become super fine and have no noticeable chunks. The entire sauce gets pureed with an immersion blender before adding the chickpeas and vegetables, so it’s important to use a deeper pot.

Because this sauce is so tasty to use with many recipes and stores well, I like to double or triple it and then save it, before adding in the chickpeas, lemon, or cilantro. It can then be pulled out and used on a variety of dishes such as roasted vegetables, fish, or simply a stew of chickpeas or other beans.

Serve along with

The weather outside is frightful….and soup sounds so delightful! These cold winter days are perfect for a steaming hot bowl of quinoa lentil soup. This tomato based soup is a hearty, filling, protein packed, and super flavorful meal that echoes the flavors of my famous Egyptian kushary! Nutritious lentils and quinoa simmer away in a delectable broth of tomatoes, onions, garlic, lemon, and cilantro. It can be easily prepared in an Instant Pot to save time and cook all legumes from scratch.

This quinoa lentil soup is actually inspired by kushary, a hearty and flavorful meal that is famous as Egyptian street food. Kushary is a classic comfort food comprised of cooked lentils, layered over a bed of rice, pasta, and garlic and topped with crispy onions and a spicy, zesty, garlicky, lemon-vinegar tomato sauce. It is a delicious bowl of comfort, and big on carbs. This soup has a similar flavor profile, but it is much lighter and made with more plant protein. I cut down the carbs by swapping out the rice for protein-packed quinoa, and kept the pasta minimal with little vermicelli noodles (sometimes I use orzo too). I even serve up this soup topped with crispy caramelized onions. This is such a treat!

Ingredients

I use dried chickpeas and lentils and cook them fresh. The flavor and bite is substantially improved and really does not compare to canned. If you have an Instant Pot, it is a cinch to prep the chickpeas. I usually cook 2-3 cups in advance for the week and I save them in the fridge or the freezer, depending how soon I will use them.

I only use green or brown lentils for this recipe. They cook instantly in 3 minutes in the instant pot. Red lentils do not work for this soup. They are actually shelled so they will cook down too quickly and become mushy in this recipe.

I love using quinoa in this soup instead of the rice that is in kushary. Quinoa has more of a bite to it and keeps its shape, even when you serve this soup a few days later. White or rainbow quinoa works in this recipe. When I add the quinoa, I turn the pot setting to saute, so that it is only simmering lightly. I simmer the quinoa for only 10 minutes so it does not become too soft. Of course, this can all be done in a regular pot. The lentils will just take a longer amount of time to cook.

The texture of these superfood grains simmering in the lemony tomato broth is so delicious! This soup is naturally vegan, plant-based, and can be gluten free. It is nothing short on flavor! I use a lot of lemon, onions, and garlic to reflect the flavor profile of kushary and its zesty tomato sauce. You can optionally kick up the soup a notch by sprinkling in some cayenne pepper too. Check out my video recipe to see how quick and easy this recipe is.

Quinoa Lentil Soup

Tomatoes, lentils, garlic, lemon, cilantro and some delicious and nutritious grains combine to make this bowl of kushary soup.

5 from 3 votes

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Course Appetizer, Main Course, Soup

Cuisine egyptian, Middle Eastern

Servings 6

Equipment

• Instant Pot

Ingredients

  

• 1 c cooked or dry chickpeas See step 1 to cook the chickpeas in Instant Pot
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion half sliced, half diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp salt, more to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 c strained tomatoes
• 3 c broth vegetable or chicken
• 4 c water, plus more as needed
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1 c lentils
• 1/2 c quinoa
• 1/2 c vermicelli or orzo
• 1 fresh lemon, juiced
• 1 bunch of cilantro, minced
• pita bread *optional

Instructions

 

• I start with cooking chickpeas from scratch. Use 1 cup of dry chickpeas and cook them in the Instant Pot by covering them with water and pressure cook for 60 minutes (high pressure). Drain and set aside 1 cup of cooked chickpeas for the soup and store the rest.
• Over high heat, or on the saute setting of an Instant Pot, cook the diced onion in 2 tbsp of olive oil until yellow. Add the garlic and diced tomatoes.
• Add the cumin, coriander, and pepper and stir well for about 2 minutes until tomatoes have softened.
• Add 4 cups of water, followed by the lentils. Close the lid of the Instant pot and pressure cook by pressing manual and adjust to 3 minutes (high pressure). If using a regular pot, simmer on low for 20 minutes until lentils are cooked.
• While the lentils cook, fry the sliced onions in a sauce pan with the remaining 2 tbsp of oil. Once the onions begin to soften, sprinkle on the corn starch to help them crisp up. Saute over medium-high heat until the onions become golden and crispy. Set aside for serving.
  
• Once the lentils have cooked, stir the soup and make sure there is still enough liquid. If it has thickened too much, add 1 more cup of water.
• Make sure the pot is now set to saute setting (15 minutes) to simmer the soup. Add the strained tomatoes and broth, along with the salt.
• Add the quinoa. Allow the soup to simmer for 10 minutes more so that the quinoa cooks.
• Add the vermicelli or orzo pasta and cook for about 5 minutes more.
  
• Add most of the cilantro, reserving some for garnishing. Turn off the heat. Add the lemon juice and serve.
• Garnish with fried onions, cilantro, and serve with pita.
  

Video

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B6Limr5gAtZ/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Keyword kushary, lentils, tomato