Loubiya

Ingredients

Beans

• 500 gdried white beans
• or black-eyed peas
• soaked overnight
• water, for cooking

The pot

• 2onions, chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 4tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tablespoonstomato purée
• 5 tablespoonsoil
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 1stock cube
• 1chilli, chopped, optional
• salt and black pepper

To serve

• bread
• or fried fritters
• raw onion
• chilli sauce
• at any hour

Directions

1. Salt is added late rather than early. Add tomato after the beans are tender. Beans cooked in tomato from the start stay firm. Cook them first and add tomato after. Rinse the beans and pick them over. Remove any stones or damaged beans. Put them all into a large bowl.
2. Cover them with plenty of cold water. Leave them to soak there overnight. Use far more water than you think. They should stay covered throughout.
3. Drain all of the beans thoroughly. Discard all of the soaking water. Rinse them in fresh cold water. Put the beans into a large deep pot. Cover them well with fresh water. Bring the pot up to a full boil. Let it boil hard for fifteen minutes. Skim off any of the foam that rises. Do it in the first ten minutes.
4. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Give it about ninety full minutes. Add boiling water as it is absorbed. The beans should stay covered. Cook them on if any still resist. Heat the oil in a separate pan. Add the chopped onions to the pan.
5. Cook them for a good ten minutes. Add the crushed garlic to them. Cook it for two more full minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan. Add the tomato purée with them. Add the ground cumin in as well. Cook them down for about ten minutes. The tomato must cook right down.
6. Oil should separate at the edges. Raw tomato taste should be entirely gone. Tip the tomato base into the beans. Crumble the stock cube into the pot. Add the chilli if you want heat.
7. Season it with salt and black pepper. Let it simmer together gently. Give it about twenty more minutes. Stir it regularly so it does not catch. Stir right into the corners each time. Lower the heat if it starts to stick.
8. Crush some of the beans against the pot. Use the back of a wooden spoon. Crush about a quarter and leave the rest. It should be thick rather than soupy. Oil should be visible at the surface. The beans should be soft but recognisable.
9. Add hot water if it is too thick. Simmer it uncovered if it is too thin. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. It needs more than you might expect. Add more chilli if you want it hotter. Serving it is always done piping hot. Ladle it into bowls or onto plates. Serve fresh bread alongside it. Add raw onion onto the plate too. Put chilli sauce on the table. It keeps four days refrigerated.

Technique

• The atlas also carries loubieh bzeit from Lebanon; both names come from the same Arabic root for beans, but the two dishes differ — the Lebanese uses fresh green beans and the Chadian dried ones — and the atlas records both rather than confusing them.
• Tomato is acidic and acid slows the softening of bean skins, so beans cooked in tomato from the start stay firm; cook them tender first and add the tomato base afterwards.
• Red kidney beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, which soaking does not remove and which needs at least ten minutes at a full rolling boil, since a slow simmer alone is not enough and low heat can increase the toxicity; white beans and black-eyed peas carry far less, but the hard boil costs nothing and is worth doing whatever bean you use.

Substitutions

• White beans and black-eyed peas both work and are both used.
• Fried dough fritters scoop it up as well as bread does.

Variations

• Crushing about a quarter of the beans thickens the pot while keeping texture.
• Chilli is added by some and left out by others.
• It is sold from large pots by street vendors and eaten at any hour.

History

An everyday Chadian dish eaten at any hour, especially as a cheap filling breakfast.

Frequently asked questions

What is Loubiya?

Loubiya is a main from Chad: stewed beans in oil and tomato, scooped up with bread or fritters. An everyday Chadian dish eaten at any hour, especially as a cheap filling breakfast.

How long does Loubiya take to make?

Loubiya takes 15 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Loubiya?

Yes, within limits. White beans and black-eyed peas both work and are both used. Fried dough fritters scoop it up as well as bread does.

What is the most important thing to get right in Loubiya?

Salt is added late rather than early. Add tomato after the beans are tender. Beans cooked in tomato from the start stay firm. Cook them first and add tomato after. Rinse the beans and pick them over. Remove any stones or damaged beans. Put them all into a large bowl.