Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Chulibul: Green beans in corn sauce with pumpkin seeds

Excerpted from “TREASURES OF THE MEXICAN TABLE: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets” © 2021 by Pati Jinich. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Serves 4

This Mayan vegetable dish is a dream, and it comes together quickly. Green beans are cooked in a creamy fresh corn and epazote puree, topped with a chunky, spicy cooked tomato salsa, and garnished with pumpkin seeds. It comes from Campeche, in the Yucatán Peninsula. There, chulibul is often prepared more like a soup, with the green beans boiled and the rest of the ingredients stirred in. But searing the beans quickly in oil before finishing the cooking in the pureed corn preserves their crisp texture and bright flavor. Serve chulibul as the centerpiece of a vegetarian meal or as a side.

1⁄2 cup raw hulled pumpkin seeds (see note)
1 1⁄4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup fresh corn kernels (from 1 large ear)
1 cup water
3 to 4 fresh sprigs epazote or cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound green beans, trimmed
1⁄2 cup finely chopped white onion
1 fresh habanero, serrano, or jalapeno chile, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pound ripe tomatoes, chopped, or 1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Heat a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and toast until they are lightly colored and starting to jump or pop, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool.

Transfer the pumpkin seeds to a food processor, add 1⁄4 teaspoon of the salt, and pulse until finely ground. Set aside.

Combine the fresh corn, water, and epazote or cilantro in a blender and puree until smooth.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high to high heat. Add the green beans, sprinkle with 1⁄2 teaspoon of the salt, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to turn brighter green. Pour the pureed corn over the green beans, reduce the heat to medium, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often so that the sauce doesn’t stick to the pan, until the beans are tender and the puree has reduced to a creamy, thick sauce.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a medium saucepan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and chile and cook until softened and starting to color, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until translucent, less than a minute. Add the tomatoes and the remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are softened and pasty, 5 to 8 minutes.

Scrape the beans with the corn sauce onto a platter. Top with the tomato salsa, garnish with the ground pumpkin seeds, and serve.

Cook’s Note ► You can substitute roasted salted pumpkin seeds for the raw ones, but don’t toast and salt them, just grind them.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Explore

Most Popular

In Case You Missed It

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.