Name: Lobio red bean stew
Total time: 125 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: georgian
Ingredients: onion — 2 pcs; garlic — 3 clove; cilantro — 1 bunch; walnuts — 80 g; khmeli-suneli — 1 tsp; wine vinegar — 1 tbsp; vegetable oil — 3 tbsp; chili pepper — 0.5 pcs; salt; dried red kidney beans — 300 g

How to cook

Soaking

Rinse the beans and cover them with three times their volume of cold water for 8–12 hours.

Soak the beans the night before — this time isn't included in the cooking time.

Boiling

Drain, then cover with fresh water 3 cm above the beans. Boil hard for 10 minutes, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until soft, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Salt at the end.

The beans must boil hard for the first 10 minutes: raw or undercooked red kidney beans are toxic.

Onion

Finely chop the onions and fry them in the oil until golden, 8 minutes.

Nuts

Finely chop the garlic and chili, then pound them with the walnuts and a pinch of salt into a coarse paste.

Beans

Pour off most of the cooking liquid, keeping about a cup. Mash roughly half the beans with a masher.

Braising

Add the onions, walnut paste, khmeli-suneli and vinegar, stir and stew, covered, over low heat for 10 minutes.

Cilantro

Turn off the heat, stir in the finely chopped cilantro and let it stand for 10 minutes. Serve warm or cold, with mchadi. Done!