Fasolia

Alright ladies and gents {gents? any gents?}

I'm gonna share a family recipe that my parents made all the time while I was growing up. 

It's one of my absolute favorites AND you can say that you made an Arabian dish,

{how fancy of you.}

The other day while it was raining I decided that I wanted a warm, hearty, home cooked meal. And since no one was gonna make it for me, I had to make it myself. It was actually my first time making this and it turned out pretty great. The only thing I would have changed is I would use a drier rice so it absorbs the sauce. My rice was sticky because I put too much water in the rice cooker :-(

 You'll need:

Fresh green beans (2 big handfuls)

Olive Oil

One pound of beef

Small can tomato paste 12 oz

Small can whole peeled tomatoes 14.5 oz

3-4 cloves Garlic crushed

Juice of small lemon (1/2 big one)

Regular white onion

Cilantro chopped very fine (about one heaping tablespoon)

White Rice (Basmati rice if you have it)

Salt, Pepper and sprinkle of cinnamon
Serves 6

1. Break off ends of green beans (to throw away) and snap the rest in three or so pieces. You can also chop your onion at this point.

2. Heat olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a tall pot.) Add garlic and half of the onion to the hot oil. Saute for a few minutes on med high.

3. Add the green beans to the pot, stir really well so the green beans get coated. Put on the lid, turn down to medium and let steam. Stir periodically - maybe three times while meat is browning....(browning the meat is the next step) Add some pepper each time you stir. Keep the lid on in between stirs.
4. Start browning meat with the rest of the chopped onion, salt, pepper, sprinkle of cinnamon. Drain fat once the beef is browned. 

5. Add the meat to the pot. Add can of peeled tomatoes, tomato paste and enough water to cover ingredients. By the way in case you are wondering what tomato PASTE is, this is the can you will buy. Different than tomato sauce. Get it all stirred. Cover with the lid but leave cracked. Keep on medium. When it boils, turn it down a bit. Stir every few minutes until paste is dissolved. Continue to add salt and pepper each time you stir. {Sorry I don't have an exact amount, my mom just makes it by taste. At one point I was wondering why it wasn't tasting like mom's, and then it dawned on me that it just needed more salt and pepper.}
6. De-stem the cilantro and chop it really fine, add to mixture. stir, add lemon juice (I literally just cut the lemon in half and squeezed each half over the pot.) 

7. Start the rice. This meal serves about 6 people, so I made three cups of rice. 

8. Let the pot of goodness simmer for maybe 30-45 min. It will thicken a bit.

9. Serve over rice! I like my rice to be completely soaked (way more than in the picture) 

Voila! You've made an Arabian dish called Fasolia (pronounced Fah-so-lee-yuh)

xo,