Fassoulyeh b'Lah'meh (Syrian Cholent)

On Shabbat Torah observant Jews do not cook. That does not mean that we can't enjoy hot food. One of the ways that this is accomplished is by using a crock pot. You put in the food before Shabbat starts and turn the crock pot on low. The next day you have hot food for lunch ( you can also put your challah on top of the crock pot and enjoy warm bread for lunch). My favorite thing about this recipe is you can prepare it on a Monday, put it in the freezer and put it in the crock pot frozen on Friday right before Shabbat. This means that you have one less thing that needs to get done of Thursday night!

The Fassoulyeh cooks for between 20 hours in the winter to about 16 hours in the summer (this is because Shabbat begins at 4:30 in the winter and 8:30 in the summer). I'm sure you could use this recipe for a weeknight dinner. My assumption is that if you put it on in the morning it should be done by the time you get home.

1lb of great white northern beans
2 lbs flanken
White flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
2 -3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 can tomato paste
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Pepper to taste


1. Soak beans overnight (you can also use sprouted beans).

2. Saute onions in olive oil until golden. Remove with a spoon leaving the oil in the pan.

3. Dredge flanken in flour and brown on both sides in the pan that you sauteed the onions in.

4. Put the flanken on the bottom of a 5 or 6 quart crock pot. Put the sauteed onion, garlic and soaked beans on top of the meat.

5. Add 4 cups of water, the tomato paste, cinnamon, allspice, sugar, salt and pepper and combine with the water without stirring the beans and meat up.

6. If you are going to freeze it put it in the freezer.

7. Put it in the crock pot, cook on low over night and eat for lunch!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I must try this recipe-it looks great!
Shira said…
We also add eggs and potatoes. The kids love them.
Emily said…
So funny - I'm making cholent and popped over to my Google Reader to check blog updates :) Mine also has potatoes and I add eggs on top. The potatoes are good b/c they're cheap filler when you're trying to fill up lots of people ;) I'll give yours a try next time!
Shira and Emily,

I used to add potatoes but the recipe that this variation comes from only had bean and that's the way my family expects it on Shabbat! If you do use this recipe and put potatoes in it let me know how it comes out.

UWSM

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