Lebanese Tomato Stew
As a child, I would get really excited when my mom made this stew because it was my favorite. Although the ingredients are really simple, this stew is a labor of love. It is perfect for tomato season when you get get your hands on an abundance of tomatoes. But if you don’t have fresh tomatoes on hand or simply don’t have the time to spend preparing the tomatoes then a can of diced tomatoes will do the trick!
This video is really special to me as well because I prepared it with my maternal grandmother. Although I had to run after her with the camera to take the shots (haha) I’m happy to have this memory of her preparing my favorite dish on record.
Recipe:
30 ripe vine tomatoes (as a quick alternative you can use canned diced tomato)
1 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1/4 cup Lebanese pine nuts
1 lb. ground beef
3 tsp Lebanese 7 spices
2 tsp salt (or more to taste)
This recipe is served with a side of vermicelli rice or jasmine rice
Directions:
To prepare the tomatoes:
We use fresh tomatoes for the best taste and it gives us an opportunity to use up any ripe tomatoes we have for the season. However, you can use diced canned tomatoes if you are short on time.
Wash all you tomatoes well with cold water.
In a large pot, fill the pot half way with water and place it on the stove to boil. (large enough to fit the water and your tomatoes)
Using a knife, score your tomatoes on the bottom. Meaning make a very light cut to the skin of the tomato. This will help with peeling the skin off.
Place the tomatoes in the boiling water, reduce the heat to a simmer and occasionally mix the tomatoes so the top ones get the same heat as the bottom ones.
Drain the hot water from the pot and set aside to cool the tomatoes.
Once cooled so you are able to touch the tomatoes, start peeling the skin off and discarding it.
Once the skin is off the tomato, then split it in half and remove the seed from the inside. Set the seeds inside in a separate bowl.
We will not use the tomato skin or seeds in this recipe, only the flesh, but some tomato sauce can come out of the inside so we use a sieve to drain it later.
Cut the tomato flesh that is remaining into cubes and place in a pot.
Place a sieve above the pot, and try to drain as much of the liquid from the bowl with seeds as you can. Make sure you avoid the seeds getting into the pot of diced tomatoes. Discard the seeds.
Place the diced tomatoes on medium heat and bring to a boil.
Preparing the meat for the stew:
Traditionally this recipe is made with ground beef but you can also use small diced stew meat.
In a medium frying pan, at the cooking oil and heat the pan.
Add the pine nuts and toast it until it’s golden then set aside on a plate.
Add the ground beef to the same frying pan and carefully sauté it until it’s cooked and all the liquid is evaporated.
Sprinkle the spices and salt onto the ground beef and mix well. Then add the pine nuts back into the pan with the meat.
Place the meat mixture on top of the cooking diced tomatoes and mix well.
Place a lid on top of the pot and allow it to simmer for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
Once the tomato is soften, the stew is complete. You can serve this dish with jasmine or vermicelli rice. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
