Egyptian Lahma Bil Basal (Beef in Rich Onion Sauce)
"This is AMAZING! Very popular, SIMPLE dish made in Egyptian households. Once you make it, it will become a favorite for sure. The key is in the onion's consistency once they cook down to the delicious thick sauce. Anyway enjoy, serve with rice or your favorite pasta. Enjoy!"
photo by Engrossed
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 453.59 g stewing beef (you can cut each piece in half if you want)
- 4 onions (sliced super thin)
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 bay leaf
- 29.58 ml butter
- 14.79 ml canola oil (or oil of your choice, but NOT olive oil for this)
- water
- salt & pepper
directions
- Wash the meat well. Put into a saucepan with butter and oil. Cook until all beef lightly browned.
- Add all sliced onions, bouillon cubes, salt and pepper, bay leaf and stir around cooking on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
- Add water, approximately 1-1/2 cups, turn to low, cover and cook for 2 hours or more.
- Check during cooking, add more water if too dry. But the onions should give enough liquid with initial water you added.
- When finished you should have super tender beef with a thick oniony sauce. The onions will have cooked down to a thick rich sauce.
- Serve with rice, pita bread or your favorite pasta, yes pasta; makes a great, different sauce really.
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Reviews
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Very good. I didn't add quite as much water and ended up with a lovely tasty sauce. Thanks for posting! -
Mmmm very aromatic! I used the crock pot and a very economical cut of beef. It was fabulous. WARNING: 9 year olds who do not like onions won't eat this dish ;) -
Great flavor. Tastes good over rice or on a pita. I will definitely be making this again. -
DH trimmed out a beef tenderloin for steaks, and left a pile of chunks -- a tad less than 1 pound. I followed the recipe and simmered for about 2 1/2 hours, and it was still juicy, so let it simmer another 30 minutes without the lid, and served with mashed potatoes. Since the cut was more tender than the usual beef cubes, this almost melted in your mouth ! Very tasty -- will save to do again. Thanks for posting ! -
Fantastic recipe. I cooked this uncovered for two hours and had no trouble with the consistency. It ended up with about the same consistency of beef stroganoff and everyone raved about it. We served this over wide egg noodles. Thanks for this great recipe!
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Tweaks
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Wow. I wasnt sure if I should use large or small onions so I used 2 large and 1 medium. Next time I will use 4 large because it will give me more yummy sauce. My husband took leftovers to work (at a finnish steel mill) He said he had a crowd of men came to smell his lunch. They all wanted the recipe. So easy to make. I didnt have any oil other then olive so I used more butter instead of oil. I also have to uncover this dish the last 30 minutes of cooking to cook out some of the H20. I do that until I get the right consistancy.
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OH YEAH! This is so very EASY and so very WONDERFUL! I wasn't sure why it uses chicken bouillion instead of beef but went with the recipe and got EXCELLENT results! I used frozen stewing beef and white onions. I cooked it for 5 hours over low heat on my stovetop...I uncovered it the last hour to condense the sauce...I think I had more liquid than normal because I started with frozen meat. The onions just melted down into a rich sauce and the beef was so tender it just fell apart. It's also VERY FLAVORFUL. I can see how this is very popular and think it should be everywhere! Made for PAC Spring 2007.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I'm an American living in Cairo, have lots of free time and love to cook! My friend told me I know the science of food, that I am a food scientist; I was like what??? She said that I put together ingredients that she would never think of, that I know what goes with what, what tastes and works... honestly I really don't know about that, but I do love cooking. I like experimenting and making delicious, but simple meals. I love fresh ingredients, spices and enjoy preparing food for friends. I am so pleased when I see the enjoyment they get from my food. Please be patient with my recipe posts, some may seem lengthy, but I like to explain well so you will get it the first time. I appreciate this from others, so I hope you will too. Also, I never measure anything, so I will try my best to give measurements that will work for you. Anyway, enjoy my recipes on food.com!</p>
