A bean stew that’s far from ordinary
Many foreigners fall in love with the food of Georgia (the country, not the state) after sampling khachapuri, a savoury cheesestuffed bread often served with a runny egg on top.
For others, it’s a plateful of handmade khinkali, the country’s meaty version of soup dumplings.
For me, the obsession started with a humble bean stew called lobio.
I’d heard about lobio from my friend Alice Feiring, who went to Georgia on a research trip to write a book about the country’s ancient tradition of winemaking.
Back in New York, she couldn’t stop talking about the tomatoes, potatoes and beans. Georgia has been famous for its fruits and vegetables, including plums, grapes and pomegranates, for centuries. Many of its crops are still farmed in traditional, not industrial, ways.
The boiled potatoes, she told me, were heartbreakingly profound, with an earthy, clover blossom sweetness.
The tomatoes have never had the bitterness bred out of them, she said, making them especially complex, with a snappy acidity in their ripeness.
And the beans! Mottled red kidney beans boiled until velvety soft and mashed with pungent raw garlic, browned onions and a thrilling-sounding mountain herb called blue fenugreek.
While I couldn’t get my hands on spectacular Georgian tomatoes or those creamy Tushetian potatoes, I could make the beans, or at least try to simmer up something similar.
Alice has a lobio recipe in her book, and the internet has plenty of variations, so I cobbled together a recipe that, while not necessarily authentic, somewhat represented the deeply comforting beauty of the dish.
In Georgia, the word lobio can refer to any kind of bean, from fresh green beans to the many different varieties of dried beans, which are made into stews like this one or mashed into salads often topped with walnuts: a staple ingredient in Georgian kitchens.
When stewed (usually in earthenware crocks), the beans are traditionally served with mchadi — flat cakes of fried, polentalike cornbread — and fresh white suluguni, a strong brined cheese rather like feta. However, thick slices of sourdough and a mild feta or ricotta salata also make great accompaniments.
One thing to note is the (optional) use of two traditional Georgian ingredients in this recipe.
The first is tkemali, a sharp and fruity sauce made from sour plums. Pomegranate molasses, or even a good balsamic vinegar, provides a similarly tangy kick.
And then there’s blue fenugreek, an herb that grows wild in the Caucasus Mountains. You can mail-order it, but the stew is nearly as good without it, so don’t worry about leaving it out (regular fenugreek seeds have a different flavour, so they are not a good substitute). The combination of coriander and black pepper give the dish a backbone of spice, strong enough to stand up to the onions, herbs and hit of pungent garlic.
You can serve lobio as a meatless main dish, or as a side dish with roasted or grilled meats or fish. Either way, its mix of sharp raw onion and soft, sweet browned onion, along with plenty of fresh green herbs, makes it hard to stop eating once you start.
Red Bean Stew with Fried Onions and Cilantro Makes 8 servings
1 pound dried red kidney beans, rinsed 3½ teaspoons fine sea salt, more as needed
3 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1½ cups packed cilantro leaves and tender stems, plus more leaves for garnish
1½ tablespoons chopped fresh summer savoury or savoury leaves
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp dried blue fenugreek (optional) 1/8 tsp cayenne, or to taste 1 large Spanish or yellow onion, diced 1½ tbsp olive or safflower oil Tkemali (Georgian plum sauce), pomegranate molasses or balsamic vinegar, to taste
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, more to taste Pomegranate seeds, for garnish (optional)
Suluguni, feta or ricotta salata cheese, for serving (optional)
Time: About two hours, plus soaking
1: In a large bowl, combine beans and 1 teaspoon salt. Add enough water to cover beans by 2 inches and let soak for at least six hours or overnight. Drain.
2: Combine beans, 2 teaspoons salt, bay leaves and 6 cups water in a heavy pot or Dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Simmer very gently, partly covered, until beans are quite tender, 90 minutes to two hours.
3: Using a mortar and pestle, blender or minifood processor, grind garlic, cilantro, savoury, pepper, coriander, fenugreek (if using), cayenne, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt into a rough paste.
4: Set 2 tablespoons of chopped onion aside for final garnish. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Add remaining onions and fry until they turn brown at the edges, seven to 12 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt.
5: When the beans are done, drain and reserve cooking liquid. Return beans to pot and use a potato masher or sturdy spoon to mash them, gradually adding the cilantro-garlic paste and fried onions. When everything is well incorporated, stir in reserved cooking liquid until soupy. Taste and season with tkemali or pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and more salt, if needed.
6: Garnish each serving with raw onions, cilantro, pomegranate seeds (if using), and a drizzle of tkemali or pomegranate molasses, if you like. Serve cheese on the side or crumbled on top.