Wash Day

Wash-Day Stew
2 cans garbanzo beans
2 cans white beans
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
1 quart water
1 tomato, peeled and quartered
1 tsp turmeric
3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
8 pita bread pockets

     Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cover.  Cook on high for 6-7 hours.  Lift the beans from the cooker with a strainer spoon and place in the pita bread.


      In lieu of all the endless and useless murders of men, women, and children in the Middle East, I thought I might bring a bit of every day life to you from Iran.  Wash-Day Stew is a stew that many of the women prepare on wash day.  Very early in the morning, they make a fire in a large rock-lined pit outside.  Then they place a large covered kettle, filled with the above ingredients, over the coals and allow to cook slowly all day.  At the end of a day doing laundry by hand, the food is ready!  They eat the stew in pita bread and always use their hands.  In Iran, fresh lamb is placed in the stew. My kids loved this tonight, and ate with gusto.  They loved hearing about the kids in Iran and using their hands to eat.