Saveur

Photo: Ben Fink

SERVES 6 – 8

According to cookbook author Claudia Roden, you can make this Egyptian stew Lebanese by omitting the tomatoes and adding the juice of 1 lemon and 1 cup of chopped cilantro toward the end of cooking.

3 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 large yellow onions, peeled and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 3⁄4 lbs. boneless lamb shoulder or beef stew meat, cut
   into 1 1⁄4" cubes
3 ripe medium tomatoes, peeled, cored, and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1⁄4–2 1⁄2 lbs. shelled fresh favas (8–9 cups) from 7–8
   lbs. unshelled favas
6–8 cups cooked rice, hot

1. Heat oil in a large wide pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until golden, 8–10 minutes. Add garlic and meat and cook until meat is browned all over, about 10 minutes.

2. Add tomatoes and enough water (1–1 1/2 cups) to pot to just cover meat, scraping any browned bits on bottom of pot with a wooden spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, until meat is tender, 1 1/2–2 hours.

3. Add favas to pot and increase heat to medium. Cover pot and simmer stew until favas and meat are very tender, 20–25 minutes. Uncover pot and let stew cook until sauce has reduced and thickened a bit, about 10 minutes more. Adjust seasonings. Serve stew with rice.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #84