Because I also incorporated ingredients from my Lebanese origins, this fava bean stew is referred to as “Middle-Eastern” rather than “Moroccan.” On a Saturday afternoon, when we were seriously low on groceries and had no meat in the freezer, I had the idea for this stew. My meat-eating spouse initially believed it to be meat when he sampled it. He loves it, and I’ve made it for him many times. Remove the anchovies to make this dish entirely vegetarian or vegan. Serve with couscous, bulgur, or steamed basmati rice.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pinch coarse sea salt
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 2 tablespoons dried red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or as needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 anchovy fillets, chopped (Optional)
- 2 cups diced peeled butternut squash
- 2 carrots, chopped
- ½ red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans fava beans, drained
- 1 (14 ounce) can canned tomatoes, diced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
- 1 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ¼ cup chopped fresh mint (Optional)
Instructions
- To make harissa paste: Heat a dry skillet over high heat and add coriander, caraway and cumin seeds. Shake pan gently until spices become fragrant, about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour seeds into mortar and grind with pestle to a fine powder. Add garlic, salt, paprika and dried red pepper flakes, mashing and stirring until garlic is incorporated with the spices. Mixture will be dry and crumbly. Add enough of the 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil until you have a thick paste. Use fewer pepper flakes if you prefer less heat. Set aside.
- Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil into a large pot and add minced onions and garlic. Cook slowly over low heat until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Push onions aside in the pot, and stir in the anchovies. Cook anchovies until they soften, mashing them with the back of a wooden spoon until they dissolve. Stir together with the onion and garlic mixture.
- Add the butternut squash, carrots, bell pepper, frozen peas and a pinch of salt. Stir and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Pour in the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about a minute.
- Stir in the drained fava beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf and harissa paste (from step 1). Add brown sugar and pomegranate molasses. Bring back to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours. The long, slow cooking time allows the flavors to deepen.
- Just before serving, stir in the chopped parsley. Top with the mint, if you like.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 315 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 45 g |
| Cholesterol | 2 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 12 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 758 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I thought it was very flavorful and filling. The next time I make I would only use one TB of molasses (I only had regular) as it was to strong in the after taste for me. I also added a packet of Sazon.
Wonderful and so healthy. I took a short cut and used store-bought harissa paste, though unfortunately, the store-bought did not have all the spices included here. Don’t be afraid to use the anchovy which is not evident in the finished dish. I have added these to other dishes and it helps deepen flavors. It’s an umami thing.
I used store-bought harissa but otherwise followed the recipe as written. Delicious! Next time I’ll try leaving out the anchovies to see what that does to the flavor.
I had all ingredients on hand, except the pomegranate molasses. I like spicy food, but I decreased the two tablespoons of red pepper flakes to one tablespoon, and the stew was spicy enough. I did NOT add extra salt. The anchovies provided enough salt. I used a seeded acorn squash and left the skin on for color. I cooked the stew for the recommended 90 minutes and everything was very tender and yummy, but I kept the pan covered. My stew would have been too dry had I cooked for 90 minutes uncovered. The consistency was perfect over GABA brown rice! Definitely, a keeper recipe! Thank you!
I made this without tthe anchovy and it was delicous. The prep time was more like 40 min. I cooked farro while I made the stew, YUM!
So flavorful and filling! I cheated a little bit by buying Harissa Paste from a store. And to let the flavors blend even more, after I sauteed the onions and garlic, I put everything in a crock pot on low all day.
I made this, but didn’t have any peppers or fava beans (I would have substituted frozen soya beans or tinned chickpeas for them, but I was out of them as well). Since I don’t like hot dishes, I substituted peppercorns for the red pepper flakes as well. I also added some quorn chunks, as I had them out to make another dish before I decided to use this recipe. It came out “okay”, but not really so special, and a bit over-tomatoey. Since we had enough left for the next meal, I added spinach to it, as well as paunchparum spices (a combination of fennel, fenugreek, corriander, cumin and mustard seeds) roasted in some oil. And this time it was very yummy. I know that I’ve perhaps altered the dish beyond recognition, but it did turn out fine and I’ll probably do it again.