Yakhnet Sabanekh
يخنة سبانخ·(yakh-net sa-ba-nekh)
Tabkha Yawmiye: The Weeknight Tanjara
If there is a dish that defines the frantic rhythm of a working family's weeknight, it's Yakhnet Sabanekh. Tuesday night belongs to the tanjara—a heavy pot filled with this lemony, garlicky spinach stew. For first-generation kids growing up in the diaspora, the smell of Lebanese 7-Spice hitting rendered beef fat, followed by the pungent sizzle of cilantro and garlic, is the universal signal that dinner is almost ready. Forget the grueling weekend cooking projects; Lebanese grandmothers fully endorse the modern miracle of high-quality frozen spinach, which brings its own rich juices to the broth. The real magic happens at the very end with the takleya—a sizzling pan of garlic and cilantro folded into the hot stew alongside a heavy-handed squeeze of fresh lemon, creating a bright, deeply savory flavor bomb.
Ingredients
- pine nuts1/4 cup
- olive oil4 tbsp
- yellow onion1 med
- lean ground beef1 lb
- Lebanese 7-Spice2 tsp
- kosher salt1 1/2 tsp
- black pepper1/2 tsp
- garlic6 clove
- fresh cilantro1 bunch
- frozen spinach24 oz
- beef broth1 1/2 cup
- lemon juice1/4 cup
Method
- 01
Toast the pine nuts in a splash of olive oil until golden brown.
Heat a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the pine nuts, stirring constantly for 3 to 4 minutes. They burn in seconds, so watch them closely, then remove them to a paper towel.
- 02
Build the savory base by browning the beef and onions.
In the same pot, turn the heat to medium-high and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sweat the diced onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon into very fine pieces, and cook until deeply browned with no pink remaining.
- 03
Bloom the spices and half the aromatics in the hot beef fat.
Sprinkle the Lebanese 7-Spice, salt, and black pepper over the beef. Stir and let the spices toast for sixty seconds. Toss in exactly half of your minced garlic and half of the chopped cilantro, sautéing for another minute or two until the kitchen smells incredible.
- 04
Simmer the stew with the frozen spinach and broth.
Drop the frozen blocks of spinach straight into the pot and pour in the broth. Bring it to a gentle boil, cover, and drop the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the thawing spinach blocks.
- 05
Sizzle the remaining garlic and cilantro in a separate pan to create the takleya.
With five minutes left on the stew, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Sauté the remaining garlic and cilantro for just one minute until fragrant and wilted, but not browned.
- 06
Fold the takleya and fresh lemon juice into the stew off the heat.
Turn off the heat under the spinach pot. Pour in the sizzling garlic-cilantro mixture and the fresh lemon juice, stirring to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning—it should be deeply savory and punchy with bright lemon acid. Serve over Lebanese vermicelli rice, topped with the toasted pine nuts.
Notes
Lebanese 7-Spice Substitute.
If you don't have access to a Middle Eastern market to buy Sabaa Baharat, open your baking cabinet. Mix together 1 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp black pepper, and a pinch of ground nutmeg. It will get you 90% of the way to Beirut.
The Vegan Switch.
Want to make this meatless? Swap the ground beef for two 15-oz cans of drained and rinsed chickpeas. Sauté them exactly as you would the beef to coat them in the spices before adding the spinach.
The Soap Gene.
If cilantro tastes like soap to you, a bunch of flat-leaf parsley is the widely accepted substitution. It won't have the exact same aromatic punch, but it still works beautifully in the takleya.
From Cook Lebanese in America.