Bean is one of the legumes that use in traditional Albanian cooking during the fall and winter. Today, we want to share this Best Vegetarian Baked Beans Recipe.
It is a traditional Albanian recipe that mostly used to cook in the Southeast of Albania where this vegetable, widely cultivated.
It is an oven recipe, easy to prepare, a main vegetarian plate for every cold fall and winter day.
You also can read here our Kidney Bean Meatballs Recipe.
Ingredients
- 400 g of White Lima Beans (Albanian Pllaqi Bean)
- 1-onion
- 1-carrot
- 1-red bell pepper
- 2-ripe tomatoes or 3-4 tbsp tomato sauce
- Lauren leaves
- one chilly pepper
- black pepper
- salt
- olive oil
- red pepper powder
- oregano
- 2-garlic cloves
Directions
- First, we clean the beans and rinse them well in running water. Put them in a bowl, cover them with cold water, and let them sit for four hours. We can also let them sit all night before cooking them.
- Rinse them well and put in a pot, add cold water, and let them boil for some minutes.
- We drain them and transfer in the pot, adding two-liter of warm water, and let them continue cooking for other 25-30 minutes. You can see by yourself, they need to be soft inside and the grain to retain her shape. You can also cook them in a pressure cooker for a shorter time, about 15-20 minutes. Once they start to boil, continue to cook them in low heat.
- During this time, In a saucepan, add the finely chopped onion, 2-3 tbsp olive oil, and the diced carrot, and stir fry for a few minutes in medium heat until they tender. Add the diced red bell pepper, and continue mixing for about five minutes, until all tender.
- Add the grated tomatoes (or tomato sauce), and when the tomato to be a sauce, we season it with salt, ground black pepper, and other herbs.
- We add the veggies sauce to the cooked beans and let all cook for the other 3-5 minutes.
- During this time, preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Put the beans in a ceramic baking dish.
- Add Lauren leaves, the finely chopped garlic, and season with olive oil.
- Put the baking dish in the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Serve this plate hot with toasted bread or a delicious Albanian pilaf.
Bon Appetit!
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