In 2019, Saptarshi and I made a conscious effort to eat less meat. While initially it was a challenge given that we had meat as a main for every meal, it’s become easier every month (see vegetarian recipes here). I have especially grown to rely on legumes as a staple (thank you dal!), and developed a special affection for white beans. My go-to weeknight meal was white bean pasta. I had never really seen white beans incorporated in Pakistani recipes till I found a lobia masala recipe in the Salt’n Pepper Village Cookbook. Being the food nerd that I am, I got excited and immediately got round to testing and tweaking the recipe for the blog.
This lobia masala is an incredibly easy recipe that is perfect for busy (or lazy) weeknights. I find white beans to be quite beautiful and flavorful in their own right and wanted to avoid over-cooking or over-spicing them. So in this recipe adaptation, I pared down the spices significantly to give them some breathing room. I used canned cannellini beans in this recipe but you can use any variety. I LOVE having them with toast but you can also enjoy them with naan or roti/chapati.
Lobia Masala (White Beans with Tomatoes)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon canola/sunflower/vegetable oil
- 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced in half rings
- 2 roma tomatoes roughly chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ½ teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon crushed ginger and garlic
- 1 15 oz can white beans
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in saucepan. Add chopped onion and fry on medium-low heat until evenly brown, about 10 minutes.
- Add crushed ginger and garlic and fry for roughly one minute, until fragrant.
- Add coriander powder and red chili flakes, and fry for another minute.
- Add chopped tomatoes and fry on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Add white beans and fry for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat, place in serving bowl and garnish with cilantro and diced chili.
yameen
hi mam
it's my favorite one good work keep it up.thanks
Ghulam Mohyudin
It was perfect the first time. I learn so much from you as well! Keep it up great post. https://www.gmdrecipes.com/
Jeff
How do I crush the ginger and garlic or do I buy it crushed?
pakistaneats
Hi! You can buy them. I either use a food processor to crush them in public or if using a smaller quantity, just peel and pound them using a mortar and pestle.
Ballal
This sounds like comfort food heaven!
Going on my increasingly long list of your recipes to try.
Came across it whilst searching for a recipe to use greens (spinach, chard, kale). My favourite veg, and also ones I have a massive glut of in the kitchen garden!
Would love to see how you tackle them!