Tasty white bean soup by Dad’s special recipe Or Vegetable-bean soup

Many people often ask me what the most famous Bulgarian dish is? Although Bulgarian cuisine is part of the Balkans and becomes hard to answer this question. Here Is the thing, Bulgaria is located on the Balkan Peninsula and borders Greece, Macedonia, Turkey, Serbia, and Romania. Therefore, many dishes characteristic of the Bulgarian national kitchen is also present in other Balkan nations’ cuisine. Consequently, we cannot give a clear concept of Bulgarian national cuisine; instead, we can speak about the variety of Balkan cuisine depending on the region of the peninsula. For example, today’s recipe is white bean soup. But beans are famous worldwide, so you will undoubtedly be interested in how Bulgarians prepare beans.

Beans and tomatoes appeared later in our latitudes, but this does not prevent us from declaring bean soup as one of the favorite dishes of Bulgarian cuisine. And as each family has its unique recipe, here is the recipe for the heavenly delicious bean soup, or as my dad likes to joke, ” this is a bean soup pirate style, according to a special recipe found carved on the walls of Machu Picchu and bring to Bulgaria”😆

Ingredients:

500 g of white beans

One big carrot

One big onion

One medium-sized red bell pepper

Two medium-sized tomatoes

One teaspoon sugar

30ml Grappa

Sunflower Oil

Salt to taste

Water

Oregano

Fresh mint

Dill

Directions:

• The most important part of the recipe is the preparation of the beans. You can soak the beans in cold water for about 8 hours (but not required). If you have soaked the beans in advance, pour off the water and wash the beans.

• Pour cold water into a large pot and bring the beans to a boil. Once it boils well, pour out the water, change with a clean one, and put it back on the stove.

• Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer on low heat; add the spoonful of sugar and the grappa.

• In the meantime, finely chop the onions, carrots, and pepper and add them to the boiling beans.

• Then add the oil.

• Chop the tomatoes finely, and when the beans are almost ready, add the tomatoes to the pot.

• Once the beans are soft enough, the soup is ready. Then season it with salt and add the spices.

• Remember to add the salt at the end.

Buon Appetito

Enjoy 😊