Fasolia Khadra bi Banadora (Green Beans in Tomato Sauce)

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

If you've been following this site for a while then you know two things by now: 1) I'm not a fan of vegetables and 2) I am a fan of Laila's recipes. So it only makes sense that when we were gifted a huge bag of fresh green beans I turned to Laila for some direction. This particular recipe stood out to me because I fondly remembering having it at my dear friends house (the same sister who taught me how to make these) and that was all the encouragement I needed.

It's no secret that most Arab dishes are not spicy so I took the liberty to up the heat factor. If you prefer the traditional version, by all means leave it out. But I liked the spicy bite to the green beans against the smoothness of the tomato sauce.

Green Beans in Tomato Sauce
Serves: 4 to 6

- 1/2 Kg Lamb meat cut into 2" cubes (I used beef)
- 1/2 kg Green Beans … you can use fresh or frozen
- 1 Onion,chopped (
- 1 tb Ghee or butter
- 2 tb Tomato sauce
- 1 ts all-spice ( I used garam masala)
- 1 ts red chili powder (adjust to your liking)
- handful chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper

1.In a pressure cooker place the Ghee (or butter) onions and meat . Cook the meat until all its liquids is released and starting to dry out.

2.Add enough water to cover approximately 2 inches above the meat , if you want to make extra stock you can always add more water …


3.Cover it and cook for half an hour until the meat is well done and tender

4.Once the meat is cooked place it in a pot, to the meat add the green beans.

5.In another pot place around 3 cups of stock and add the tomato sauce to it and stir well

6. Then add the tomato stock to the green beans and meat the green beans are supposed to be nearly covered with the stock, if it didnt cover it add a little more stock …

7.Season the green beans with the all-spice, salt and pepper, red chili powder and cook it for around half an hour until the tomato sauce is slightly thinkened and reduced. If using fresh green beans then you will need to cook it for 1 hour until the green beans the well cooked and tender. Add cilantro in the last 5 minutes of cooking. Serve it with a side of white rice or with Pita bread