Iraqi Spiced White Bean Stew with Lemon Herb Oil

I’ve made this Iraqi Spiced White Bean Stew with Lemon Herb Oil countless times in the last several months. It’s healthful, deeply flavorful, and very easy.

When I visited Damascus, Syria in 2009 my friends and I stayed at an Orthodox convent in a quiet neighborhood. The staff at the convent suggested we try the Iraqi restaurant a down the street, where we were served several bowls of deliciously-spiced, mostly vegetarian stews and big platters of pilaf. The stews were all automatically brought out to each table, and what you ordered was the amount of pilaf. When we ordered cardamom tea, the waiter darted outside to place tea orders with the gentleman brewing tea on the sidewalk in beautiful tiny glasses. We loved this Iraqi restaurant so much that we ate there again the following day. The waiter was an older gentleman and told us he was from Iraq and moved to Syria for a better life and safety. The war in Syria started two years later, and I still wonder what happened to the convent and people I met in that neighborhood.

This recipe is inspired by the Iraqi stew in Meera Sodha’s latest cookbook “Dinner,” which focuses on global weeknight vegetarian dinners. When I took a bite of this stew, the sense memory immediately transported me back to this Iraqi restaurant in Damascus.

This is an easy dish to put together because most of us have canned tomatoes & white beans in in our pantries. The process is interesting because you saute the spices and onions together for 20 full minutes, which creates an incredible depth of flavor. Your home will smell amazing. An easy lemon-herb sauce comes together quickly while everything simmers.

I made a couple of changes from Sodha’s original. I use parsley instead of cilantro in the lemon-herb oil because I’m a cilantro-phobe. Go ahead and switch back to cilantro if that’s what you prefer. I’ve also listed a range in quantity for onions because I’ve noticed that Sodha generally calls for 2 onions in situations when I would use 1. I think she must find smaller onions in her British markets. So use 2 onions if they’re smaller, but one onion if it’s large. I recommend grating whole canned tomatoes for a more luscious texture than the diced tomatoes she calls for. I’ve tried it both ways and I have strong opinions about the rubbery texture of diced tomatoes. Sodha recommends serving the stew with basmati rice, but if you are able please consider making a simple pilaf for the full effect.

I also included a recipe for a spice blend called Baharat. Sodha gives a list of warming spices (black pepper, cinnamon, allspice & cumin) and mentions store bought Baharat as an option. You can use any combination of warming spices with decent results, but I have found the best results by far come from making homemade Baharat from Reem Assil’s Arabiyya cookbook which also includes coriander, cardamom, cloves & nutmeg. The first time I made this stew, I used leftover homemade Baharat from the Arabiyya book (which I used for her fabulous veg Ma’louba). It was that particular flavor that transported me to memories of Damascus. I later experimented using the spice blend in Sodha’s book, as well as a store-bough Baharat. They weren’t the same. Now I’m back to making homemade Baharat and it hits the right notes. I have downscaled the spice blend quantity to make the right amoung for this recipe. If you want more of the Baharat spice blend to add to other dishes (or if you double the stew recipe), go ahead to scale up. Note that the quantities of whole spices will create less volume when ground, so if you substitute with a different blend of warming spices, use about 4 teaspoons total ground spices instead of the sum total of the quanitites of whole spices I’ve listed. And if the long list of whole spices feels intimidating, head to your local Middle Eastern or Indian market and you’ll easily find spices that are fresher and cheaper than standard supermarket spices.

Iraqi Spiced White Bean Stew with Lemon Herb Oil

This Iraqi Spiced White Bean Stew with Lemon Herb Oil has become a favorite weeknight dinner over the last few months – healthy, deeply flavorful, and very easy. Allowing the spices to brown into the onions for 20 full minutes creates an incredible depth of flavor. Your home will smell amazing. An easy lemon-herb sauce comes together quickly while everything simmers.

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Ingredients

  

For the Baharat Spice Blend

• 1/2 tablespoon whole allspice
• 1/2 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
• 4-5 whole green cardamom pods
• 1/2-inch piece of cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon ground
• 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/4 of a whole nutmeg, freshly grated

For the Stew

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions or 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 30 ounces canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 14 ounces canned whole tomatoes, grated with a large-hole cheese grater

For the Lemon-Herb Oil

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

To serve

• pilaf or basmati rice

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Instructions

 

For the Baharat Spice Blend

• Combine all of the spices in a small pan and toast over medium heat 2-3 minutes until warm and fragrant. The spices should start to gain the slightest color, have a noticable fragrance, and begin to make a faint cracking sound. Do not let them smoke. If that happens, you've gone too far and need to toss them and start over.
• Transfer the spices to a spice grinder or coffee grinder. Allow a minute for them to cool before grinding. Pulse in the grinder until ground.

For the Stew

• Finely chop the onion. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium heat. When hot, add the onion, salt, and Baharat spice blend.
• Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
• Grate the canned whole tomatoes using a large-hole cheese grater. Drain and rinse the cannellini beans. Add the white beans, tomatoes, and half a can of water. Bring it to a boil then simmer 10 minutes. Taste for salt.

For the Lemon-Herb Oil

• Chop the parsley finely. Combine it in a small bowl with the lemon zest and juice, olive, oil and salt. Mix well.

To Serve

• Serve the stew topped with the lemon-herb oil. Serve with basmati rice or simple pilaf.

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