Lobios Chorba, Georgian Red Bean Soup

A few weeks ago we promised I and Y to treat them to a birthday dinner whenever they choose. Last Friday they took us up on the offer and we delivered a mezze feast consisting of no less than 15(!!) different dishes. It also gave us the opportunity to try out a large variety of new recipes.

The Lobios Chorba, is a hearty bean soup that is a bit tangy and is very good for a cold evening. Since we had many more courses to go, we served it in small coffee cups (not in the pictures).

We adapted this recipe from "The Georgian Feast" by  Darra Goldstein:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dried red beans
8 cups water
1 bay leaf
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 carrot. peeled and chopped
2 leeks, sliced thinly
3 tbsp butter
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small minced hot pepper
ground black pepper
6 sprigs each of parsley, coriander and dill, minced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

The recipe:
Simmer the beans with water, bay leaf and 1 tsp salt on low heat until tender (about 2 hours).
Meanwhile, saute the onions, carrot and leeks in the butter until soft.
In a mortar and pestle pound the garlic with the remaining salt.
When the beans are soft add the sauteed vegetables, garlic, hot pepper and black pepper. Simmer for 15 more minutes, then stir in the minced herbs and vinegar and serve.

Geogian Chicken with Herbs

Did we mention we like Geogian? Well, here is another recipe we adapted from "The Georgian Feast" cookbook. It's a very simple and tasty dish, but the leftovers will be even tastier for lunch the day after. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

One 1.5 Kg chicken cut into pieces (with skin or the chicken will turn out dry)

4 medium onions, peeled and chopped

8 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

Generous 1/2 cup chopped mixed fresh herbs (prsley, coriander, tarragon, basil, dill)

1/8 tsp dried hot chili

Salt

Ground black pepper

The recipe:

Melt the butter in a very large pan and brown the chicken pieces on all sides.

Stir in the chopped onions and cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the tomatoes, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients and cook covered for another 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes longer before serving. 

Georgian Spreads

Georgian cuisine has recently become one of our favorites (it is also especially excellent when you share a meal with a happy Georgian crowd and a few shots of homemade vodka). A basic dish served almost every meal is Mkhali, a garlicky walnut spread with herbs and always mixed with some sort of vegetable. Lucky for us we have a recipe in "The Geogian Feast" cookbook by Darra Goldstein, which we own, and that turns out so good it makes us go "wow" each time we taste it.
This recipe uses beets for the vegetable part, but regarding which vegetable you use, the options are endless. We tend to adapt it with something new every time.


Ingredients:

500 gr beets (on different occasions we also used spinach, celery and cauliflower)
1/2 cup shelled walnuts
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Ground black pepper
1/4 tsp dried summer savory (if you can't find it - use dried sage)
1/4 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp red wine vinegar



The recipe:

First prepare the beets. The best way is to bake them in the oven until they get soft (1-2 hours). You can also boil them but then the beets lose a great deal of their taste. We usually steam them in a steamer which also works well for other vegetables. This makes the process quick and the fresh taste of the vegetable is preserved.
While the beets are cooking, grind the walnuts, garlic and salt finely. Then, add the fresh herbs and continue grinding to make a fine and smooth paste (very important). Transfer to a bowl.

When the beets are soft, peel and grate them in a food processor. Mix the beets with the walnut paste and stir in the remaining ingredients. Taste. The Mkhali should be slightly tart and you might want to add a bit more vinegar.
Keep in the refrigerator for at least two hours before serving, but serve at room temperature.

Wow.