🥙 LUNCH
Fasoolia (White Bean Stew)
White beans simmered soft in a spiced tomato and onion sauce warm with cumin and cinnamon, eaten with bread or rice.
Djiboutian · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 40 min
~314 cal · 13g protein · 43g carbs · 11g fat · 10g fiber · 8g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fasoolia is the everyday bean stew of Djibouti and the wider Horn of Africa, white beans simmered soft in a tomato and onion base warmed with cumin, coriander and a whisper of cinnamon. The Arab and Red Sea influences on Djiboutian cooking are written all through its spicing.
It is home cooking at its most economical and satisfying, shared straight from the pot with flatbread or rice. Slow simmering gives the beans a velvety texture and lets the spices settle into the sauce.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 3 cups cooked white beans
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (400 g) chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- to taste salt
Instructions
- 1Soften the onions in the olive oil until translucent, then add the garlic and cook a minute more.
- 2Stir in the cumin, coriander and cinnamon and toast briefly, then add the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes.✎ Chef’s noteToast the ground spices in the oil for a moment so they bloom before the tomatoes go in.
- 3Add the beans with a cup of water, season, and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until thick and the beans are very soft.
- 4Adjust the salt and serve hot with flatbread or rice.
Djiboutian and Red Sea home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Djibouti City. Skoudehkaris, the usual transliteration, is a one-pot rice with lamb built on cumin, cardamom, clove and cinnamon. The flatbread alongside it is laxoox, a sourdough pancake of teff or sorghum shared with Somalia and closely related to Ethiopian injera, and the pastry is sambuussa.
🗺️
Djibouti. This is a port before it is a country: a small territory on the strait where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden, with almost no farmland and a great deal of traffic. That is why the pantry is a trader's one, rice, spice and dates arriving by ship, and why Yemeni, Somali, Afar and French habits sit on the same table without merging.
🌍
Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Djibouti
SkoudehkarisDjibouti's national dish: spiced rice cooked with lamb, tomato, and cardamom in one pot.
LahohA soft, honeycombed fermented pancake eaten with ghee and honey or a spicy stew in Djibouti.
Fah-FahA fiery, aromatic goat and vegetable soup brightened with green chili and lime, Djibouti's favorite restorative lunch.
Browse all Djibouti recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Djibouti meal
Shaah bil CaanoDrink
Djiboutian Banana FrittersDessert
SkoudehkarisDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Fasoolia (White Bean Stew)?
White beans simmered soft in a spiced tomato and onion sauce warm with cumin and cinnamon, eaten with bread or rice.
Where does Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) come from?
Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) is a Djiboutian dish from Djibouti City, Djibouti.
Can Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Fasoolia (White Bean Stew) take to make?
About 50 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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