Kookoo Loobia Sabz - Green Beans Kookoo

کوکو لوبیا سبز Green beans (loobia sabz) makes a great side for most meat and chicken dishes and may also be served as a light and healthy vegetarian dinner. There are other popular and tasty Iranian dishes made with green beans such as, Rice with Green Beans (Loobia Polow) or Chicken with Green Beans (Khorake Morgh) which both are a favorite of mine. I may sound like a broken record but I love all Persian food except for perhaps one or two dishes, everything else is just unbelievably amazing!

 

Fresh green beans are best when they are in season during the summer. Where I live, however, I can buy them all year round yet I still prefer buying the frozen packages which are already cleaned and cut, it saves a little time. Have you noticed that there are no more strings in string beans? Whatever happened to them? I guess the same thing that happened to the watermelon seeds over the years! Wasn't it annoying to remove all those strings one by one? Cleaning string beans used to be one of the chores that I didn't care much about at all. It wasn't easy to take hold of the tip of the string and pull it down the side all the way to the end without breaking it in at least two places. Compared to that cleaning the rest of the vegetables seemed relatively easy.

Kookoo Loobia Sabz - Green Beans Kookoo

Ingredients:

Serves 4-6

2 lbs green beans, fresh if frozen (thawed)

1 small green pepper  (it adds aroma) optional

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons flour (I used chickpea flour)

1/3 teaspoon turmeric

1/3 teaspoon powdered saffron dissolved in 2 tablespoons of hot water

2 tablespoons oil for frying

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter (melted)

1/3 teaspoon red pepper (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Juice of a lime/lemon

Method:

1. Heat oil in a small frying pan on medium heat. Add the onion slices, saute until golden, add turmeric, and stir. Add chopped garlic and saute for another 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. If using fresh green beans, remove the ends and wash. If using frozen beans leave them out to thaw and rinse.
3. Place green beans and 1/2 cup of water in a medium-size pan and bring to a boil. Add a pinch of salt and cook for 5-7 minutes on medium heat until they soften. Remove from heat, drain and let it cool.
4. Chop up the green beans and the green bell pepper finely if you like a smooth kookoo. I leave them somewhat coarse.  It all depends on your taste. You may also chop the vegetables before steaming them but I find the process to be easier afterward. I use a food processor and pulse it a few times for each batch.
5. In a large mixing bowl combine green beans, green pepper, sauteed onion and garlic, flour, eggs, olive oil, saffron, lemon juice, red pepper, salt and black pepper. Mix well.
6. Pour the mixture into an oven-proof serving dish, cover loosely with a foil, and place in the 350 degrees preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes. Remove the foil in the last 20 minutes. 

Serve with warm bread, mast o khiar, torshi and salad.


Enjoy!