Large meaty Christmas lima beans with tomato and celery and garlic is a delicious stew-like vegan dish. My favorite way to serve these beans is over steamed brown rice and sautéed dark leafy greens.
Christmas limas are huge beans, at least twice the size of a black bean. They’re an hierloom bean with a full-bodied velvety chestnut texture and nutty flavor .
Aren’t these maroon-spotted babies beautiful?
Christmas lima beans need an overnight soak to come out with a tender texture when cooked.
Other than the long soaking time, the recipe is easy. The best and fastest cooking method for Christmas lima beans is in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Cooked in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, using beans you’ve soaked overnight, this meal will be ready in 45 minutes!
>>>> For pressure cooking: Bring the cooker to pressure and cook the soaked beans 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally, 10 to 15 minutes.
>>>> For regular stove-top cooking, simmer the soaked beans with onions and garlic and tomatoes and celery until they’re tender.
For a sumptuous vegetarian meal ladle this soul food stew over steamed brown rice and sautéed dark leafy greens like kale, collards, or spinach.
To learn more about cooking beans in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot–see this post on How to Cook Black Beans in a pressure cooker.
Sometimes you can find Christmas limas in bulk bins. I order mine fom Rancho Gordo.
This recipe for Potato and Pinto Bean Soup would also be delicious made with Christmas limas instead of the pintos.
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Christmas Lima Beans with Tomato and Celery
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried Christmas lima beans
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion , chopped
- 2 celery ribs , sliced 3/8 inch thick
- 2 cloves garlic cloves , minced
- 14.5 ounces (1 can) diced tomatoes
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper or freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Rinse the beans and put them in a bowl, covering them amply with cold water. Let soak at least 8 hours or, ideally, overnight.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pot or pressure cooker over medium flame. Stir in the onion, celery and garlic, and sauté until the onions soften, 5 minutes or so.
- Add the tomatoes, water, sage, bay leaf and pepper. Drain the soaked beans, rinse again, and add them into the pot.
- For pressure cooker: Bring the cooker to pressure and cook 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally, 10 to 15 minutes.
- For regular stovetop cooking: Bring to a boil, lower the heat so the liquid simmers just below a boil, and cook until the beans are tender, 2 to 2 ½ hours. (Check the pot every so often and top with more water if the level is getting low.)
- Remove the bay leaf and stir in the salt. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve over rice and cooked kale or collards or chard, something green.
Excellent!! · 19 August, 2020