Lebanese vegan green beans stew, my favourite childhood nostalgic meal! An incredibly comforting, satisfying, less than 10-ingredient kind of meal and very easy and quick to prepare in the smart pot.
Make sure you wash the green beans thoroughly and remove the stems from both sides, and cut in half. Wash and set aside to drain. Chop and prepare all the remaining veggies and prepare your spices and add-ons.
Step 02: sauté and cook in the smart pot
Set your pot to sauté option. Add the oil and heat it through. Add the onion first and stir until stat to get tender and transparent. Add the diced tomato and stir also until the pieces start to break. Add the garlic and stir for seconds until you start to smell the garlic. Add the koussa and stir for 3 minutes. Now add the green beans and mix it through and start adding all the remaining ingredients (the tomato paste and puree, the spices and the broth). Mix everything together till is combined.
Close your smart pot and set it to cook manually on high pressure for 10 minutes.
Step 03: release the pressure and serve your meal
After the 10 minutes pass, quick release the pressure and open the lid. Taste and adjust salt to your liking. If you find the sauce is to much or to thin to your liking. You can set the pot again to saute and let it simmer for few minutes until the sauce reduce to your liking.
Serve with some pitta bread or some vermicelli rice on side and enjoy!
Notes
Tomato variations: if you don’t happen to have fresh tomato you can totally use the canned diced tomato or even add more tomato puree instead. The tomato puree is different from the tomato paste, using both will add some much texture and flavour to the recipe. The tomato puree is what some call also tomato sauce and it is just pureed tomato. The tomato paste is thicker and more cooked for longer time than puree which give it a much stronger flavour. It usually helps thicken the sauce of your recipe and have more intense deep flavour.Green beans: in this recipe you can use fresh or frozen beans both will give amazing result but avoid canned green beans.Variations: I love to add other veggies to my green bean stew but you can easily skip it. The best variations to try with the green beans stew is koussa (like the recipe above) or potato (just one potato cut into big cubes) or carrots (two carrots sliced). Try these variations because I found them the best match with this stew.Broth: in this recipe I use vegetable broth to keep it vegan. But you can also use any other broth like chicken or beef and you also easily just add water instead. The amount of broth or water depend on how much you like your sauce thinner or thicker.store and meal prep: this recipe is perfect for meal prep. it stays fresh for up to 5 days if stored well in the fridge.