Haitian Legumes

This is another one of my favorites that we used to serve as a whole meal with some rice and fried plantains. It is one of the best ways to serve eggplant; with cabbage, carrots, spinach, watercress, & chayotte. I have had it as a meatless dish and also, with crab, or beef & beef bones with marrow. This is a combination of many recipes and in my attempt to get the right amounts to post I may have had to guesstimate a few times. Please forgive me!

• Ready In: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2  lbs  round steaks, trimmed of all fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1⁄4-1⁄2 cup  vegetable oil
• 1  eggplant, chopped into 2-inch cubes
• 1  chayote (militon)
• 2  green bell peppers, chopped into 2-inch pieces, divided
• 3  scallions, chopped fine
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
•  fresh parsley, chopped
• 1  large head of cabbage, remove outer leaves, core and chop into 2-inch pieces
• 20  ounces  frozen fordhook lima beans
• 12  ounces  frozen string beans, chopped into 2-inch pieces
• 2 -3  peeled and sliced carrots, into 2-inch pieces
• 1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach
• 1  bunch watercress, chopped
• 4 -5  Maggi chicken cubes (chicken bouillon soup cubes)
• 1⁄2-3⁄4 cup tomato paste
• 2 -3  lemons, juice of
•  salt, to taste
•  fresh ground black pepper, to taste
•  garlic powder, to taste
•  haitian spicy vinegar (Pikliz my Spicy Vinegar of Haiti - Picklese (Pikliz))
•  seasoning, powder (Adobo seasoning)

Directions

1. Wash beef with lime juice, & salt; allow to marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Rinse with cold water.
3. Make a paste from green pepper, green onions, parsley, garlic and vinegar; rub it on meat and let marinate for about 30 minutes.
4. Brown beef in small amount of oil.
5. Add tomato paste, seasonings and water to cover the beef.
6. Add chopped green bell pepper and place on top of the beef while it is cooking.
7. Let the beef cook until tender, continually adding tomato paste mixture as needed, so beef does not burn or dry out.
8. After meat is tender, bring a large pot with a medium amount of water to a boil and start placing in the vegetables.
9. First, add the cabbage and eggplant, next add the lima beans and green beans. Add the carrots, and chayottes - allow to steam until somewhat tender, then add spinach and watercress.
10. Pour some oil over the vegetables, add the butter and 1 Maggi cube - continue to let steam till tender.
11. Once tender, add the vegetables to beef mixture and stir everything together.
12. Let cook for another 10-20 minutes.
13. Taste, adjust seasonings.
14. If necessary, add another Maggi cube.
15. Taste again, and adjust all the seasonings.
16. This also goes very well with white rice and black beans or kidney beans, that have been cooked down and blended in a blender to make sauce pois(bean sauce).
17. Enjoy!