WHITE BEAN STEW
You guys, white bean stew to the rescue! When we were moving to the United States, our dear aunt gave us a fat bag of dried white beans. Once we got here, it only took a few days before we started cooking up all sorts of meals in our brother-in-law’s house where we lived at the time. The white beans were cooked in no time. We stewed them in a similar manner we stewed the ones we're showing you in this post. It was a satisfying experience. And we wished we could find the same white beans to recreate that dining experience.
But we didn’t find the same white beans in the grocery store. Or let us just say we didn’t look enough. Or maybe they were absent at that time – we don’t know. All we know is that we stumbled upon very similar dried white beans labelled as “small white beans” the other day and our life changed.
We brought the small white beans home and boiled them. Then we made this hearty white bean stew known in French Cameroon as Haricots Blancs. It is bursting with flavours and so tasty! We hope we're not bossy if we command you to make this. But if you are looking for a quick meal or ways to incorporate more beans or meatless protein into your diet, here is the way to go!
You could buy dried white beans from grocery stores or a market, depending on where you live. You could also buy already boiled white beans. Any white beans will work here.
To cook an epic pot of satisfying white bean stew, here is what you need: boiled white beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrot, salt, Maggi, white pepper, leeks and oil. (See full recipe below for the exact quantities).
Chop all the choppables and mince the minceables. We chopped our tomatoes, onion, carrots and leeks then we minced aka finely chopped the garlic. We just enjoy prepping our ingredients and laying them out like this before cooking. Am we the only one who enjoys this?
Then you saute the onions, add in the tomatoes and eventually all other ingredients except the beans and cook to make a stew.
This stew is so satisfying we could pour it all over our white rice and enjoy myself. But now let’s make it even better. Add in the beans and mix until it becomes married to the stew.
When the stew and the beans simmer together for a few minutes, your white bean stew is ready! Serve it with some boiled rice or with any side of choice. We are imagining this with fried ripe plantains. They will be a match made in heaven. But for now let’s manage with rice.
This is absolutely satisfying and it makes a quick weeknight meal if you boil the beans a day before.
Hope you enjoy stewing some white beans! Your body needs it.
- Yield: 8 servings
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Cook: 30 minutes
- Total: 45 minutes
Ingredients
- 6 cups white beans of choice - boiled, we used small white beans
- 3 tomatoes - chopped
- 1 medium onion - chopped
- 5 garlic cloves - minced
- 1/4 stem of leeks - chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 3 small stock cubes (Maggi) about 3.5 g cubes, optional
- 1/2 cup oil, we used corn oil
- 1 carrot - chopped
- Salt
Method
- Pour oil in a pot and heat on medium heat. Add in onions and saute until translucent. Add in tomatoes and fry stirring all the time until it starts sticking to the pot. Add in garlic and stir until fragrant.
- Add in the leeks, white pepper and carrots then stir. Add a cup of water (or stock if you happen to have some), stock cubes and salt to taste. Stir well and let simmer for 2 minutes,
- Add beans and mix to combine with the stew. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Add more water if you like it watery but if you like it thick, leave as it is. Taste to ensure that the seasoning is perfect.
- Serve with boiled rice or with any side of choice.
