Maraka is the general Chaldean name for various types of tomato stew that are eaten with white rice. While the vegetables, spices, and meats of each maraka may differ slightly, it’s a dish that you frequently find at the Chaldean dinner table. Growing up, we ate at least one type of maraka per week, such as bomya and lobia. Bomya, a tomato stew with okra, is incredibly popular in Iraq, and might even be called a national dish, while Lobia is a tomato stew with long green beans. You can find my recipe for bomya here.
My family didn’t eat spinach maraka often while growing up, primarily because my brother and I despised all vegetables except cucumbers and carrots. We found the idea of eating a bowl of cooked and stewed greens repulsive. If my mom did cook spinach maraka, we whined about eating it, before proceeding to only eat the beef and rice, leaving a pile of greens behind. Happily, I now love eating bowls of greens.
This Kale Tomato Stew is a twist on the classic spinach maraka and a great dish for lunch or dinner. Feel free to mix and match your favorite greens, such as spinach, kale, swiss chard, collard greens, or any other green that you love. While for this recipe, I stuck with only kale, I highly recommend mixing greens.
Kale Tomato Stew (Maraka'd Spinakh)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs chuck roast finely chopped
- 3 bunches kale washed and finely chopped
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onions
- 2 tbsp baharat
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- garlic to taste
- lemon to taste
Instructions
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In a medium sized pot, add the chopped beef. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic, and cook on medium heat until the beef has browned.
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Add 1.5 cups of water to the beef, and cook on low to medium heat until the water has dissolved.
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Add chopped onions to the beef, and cook until translucent. If saving the kale stems, add at the same time as the onions.
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Add baharat. Mix.
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Add tomato paste. Mix. Cook the tomato-beef-onion mixture until the tomato paste is browned, about 5 minutes. Keep stirring the paste to keep it from burning.
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When the tomato mixture has browned, add 2 cups of water. Add more water as needed (depends on how thick or thin you want your maraka).
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Add the chopped greens. Cover and bring to a simmer. After 20 minutes, taste. Add salt, pepper, or lemon as needed.
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Serve with white rice, or eat by itself. Enjoy!
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