Chickpea, lima bean and tahini casserole
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet

Dinner tonight is a chickpea, lima bean and tahini casserole.
It’s a lovely mixture of beans, vegetables, herbs and a hint of creaminess from the tahini.
It’s based on a recipe from one of my oldest cookery books The Penniless Vegetarian by David Scott (details below). This is a funny little book, full of slightly old-fashioned, British vegetarian cooking.
Definitely not in vogue, but this is the food I grew up with.
It’s simple to make, but does need 45 minutes in the oven. So easy, but not quick.
Chickpea, lima bean and tahini casserole
Serves 4
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, roughly chopped (I do half moons)
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablspoon shoyu
1×450g tin chick peas
1×450g tin lima beans
1×450g tin tomatoes
2 handfuls of continental parsley, roughly chopped
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Saute the vegetables: Put the garlic and olive oil into an ovenproof casserole dish. Place on a medium – high flame. As the oil heats up, the garlic will start cooking and gently release it’s flavours into the oil. Once the garlic starts to sizzle, turn the flame down and add the onions and carrot. Saute gently for about 5 minutes.
Cook the casserole: Take off the heat. Add the rest of the ingredients to the casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook in the oven for about 45 minutes.
All about tahini
For more information about tahini, take a look at these posts:
Ref: Scott D. The Penniless Vegetarian. Rider. London. 1992.

Comments
That book sounds great Kathryn.
Do you think this would freeze well? I’ve been stuck in a lunch rut of late. This is just my kind of thing.
This is just my kind of thing too. Thanks for sharing the recipe, Kathryn. I’ll be giving this a try.
Lucy, I suspect it would. Although I can’t remember ever having frozen it. Usually I make it for dinner one night and then we have the leftovers for lunch.
Cassie, let me know if you do try it. I haven’t cooked this dish for ages, but the current tahini-fest put it back in my head. It’s simple but really good.
The recipe sounds yummy but I have one question-I’ve never heard of shoyu. What is it and where might I find it? (I live in Canada, so you may not be able to answer the second part…)
doh-please disregard previous comment-you answered my questions in your next post!
No worries psychsarah. You should be able to get that in Canada. There’s also tamari, which is a wheat free Japanese soy. Both are heavily used in macro-biotic cooking. And definitely a cut above the normal soy sauce. Good luck with finding it!
Lucy, I’ve just found out Richard put the last portion in the freezer – so I’ll let you know in a couple of days!
I can report back – yes it does freeze. Very well. I had the final portion yesterday
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