Lubia

Egypt's black-eyed peas stewed in tomato sauce with onion, garlic, and a little beef, eaten over rice cooked with toasted vermicelli

Origin: Cairo & Lower Egypt

From the journey of Cowpea.

Lubia is the Egyptian name for the black-eyed pea and for the dish, and it is one of the standing stews of the Egyptian home kitchen, cooked in the same way as its companions bisella, peas, and fasolia, green beans: the vegetable simmered in a sauce of tomato, onion, and garlic, usually with a little beef or lamb and its broth, and eaten over roz bil shaʿriya, rice cooked with vermicelli fried golden in butter or ghee. Without the meat it suits the long fasts of the Coptic calendar, and it is often made that way. The name is very old. Galen, the second-century physician, used lobia for the green pods of a pulse that most translators take to be the cowpea, and the word passed into Arabic as lūbiyā. How early the plant itself reached Egypt is disputed: a nineteenth-century identification of cowpeas in Fifth Dynasty tombs is still quoted, but modern archaeobotany has not confirmed it.

Ingredients

Lubia

250 g dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight
300 g stewing beef, cut into 3 cm cubes (optional)
2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato paste
400 g passata or finely chopped tomatoes
0.5 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
0.5 tsp black pepper
500 ml beef broth (from the meat) or water

Vermicelli Rice

300 g Egyptian or other short-grain rice, rinsed
50 g vermicelli, broken into short pieces
2 tbsp butter or ghee
550 ml water
1 tsp salt

Method

If using beef, brown it in 1 tablespoon of the ghee, cover with 750 ml of water, add a pinch of salt, and simmer for about an hour until nearly tender. Keep the broth.
Drain the black-eyed peas, cover with fresh water, and boil for 20 to 25 minutes until almost tender. Drain.
Heat the remaining ghee in a heavy pan and fry the onion for 8 minutes until golden. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato paste, and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the passata, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper, then the peas, the beef if using, and 500 ml of the broth or water.
Simmer, partly covered, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the peas are creamy and the sauce has thickened.
For the rice, melt the butter in a pan and fry the vermicelli, stirring, until deep golden. Add the rice and stir to coat it, then add the water and salt. Bring to the boil, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 15 to 18 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes.
Serve the lubia spooned over the rice.

Notes

Two 400 g tins of black-eyed peas, rinsed, can replace the dried peas; add them with the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes. For the Coptic fasting version, leave out the beef, use oil in place of ghee, and cook the rice in oil.

The Gastrographer

Name: Lubia
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Cairo & Lower Egypt
Ingredients: 250 g dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight; 300 g stewing beef, cut into 3 cm cubes (optional); 2 tbsp ghee or vegetable oil; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 400 g passata or finely chopped tomatoes; 0.5 tsp ground coriander; 0.5 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp salt; 0.5 tsp black pepper; 500 ml beef broth (from the meat) or water; 300 g Egyptian or other short-grain rice, rinsed; 50 g vermicelli, broken into short pieces; 2 tbsp butter or ghee; 550 ml water; 1 tsp salt

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control