I first encountered Ottolenghi’s food in Chelsea, London. Those fancy cakes didn’t impress me though, I still long to try their food due to its popularity. And the first Ottolenghi recipe I tried out is this short-cut bkeila I’ve made for Curry Boy’s birthday lunch (to show I put some effort haha!)
What is Bkeila?
I never heard of bkelia before, but according to Wikipedia and the cookbook Ottolenghi flavour, bkeila is a Tunisian Jewish stew or condiment made from beans and spinach, the other names are called pkaila, bkaïl, or pkela. Traditionally, it requires long hours to cook, thus it is often prepared for holidays.
What I Like about this Ottolenghi Recipe
- Simple ingredients. As a family who always cooks Indian food, I had almost every required ingredient on hand and ready to start cooking.
- Easy to cook. The cooking steps are straight forward and easy to follow. Everything happens in one pot. It just takes some time to cook.
- Humble flavour, good with flatbread. The main flavour profile comes from slow-cooked spinach and spices. Compared to Indian food, the less-oil-and-spice cooking makes it taste mild and easy to eat. I especially like to pair it with an easy naan.
A Few Notes before You Cook
- The darker the spinach, the more intense the flavour. Traditionally, the spinach needs to be cooked for long hours to intensify the flavour. But of course, nowadays, we don’t have time to cook in that way. Just bear in mind that the longer you cook the spinach, the richer flavour you can get.
- Reduce the stock to achieve a thicker consistency. I followed the cookbook recipe using 500 ml vegetable stock, but I found it a bit too watery and tried to cook it longer to make it thicker. So, if you want it to be less soupy, try to start with 400 ml stock and add gradually if required.
Ingredients
Serves: 2
- 40 g fresh coriander (plus more for garnish)
- 15 g parsley
- 300 g baby spinach
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ½ regular size onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- fresh green chilli, deseeded
- ¾ tbsp ground cumin
- ½ tbsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¾ tsp sugar
- lemon juice
- 500 g vegetable stock
- 250 g potatoes, cut into 3cm pieces
- 400 g butter beans (tin)
- salt
How to Make Ottolenghi’s Potato and Butter Bean Stew
- Heat the spinach and herbs in a dry frying pan until wilted. Cover to speed up the process if desired. Then whiz them in a blender and set aside.
- Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a big pan over medium-low heat. Fry the onions until nicely coloured, about 8-10 minutes. Then add the garlic, chillies and spices to cook for a further 6-8 minutes, stirring often, until they are fragrant.
- Now, stir in the spinach paste together with 1 tablespoon of oil. Let it cook for more than 10 minutes over medium-high heat, and you want the spinach to look really dry and dark green to greyish-coloured. Stirring from time to time to make sure the spinach doesn’t burn.
- Then add sugar, lemon juice, stock, 1 teaspoon of salt and bring to a simmer. Stir in the potatoes and cook over low heat for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.
- Finally, add the butter beans and cook for 5 minutes more to let them heat through. Garnish with more fresh coriander before serving.
