Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Fasolia

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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,

Photobucket

15 comments:

nicole. said...

um. that looks good!!!!!

Lauren Talon said...

Yum!!! I will definitely be trying this! Thanks Amira :)

Unknown said...

How cool! I can add that to my recipes and be cultured!

La Mode by Marianne said...

That looks delicious...AND is really fun to say lol. Cool post!

Contemplating Beauty said...

SO interesting SO good!!! thank u!

Karla said...

noom.. me want( cookie monster voice) I am soo hungry! this looks delish!!

Jena Roach said...

Oh my word that looks DELISH! :) I'm gonna have to try it! :)

Allyson said...

This looks so yummy! I'm always looking for new things to try! It looks pretty healthy too. :)

Melu103 said...

well darling ..
thank you for making me
BEYOND HUNGRY AT WORK!

this sounds bomb
and so easy to make ♥


ill definitely give it a try
thank you for sharing love




xoxo
MELINA ♥
www.onlyaflightaway.blogspot.com

Elle said...

I am going to have to try this!! My mom grew up in Beirut, Lebanon so my family eats a lot of middle eastern food so I really love new and exotic food :)

Unknown said...

Looks so good! I just stumbled across your blog! So cute! I'm not following :)

Alexa said...

Amira! This looks fantastic! Hmmm...tempted to put it on my "must make list"

Jayme @ Her Late Night Cravings said...

Oh this looks so good! Thanks so much for sharing! I mean how big time of me if I make this and tell people that I made an Arabian Dish. Makes me sound like I really know how to cook! :-)

Jayme @ Her Late Night Cravings

Melanie said...

oh wow that looks SOO good!

Jenna E said...

Yum, looks easy and delicious!! Thanks!

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