Fasolada - Greek bean soup
As is often said in Mount Athos, beans are the meat of the monks and very often served at the Tables of the monasteries, especially during the periods of great fasting. The traditional bean soup is one of the most popular dishes that anyone can find in Greece and of course it has its place of honor in Monks cooking as well. A delicious and simple soup that goes well with olives, taramasalata and salted fish. With this dish, in its oil-free version, the Orthodox world in Greece welcomes the beginning of Great Lent on Clean Monday. See bellow the easy recipe with all the secrets.
From the night before we wash the beans, remove any peddles and let them soak in warm water overnight.
In the morning, we put them in a pot with plenty of cold water and simmer them until they are half soft.
Then, we drain them and set them aside.
Meanwhile, we chop the onions and the leek. Also, we cut the carrots into slices if they are small or into crescents if they are large.
We remove the leaves from the stalks of celery and chop both the stalks and the leaves.
We grate the tomatoes on a grater.
We frizzle the onions, leek, carrots, celery stalks and pepper in half of the olive oil.
Then, we add the tomato paste to the frizzled vegetables.
After that, we add the grated tomatoes, the drained beans and fill the pot with enough water.
We let the food simmer on a very low heat until it thickens, stirring from time to time.
Ten minutes before the end of boiling, add salt, pepper, paprika, celery leaves and thyme. Just before turning it off, we add the rest of the olive oil.
The change of the first water is done to make the beans light and not create flatulence.
Alternative, if we want our beans without oil, we do not fry the vegetables, but add them to the pot together with the beans after changing the water.
The beans must be boiled on a low heat, so that they do not dissolve but also for the bean paste to curdle.
The boiling time required and the correct amount of water always depend on how boiled the beans are. So, by observing the way the beans boil, we act accordingly with the amount of liquids.
If the beans do not boil easily and need to add little water, then the water must be boiled so that the boiling is not interrupted.
