How to Make Haitian Legume Recipe

This one is a family favorite, packed with veggies, flavor, and a little bit of love. It is hearty enough to stretch, but in our house it usually disappears in no time. If you want to see it step by step in the kitchen, watch our Legume Video here.

Legume is a Haitian vegetable stew. The vegetables get cooked all the way down and mashed into the pot until they become the sauce.

That mashing is the part people skip. It is what turns the vegetables into the thick sauce the stew is supposed to have.

Green papaya is the one ingredient people ask me about. Down here in zone 10a it grows like a weed, and every Haitian household I know has one in the yard that nobody planted on purpose. If you have one, use it here.

Read this before you start

• The citrus and Epis do the seasoning before the pot is even hot. Lime, lemon and Epis go on the beef and sit. Give it the full half hour so the seasoning gets into the meat.
• Searing the beef first builds the base. Brown it on all sides. Everything stuck to the bottom of that pot goes into the finished stew.
• Mashing turns vegetables into sauce. Papaya, cabbage, carrot and eggplant break all the way down. This is the number one thing people get wrong. If you can still pick out a cube of eggplant, you stopped too early.
• It stretches. One pound of beef and a pot of garden vegetables feeds a whole table, and it eats even better the next day.

What You Need

The beef and the marinade

• 1 lb beef stew meat, cut into pieces. Stew meat is right for this, it needs the long simmer
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lime. Both citrus. This is how Haitian cooks clean and season meat
• 2 tablespoons Epis. The Haitian green seasoning blend of peppers, garlic, herbs and citrus, blended down. It goes in almost everything we cook, and it is the flavor of this dish

The vegetables

• 1 small green papaya, peeled and cubed. Green, not ripe. Unripe papaya behaves like a vegetable, so it cooks down soft and takes on whatever is in the pot instead of turning sweet
• 1/2 small cabbage, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced. They take the longest, so cut them thinner if you are in a hurry
• 1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed. This is what makes the stew creamy once it mashes down
• 2 cups spinach, chopped. Goes in near the end, it barely needs any time
• 1 bell pepper, sliced

The pot

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste. Color and depth. Stir it in so it does not sit in a lump
• 3 tablespoons oil. For browning the beef
• Salt and pepper to taste. Taste at the end. The Epis already brought a lot

How I Made It

1. Season the meat

Rub the beef with the lime juice, the lemon juice and the Epis. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

At least 30 minutes. Longer is better. I do mine in the morning if I know legume is happening that night.

2. Cook the meat

In a large pot, heat the oil and brown the beef until it is seared on all sides.

Add a little water, cover it, and let it simmer until tender.

Do not rush this part. Beef that is still tough now will still be tough at the end.

3. Add the veggies

Toss in the papaya, cabbage, carrots and eggplant. Cover and let everything steam until soft.

Soft means falling apart soft. If a carrot still has a bite to it, keep going.

4. Mash and combine

Once the veggies are tender, mash them down right in the pot to create a thick stew base.

Right in the pot, with whatever you have, a big spoon or a masher.

5. Flavor boost

Stir in the spinach, bell pepper, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Simmer another 10 minutes so everything comes together.

The spinach wilts down to almost nothing. Do not worry about how much it looks like going in.

6. Serve hot

Usually with rice, plantains, or bread.

In my house it is rice. White rice, and a spoon of legume over the top.

It keeps, and day two is better

Cool it down and it keeps 4 days in the fridge.

It thickens up cold. Reheat it low and slow with a splash of water and stir it back to where you want it.

It freezes about 3 months. Freeze it flat in a bag and it thaws in half the time.

If you cannot find it here

• No green papaya? It is the traditional base, but chayote or a firm winter squash gets you close. Cut it the same size.
• No Epis on hand? Make a batch. It is the seasoning behind most Haitian cooking and it keeps in the fridge, so it is worth having.
• Different greens. Spinach is what I used. Watercress or callaloo work the same way and go in at the same point.
• Leaving the meat out? The vegetables carry a lot of it, so you can. But the beef and the sear add a lot of flavor, so use more Epis if the meat is not going in.