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An image of Tangy White Bean Stew in a large ceramic wide mouthed pot, with a hand squeezing lime into the beans.
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Tangy White Beans with Garlic, Tomato, and Lime

Comforting, delicious, and so easy to make using economical staple ingredients, Tangy White Beans with Garlic, Tomato, and Lime is full of the earthy flavours of garlic, cumin, turmeric, and caramelized tomato paste, finished with the enlivening tang of lime juice and fresh green herbs.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoon Turkish tomato and red pepper paste substitute standard tomato paste as needed
  • 2 cans of navy beans white pea beans, or other small creamy white beans, drained and rinsed (about 4 cups of drained beans)
  • 1.5 teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground tumeric
  • 2 cloves finely minced garlic
  • 2 cups vegetable broth
  • Salt to taste
  • Juice of ½ - 1 lime more to taste as needed
  • small handful of mint leaves finely chopped
  • small handful of coriander leaves finely chopped

Instructions

  • Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan on medium heat. Add the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes until the tomato paste is sizzling and darkened.
  • Adjust heat to low, add the spices and the minced garlic, and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, making sure the garlic doesn’t brown or burn, until the garlic and cumin are fragrant.
  • Add in the broth and whisk until the tomato paste is fully incorporated, then gently pour in the beans and stir.
  • Return heat to medium high until beans are simmering and bubbling, and cook for about 10-12 minutes until the stock has reduced and the sauce has thickened, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking. Towards the end of the cooking time, if you like your beans quite brothy, you can add in a bit more stock, or if you like them nice and thick like I do, you can let the liquid reduce a little more. The cooked beans will also thicken a little bit as they cool from pan to table.
  • Taste for salt; usually due to the saltiness of canned beans and the tomato paste, none is needed.
  • Squeeze in the lime juice and taste, beans should be earthy and bright; add more lime if desired.
  • Mound into your serving dish, top with the mint and coriander, and enjoy!