Chef Zohra
Bakoula (بقولة)
Mallow greens cooked soft and dark with garlic, cumin, preserved lemon, and olives, the Moroccan cooked salad that tastes of spring rain and a loaf of khobz shared warm.
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Salade de Loubia (لوبيا)
Created by
Tender white beans drink a warm chermoula of garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, and tomato, then rest until the oil shines on them. Eat it cool, with khobz and room for one more hand.
Salads
Moroccan
Budget Friendly
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•9 hr 35 min total
Yield6 servings
The beans are ready when they stop resisting the spoon but still hold their shape. That is the whole care of loubia in salad form: not chalky, not broken into paste, but tender enough to drink the chermoula while they're still warm.
You cook them first with patience, then you wake the garlic, cumin, paprika, and tomato in olive oil just until the smell rises. Warm beans take seasoning better than cold ones. This is why the marinade goes on before the bowl goes to rest, so each bean carries the sauce inside and not only on its skin.
Salade de loubia belongs to the spread of small Moroccan salads, the plates that arrive before the main dish and somehow become the reason everyone tears more bread. It's budget food, yes, but never careless. Make it ahead, serve it cool, and put the bowl in the center. Une table, c'est une porte qu'on laisse ouverte, a table is a door you leave open.
Loubia, the white bean, became common in Morocco after New World beans moved through Atlantic and Mediterranean trade in the 16th and 17th centuries, then settled into city and home cooking from the north to the east. The tomato-and-spice treatment is a later layer, tied to the spread of tomatoes in North African kitchens after the Columbian exchange rather than to medieval Andalusi cooking. Recipes vary by region and household, some serving loubia as a hot stew and others as a cool salad in the kemia spread, one small proof that there are des cuisines marocaines, not one fixed Moroccan cuisine.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried white beans
Quantity
300g
soaked overnight
bay leaf
Quantity
1
onion
Quantity
1 small
halved
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely grated
extra-virgin olive oil
Quantity
3 tbsp
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
2
grated, or 200g canned crushed tomato
tomato paste
Quantity
1 tbsp
ground cumin
Quantity
1 1/2 tsp
sweet paprika
Quantity
1 tsp
cayenne pepper (optional)
Quantity
1/4 tsp
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 tsp, plus more for the bean water
fresh coriander
Quantity
2 tbsp
chopped
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tbsp
chopped
lemon juice or mild vinegar
Quantity
1 tbsp, to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
extra olive oil (optional)
Quantity
for finishing
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried white beanssoaked overnight | 300g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| onionhalved | 1 small |
| garlic clovesfinely grated | 3 |
| extra-virgin olive oil | 3 tbsp |
| ripe tomatoesgrated, or 200g canned crushed tomato | 2 |
| tomato paste | 1 tbsp |
| ground cumin | 1 1/2 tsp |
| sweet paprika | 1 tsp |
| cayenne pepper (optional) | 1/4 tsp |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 tsp, plus more for the bean water |
| fresh corianderchopped | 2 tbsp |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tbsp |
| lemon juice or mild vinegar | 1 tbsp, to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| extra olive oil (optional) | for finishing |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium heavy pot for simmering beans
- •Wide pan for the chermoula
- •Shallow beldi bowl or serving platter
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
Rinse the dried white beans, cover them with plenty of cold water, and leave them overnight. They should swell and lose their wrinkled look. Drain them before cooking, because the soaking water has done its work and you don't need to carry it into the pot.
- 2
Simmer until tender
Put the soaked beans in a pot with fresh water to cover by 5 cm, the bay leaf, and the halved onion. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the beans are tender all the way through, 60 to 75 minutes depending on their age. Salt them in the last 15 minutes. Taste a bean, don't trust the clock; old beans make liars of clocks.
Keep the simmer gentle. A hard boil splits the skins before the centers are ready. - 3
Start the chermoula
While the beans cook, warm the olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the grated garlic and stir just until it smells sweet, not brown. Add the grated tomato, tomato paste, cumin, paprika, cayenne if you're using it, salt, and black pepper. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, until the tomato thickens and the oil begins to show at the edges.
- 4
Marinate warm
Drain the beans, saving a small cup of their cooking liquid. Discard the onion and bay leaf. Add the warm beans to the pan with the chermoula and fold gently so you don't crush them. If the sauce feels tight, add a spoon or two of bean liquid. Warm beans drink the seasoning, and that is why you don't wait until they're cold.
- 5
Finish the salad
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the coriander, parsley, and lemon juice or vinegar. Taste for salt and acid. La balance est dans les yeux, and here also in the mouth: the salad should taste rounded, garlicky, and bright enough to make you reach for bread.
- 6
Rest and serve
Let the loubia rest at least 1 hour, or chill it for later and bring it back toward room temperature before serving. Spoon it into a shallow bowl, gloss it with a little olive oil, and set it out with khobz. It is eaten cool, not cold from the back of the refrigerator.
Chef Tips
- •Use beans from a shop with turnover. No gesture rescues beans that have sat for years; they'll cook outside and stay hard at the heart.
- •Toast whole cumin and grind it if you can. With spices, cooking becomes alchemy, but only when the spice still has life in it.
- •If your tomatoes are pale and tired, use good canned crushed tomato. The market always has an answer, and canned tomato in winter is more honest than a hard pink one.
- •This salad should rest. One hour is useful, overnight is better, and the bowl will taste fuller the next day.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans the night before, then cook and marinate the salad up to 2 days ahead.
- •If making ahead, hold back a little coriander and parsley to stir in before serving so the bowl tastes fresh.
- •Bring the salad out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before the table. Olive oil and beans speak better when they aren't ice-cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
270 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
330 mg
Total Carbohydrates
34 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
12 g
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