Mashed Beans

Elena Butuc

This is a very tasty classic Romanian starter, popular especially in the Northern part of the country. I like it with lots of onion sauteed in tomato sauce and accompanied by sauerkraut on the side.

I have to mention that for this dish the perfect bean type is the Navy beans - smaller white beans - they are quick-cooking, they're tasty and hearty. I didn't have Navy beans, so I used a different type this time, but I recommend these small ones.

show all description

Ingredients

Metric US

●

Dried white beans

300 g

or canned beans, already boiled

●

White onion

5 pieces

the quantity depends on your likes - you can use more or fewer onions

●

Garlic cloves

4 pieces

or a tsp granulated garlic

●

Laurel leaves

2 pieces

●

Sunflower oil

100 ml

●

Salt

1 tbsp

to taste

●

Pepper

0.25 tsp

optional

●

Tomato paste

2 tbsp

Step by step

Step 1

Boil the beans in plenty of water, together with 2 bay leaves, 1 whole onion and 2-3 tbsp oil. Cook over low heat, with no salt and, if it needs more, add only hot boiling water. Otherwise, the beans will harden and won't be so tasty.

When beans are soft, remove the onion, the bay leaves, drain the broth (but don't discard it).

I used brown speckled beans, that was what I had in the kitchen and they were very good.

Step 2

Add to the drained beans the crushed garlic, salt and pepper to taste.

Step 3

Puree the beans using a blender or a potato masher. Taste it and add more salt if it needs. For a creamier puree (so if it's too dry), you can pour in some of the broth, little by little, mix until you have the desired consistency.

Step 4

Transfer the bean puree to plates and even out with a spoon, I recommend a 1.5 - 2 cm layer, not thicker.

Step 5

Cut the onion into half rings and cook in plenty of oil until golden.

Step 6

When the onion starts to turn to golden, stir in 1-2 tbsp tomato paste, paprika paste or the favourite vegetable paste (I use vegetable paste made by myself for the winter, I'll give you the recipe next year, I promise). Mix well, cook for 1 more minute and turn off the heat.

Step 7

Spread the onion and tomato paste mixture in an even layer over the bean puree. It can be served right away or it can be refrigerated and eaten cold, after all the flavours have blended in together.

Enjoy!