Chef Zohra
Adss (عدس)
Brown lentils cooked down with tomato, garlic, cumin, and paprika until spoon-thick, then finished with olive oil and coriander. This is weekday Moroccan comfort, made for bread and one more bowl.
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Loubia (لوبيا)
Created by
White beans turn creamy in a tomato-cumin pot with garlic, paprika, and olive oil, the weekday loubia you set in the middle so every hand can reach with bread.
Soups & Stews
Moroccan
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Weeknight
15 min
Active Time
1 hr 30 min cook•1 hr 45 min total
Yield6 servings
The white beans begin hard and pale, nothing much to look at, and then the pot teaches them generosity. They drink the tomato, the garlic, the cumin, the olive oil, and little by little they give back their starch until the sauce turns creamy without a drop of cream. That is the whole secret of loubia: don't rush the bean. Let it soften until it thickens its own sauce.
This is not festival food. It is the pot you make when the week is long, when the bread is fresh, when someone may arrive hungry and you need the table to stretch. In Morocco, loubia belongs to home kitchens and small cafés, served hot in a bowl with khobz torn by hand. The spoon helps, but the bread does the real work.
Keep the flame gentle. A fierce boil splits the skins before the centers are tender, and then the stew looks tired. A slow simmer gives you beans that hold their shape but melt under the spoon. La balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes: if the sauce looks tight, give it water; if it looks thin, let it reduce.
Make enough for tomorrow. Loubia deepens overnight, and a table is a door you leave open.
Common beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, came from the Americas and entered North African cooking after the 16th-century Atlantic and Mediterranean trade, so this white-bean loubia is younger than Morocco's medieval fava and chickpea dishes. Tomatoes became regular in Moroccan markets much later, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the stew settled into family kitchens and worker cafés from the Atlantic cities to Oujda. Its exact first Moroccan pot is not recorded; this is a dish carried by home cooks more than palace scribes.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried white beans
Quantity
450g
soaked overnight and drained
olive oil
Quantity
4 tbsp, plus more for serving
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely chopped or grated
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
grated or minced
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
3
grated, or 400g canned crushed tomatoes
tomato paste
Quantity
2 tbsp
sweet paprika
Quantity
2 tsp
ground cumin
Quantity
2 tsp
plus a pinch more to finish if needed
ground ginger
Quantity
1 tsp
ground turmeric
Quantity
1/2 tsp
cayenne or hot paprika (optional)
Quantity
1/4 tsp
bay leaf (optional)
Quantity
1
fresh coriander and parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
chopped, divided
sea salt
Quantity
1 1/2 tsp, plus more to taste
black pepper
Quantity
1/2 tsp
water
Quantity
1.5 to 2 liters, more as needed
round khobz
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried white beanssoaked overnight and drained | 450g |
| olive oil | 4 tbsp, plus more for serving |
| onionfinely chopped or grated | 1 large |
| garlic clovesgrated or minced | 4 |
| ripe tomatoesgrated, or 400g canned crushed tomatoes | 3 |
| tomato paste | 2 tbsp |
| sweet paprika | 2 tsp |
| ground cuminplus a pinch more to finish if needed | 2 tsp |
| ground ginger | 1 tsp |
| ground turmeric | 1/2 tsp |
| cayenne or hot paprika (optional) | 1/4 tsp |
| bay leaf (optional) | 1 |
| fresh coriander and parsleychopped, divided | 1 small bunch |
| sea salt | 1 1/2 tsp, plus more to taste |
| black pepper | 1/2 tsp |
| water | 1.5 to 2 liters, more as needed |
| round khobz | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •5 to 6 liter heavy pot or pressure cooker
- •Wooden spoon
- •Wide beldi serving bowl
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
Pick through the beans, rinse them well, and soak them overnight in plenty of cool water. Drain them before cooking. If a bean is very old, it will need more time, not more force; no gesture rescues a tired ingredient, but patience helps an honest one.
- 2
Build the base
Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it softens and turns glossy, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, tomato paste, paprika, cumin, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cayenne if using, and half the chopped herbs. Cook until the tomato paste darkens a shade and the spices smell full, about 2 minutes.
- 3
Add tomatoes
Add the grated tomatoes and cook until they lose their raw edge and the oil begins to show at the sides of the pot, 8 to 10 minutes. This little reduction matters because watery tomato makes a flat sauce; cooked tomato gives the beans something deep to drink.
- 4
Simmer gently
Add the drained beans, bay leaf if using, salt, and 1.5 liters water. Bring just to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer gently, partly covered, until the beans are tender, 75 to 90 minutes. Stir now and then, and add hot water if the beans rise above the liquid.
For a pressure cooker, use about 1.25 liters water and cook 30 to 35 minutes under pressure, then uncover and reduce the sauce until glossy. - 5
Thicken the sauce
When the beans are soft, uncover the pot and simmer until the sauce coats a spoon. Mash a small ladle of beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in. That gives body without changing the dish. Taste for salt and cumin; the scale is in the eyes, but the mouth has the final word.
- 6
Serve with bread
Turn off the heat and let the loubia rest for 10 minutes. Stir in most of the remaining herbs, spoon into a warm communal bowl, and finish with a thread of olive oil and the last herbs. Serve with torn khobz so everyone can reach into the same sauce.
Chef Tips
- •Use dried beans that haven't sat in a cupboard for years. Old beans can stay chalky no matter how kindly you speak to them.
- •Loubia doesn't need ras el hanout, saffron, or preserved lemon. Its grammar is tomato, garlic, cumin, paprika, herbs, and olive oil. Dress it in festival spices and it becomes another dish.
- •Keep the simmer gentle. A hard boil breaks the skins before the centers soften, and you lose that creamy bean against glossy sauce.
- •Add water as the pot asks for it. Beans don't all drink the same amount, and la balance est dans les yeux.
- •Serve with khobz, not rice. The bread is how this stew belongs on the Moroccan table.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans the night before, 8 to 12 hours.
- •Loubia is very good made a day ahead. Cool it, refrigerate it, and reheat gently with a splash of water until the sauce loosens again.
- •The chopped herbs and grated tomatoes can be prepared a few hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 440g)
Calories
550 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
880 mg
Total Carbohydrates
81 g
Dietary Fiber
15 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
23 g
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