Tsaramaso Malagasy (White Bean and Tomato Stew)
Abuja, Nigeria · View all recipes
Overview
Dried white beans cooked until tender, then finished with red onion and sliced tomatoes into a thick, soupy stew. It is Malagasy, and it is served everywhere on the island. It is laoka, which is the useful word here. In Malagasy eating, rice is the meal and laoka is whatever accompanies it, the thing that goes on top of, or beside, a large plate of rice. Tsaramaso is one of the most popular laoka in the country, and it is eaten as a matter of course rather than as an occasion dish. It is very often not vegetarian. Zebu meat, the humped cattle that are central to Malagasy life, makes it hen'omby sy tsaramaso, and pork makes it tsaramaso sy henakisoa. The shank is the cut the source recommends. This version is the plain one, which is also widely eaten. The technique in the recipe is worth noting: the beans are cooked separately in water, seasoned only at the end, and a cup of their cooking liquid is kept back. That liquid is what the finished stew is loosened with, and it carries starch and flavour that plain water would not. The source compares it to cassoulet, which is a reasonable shorthand, beans and meat cooked long and slow, though the seasoning is entirely different.
AFN Heritage Note
Tsaramaso is a Malagasy stew of white beans cooked with tomato and onion, eaten widely across Madagascar as laoka, the accompaniment to rice that forms the centre of a Malagasy meal. Versions with zebu meat or pork are common.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with cold water by about an inch. Bring to the boil over high heat, then turn the heat as low as it will go and cover the pot partly so steam can escape.
- 2
Cook the beans, turning them occasionally, until tender, anywhere from 1 to 2 hours depending on whether they were soaked and how old they are. Keep them covered with water throughout, topping up with hot water as it evaporates.
- 3
Meanwhile, cut the tops off the tomatoes and discard them, squeeze out and discard the seeds, then slice the tomatoes thinly and set aside.
- 4
Once the beans are cooked, season them with salt. Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid, then drain them.
- 5
Warm the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Put in the onion and cook, turning occasionally, until it sizzles and begins to colour at the edges, 2 to 4 minutes.
- 6
Mix in the sliced tomatoes, cover and cook until they begin to break down, about 2 minutes.
- 7
Tip in the beans with the reserved cup of cooking liquid. Cover and bring to the boil.
- 8
Uncover and let it boil until the mixture has thickened noticeably but is still soupy, 5 to 10 minutes.
- 9
Season with salt one final time and serve hot with rice.
Africook’s Notes
- Keep a cup of the bean cooking liquid. It carries starch and flavour, and plain water in its place gives a thinner, blander stew.
- Salt the beans only once they are tender. Salt added early can toughen the skins and lengthen the cooking considerably.
- Soak the beans overnight if you can. It shortens the cooking and helps them cook evenly, though it is not essential.
- Keep the beans covered with water throughout, topping up with hot water. A pot that boils dry gives unevenly cooked beans.
- Leave it soupy rather than reducing it to a paste. Tsaramaso is laoka, it goes over rice and needs some liquid.
- Zebu or pork shank turns it into the meat versions, which is how it is most often eaten in Madagascar.
Reviews
Be the first to rate this recipe
Cooked it? Your rating helps the next person decide whether to try it.
No reviews on this one yet. If you have cooked it, yours would be the first.
You Might Also Like
Browse all Malagasy recipes →
Romazava
Henakisoa sy Ravitoto (Malagasy Pork with Cassava Leaves)
Vary Amin'anana (Malagasy Greens and Rice)
