Dried Lime Butter Beans with Capers in a Fragrant Broth
A quietly poetic dish for soul-soothing days – this fragrant broth leans on dried lime, olive oil, and the hum of soft butter beans. Drawn from Persian and Mediterranean influences, it teaches gentle cooking and pantry confidence. A beautiful bowl to linger over, especially when the world feels loud.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
Ingredients for spice mix
- 1 unit green cardamom pod | open the pod, drop the seeds onto a board and bash carefully with the end of your knife to crush the black seeds within
- 1 unit dried green lime | cut into 4 pieces lengthways
- ½ tsp ras al hanout
- ½ tsp sumac
- 1 unit bay leaf
Ingredients for the butterbeans and capers in broth
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 160 g brown onion | unpeeled weight; peeled and cut into slender petals (5mm widest part)
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 units garlic cloves | peeled
- 250 g stock | see Notes
- ½ tsp cornflour | + water to make a cornflour slurry
- 235 g butter beans | cooked weight
- 1½ tbsp capers | tip onto your hand and squeeze the brine out; put into clean cloth to dry out
- ½ tsp fresh lemon juice
Ingredients for dressing the dish
- 1 unit unwaxed lemon | for lemon wedges and for zest grated over
Instructions
Make the spice mix
- Mix the prepared ingredients.1 unit green cardamom pod, 1 unit dried green lime, ½ tsp ras al hanout, ½ tsp sumac, 1 unit bay leaf
Ingredients to make the Dried Lime Butter beans with Capers
- Gently heat the oil in a saucepan or other pan. Add the onion petals and salt to the pan and stir around. Cook the onion very gently to soften and avoid colouring. When the onions have softened a little, grate the garlic into the pan and stir to cook the garlic.½ tbsp olive oil, 160 g brown onion, ½ tsp salt, 2 units garlic cloves
- When the onions and garlic are cooked, add the spice mix ingredients and stir to coat in the oil. Straight away, add the stock and bay leaf, bring to a low simmer, and then simmer gently for 20 minutes.250 g stock
- At this point, you have a decision to make. You can strain the ingredients in the pan through a sieve to remove the onions, or you can keep the onions in. If you are going for a more refined look, strain. If you're going for the wholefood, then don't strain.
- Whether you have strained or not, the broth will need to be thickened, so mix the cornflour with a small amount of water to make a cornflour slurry. You might need more cornflour or less. Get the feel and confidence to thicken with a slurry to a sauce thickness to suit you. Move the pan off the heat so it's not bubbling anymore, and pour the cornflour into the sauce, mixing it around as you pour it in. Put the pan back on the heat and bring it back to a gentle simmer. It will thicken. Add more cornflour if necessary.½ tsp cornflour
- Add the butter beans and capers to heat through for a few minutes.1½ tbsp capers, 235 g butter beans
- Prepare a neat and slender lemon wedge, and grate some zest over the dish prior to serving.1 unit unwaxed lemon
Notes
Stock
This recipe is built on the gentle flavour of Foundations Vegetable Stock No. 1: Dill & Parsley. If you’re using a shop-bought stock, just check the salt content – you may wish to skip the added salt here to keep things beautifully balanced.Nutrition
Calories: 216kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 10gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 1264mgPotassium: 734mgFiber: 10gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 308IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 51mgIron: 3mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
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COPYRIGHT
© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals