Lebanese Green Pea Stew

This is our childhood version of the traditional Lebanese Green Pea Stew. It’s inspired by my mom’s recipe. She never wrote it down for me but I was able to recreate it… Kiki liked everything to be about the same size in that dish. She used the smallest green peas she could find, ground beef and small diced carrots. Compared to our family version, the more traditional renditions of this dish look rustic with big pieces of carrots and chunks of meat. Not with Kiki… everything is cute, tiny, small and can be eaten with a spoon from a bowl. Serve this stew with white rice. Or pasta!

Lebanese Green Pea Stew
Bazella w-Riz

Recipe credits: Rafaella Sargi
Serves 6

Ingredients
4 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups boiling water
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground beef
Ground allspice
Sea salt
1 pinch of ground cinnamon
1 cup carrots, small diced
2 cups homemade chicken stock (or low-sodium if using store bought chicken stock)*
1 to 2 cups water
2 pounds (approx. 1 kg) frozen green peas** (I use petite green peas)

Directions
Prep all the ingredients.
You will need one large pot with a lid and a mug.

Dissolve the tomato paste in two cups of boiling water in a mug. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the extra virgin olive oil. Add the chopped onions with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt. Cook over medium-high heat until the onions are translucent and soft. Add the ground beef with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of ground allspice and a pinch of cinnamon. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes. Add the chopped carrots and let them cook with the meat until the carrots are soft and the meat completely cooked through and just starting to caramelize. Pour the 2 cups of chicken stock and the tomato-paste-water mixture into the pot. Mix well and combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium-low, cover and let it cook for 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt and more ground allspice if you need to.

Add the frozen peas (no need to thaw!) to the pot. To that you will need to add one or two cups of water. The peas should be just submerged in the liquids,… you are making a stew, not a soup! One cup may be enough,… you can always add another one later. Bring back to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and cook, covered for another 30 minutes.

Taste and correct seasoning.
Serve with white rice.

*Be careful with the salt. Store bought chicken stock is usually very (very!) salty. Keep that in mind when you season your dish… My advice is to under salt the steps prior to the stock addition. Remember: “you can always add if you need to!” But it will be mission impossible to remove the salt excess.
**Sweet garden peas or Petite Green Peas are smaller in size with a more tender skin and a delicate sweet flavor. The regular ones tend to be dryer or even starchy.