Thick bean soup with red veggies

This thick bean soup is the healthy comfort food I love, full of proteins and vitamins. You can make it with any kind of dried beans: white beans, pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, azuki or a combination of several.

They are full of proteins, iron, folate, fibres, help reduce heart disease and cancer risk and control blood glucose. They do not have the hype title of “superfoods” but the definitively deserve one! Best of all they are really cheap so you should enjoy them as much as you can in any shape or form (salad, soup, spread, side dish…).

This “pasulj” (beans in Serbian) soup is a very popular dish in the Balkans especially in winter when your body craves hearty food. My mum used to make it with smoked porc ribs and bacon but the one I am proposing is meatless with plenty of veggies and as every bit delicious as mum’s 😉 A spoonful of health and strength!

Serves: 8 – 10. Total time: 2h 30 minutes + overnight beans soaking (preparation 30 minutes, cooking 2h)

INGREDIENTS (organic and in order of use)

4 tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 big Onions
4-5 big Cloves of Garlic
2 Celery stalks with leaves
1 heaped tablespoon of Turmeric
2 big Carrots
2 tablespoons of coarse Unrefined Salt
1 fresh or dry Red Pepper (whole)
2 fresh or canned Tomatoes
1 Red Apple
500g of dry Beans
3-3,5l of Water
5-6 grains of Black Pepper
2 dry Bay Leaves
1 tablespoon of dried Parsley

PREPARATION

It is important that you soak 500g of dry beans overnight (or for 8 hours) before preparing the soup. This considerably shortens the cooking time and makes beans skin more easily digestible.

1. Wash and chop finely 2 onions, 4-5 garlic cloves and 2 celery stalks with leaves. Start cooking them in a big casserole covered, on a medium heat, with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 heaped tablespoon of turmeric.
2. Wash and chop 2 carrots into thin slices and 1 red pepper into stripes (5mm x 3cm approx.). Add them to the casserole with 2 tablespoons of unrefined sea salt (or rose Himalayen salt) and 2,5dl of water and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
3. Wash and chop 2 tomatoes in dice and add them to the vegetables in the casserole. Stir everything together.
4. Wash and grate 1 red apple (no need to peel) and add it too.
5. Boil the rest of the water.
6. Add the beans, 5-6 black pepper grains, 2 bay leaves, 1 heaped tablespoon of  dry parsley and the boiling water. Stir everything together, put the lid on, lower the heat to medium/low and cook for 2 hours. The beans should be very soft when done.
   Some bean varieties need longer cooking time, some shorter. The average cooking time for this soup is 2h.
7. Serve the soup warm sprinkled with some fresh parsley.