Greek food: step by step recipe of the fasolada

Fasolada is a traditional dish in Greek cuisine that is prepared with beans and vegetables, usually recognized as the national food of the Greeks. Greek beans are a very nutritious, healthy dish, suitable for vegetarians, since there is no meat or sausage, and low in fat.

Below you have an index with all the points that we are going to deal with in this article.

Ingredients

A plate of fasolada can have about 200 calories, about 8 g of fat, 29 g of carbohydrates and about 6 g of protein, which translates into 35% fat, 11% protein and approximately 54% carbohydrates.

Although nowadays fasolada can be taken at any time of the year, if we analyze its history, it was originally a typical dish of the Lenten period, at Easter. Hence, the original recipe does not include any type of meat.

Here we show you the necessary ingredients to 4 people according to the traditional Greek recipe:

• 400 g of dried white beans
• 2 red onions
• 2 large carrots
• A stick of celery
• One garlic clove
• A tablespoon of dried mint
• 2 very ripe tomatoes
• A few bay leaves and parsley
• A cup of olive oil
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Spices to taste (oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram ...)

Step-by-step preparation

1. The process of preparing the fasolada begins the day before, since we must leave the beans for at least 24 hours to soak in cold water in order to reduce the cooking time by half the next day.
2. After soaking the beans, when it is time to cook, the first thing to do is boil them in a saucepan for about 40 minutes. We should not fill the casserole with water, it will be enough to cover the surface of the beans.
3. During the time we leave the beans cooking, we can cut the carrots into slices, chop the onions and garlic so that they are into small squares, peel the tomato and remove the seeds, and cut the celery into segments.
4. Once the beans have been cooked for 40 minutes, we drain them and put them back in the pot.
5. When we have finished cutting and peeling the vegetables, then we add them to the casserole in which the beans are located.
6. The next step is to add the bay leaves and parsley, salt, dried mint, black pepper, and whatever spices you want. These ingredients will help enhance the flavor of the dish and intensify its aroma.
7. When all the mixed ingredients are in the pot, it is time to add water and the glass of olive oil again. We leave it simmering for at least 1 hour. During this time, we must be vigilant at all times and gradually add small amounts of water, since if we get distracted it is possible that the ingredients stick to the bottom of the pan.
8. Once the beans have softened, we can proceed to remove the pot from the heat.
9. Finally, we serve our fasolada piping hot.

Difficulty level: simple.

Tips

In what follows we give you some Tricks so that the result is as satisfactory as possible:

• The fasolada can be accompanied by some appetizers such as feta cheese, crusty bread or croutons, olives or a glass of white wine.

• If you haven't soaked the beans for the necessary 24 hours, one trick to make them soften faster when cooked is to add a teaspoon of sugar to the water.
• The cooking times detailed in the previous section are always approximate. The most important thing is that the beans are softened, so we advise you to check this before removing them from the heat.
• Although the original recipe does not include meat or cold cuts, you can always add pieces of meat if you prefer. This popular variant will also enhance the flavor of your dish.