Chard with Cowpeas (Selaq bil-Loubia)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dried cowpeas (loubia)
• 1 bunch coriander
• Garlic
• 1 bunch chard
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Recipe and method for chard with cowpeas from our friend and home cook on Shou Tabkhin Al-Youm:
• Umm Taha Al-Hamawi
• Click Umm Taha’s name to visit her profile and see all her recipes.
• For more starters try baba ghanoush: Baba Ghanoush
• See this cowpea recipe as well: Loubia Bzeit
• For a mixed bean salad with cowpeas: Five-Bean Salad (video)

Method

1. Soak the cowpeas for about half an hour, then boil them and set aside.
2. Clean the chard leaves and ribs, then separate the leaves from the ribs and chop them.
3. Put water in a pot and boil the ribs first because they take longer to cook than the leaves.
4. When the ribs are cooked, add the chard leaves and let them simmer briefly until the leaves are done. Then drain them and pour very cold water over them to keep the leaves green, then squeeze them lightly by hand to remove excess water.
5. In a frying pan, heat the oil and sauté the crushed or minced garlic with the chopped cilantro until fragrant.
6. When they soften, add the cowpeas and the prepared chard and toss them together.
7. Add salt to taste and sauté them for about seven minutes.
8. Serve the chard with cowpeas hot or cold.
9. Umm Taha Al-Hamwi
10. For more appetizers, here is baba ghanoush — click the link: Baba Ghanoush
11. Here is a link to 'Cowpeas in Oil' for more cowpea recipes
12. Click the link to make the grain salad with cowpeas: Five-Grain Salad — video