Lobio

Name: Lobio
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 500 g dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight; 2 bay leaves; water; 2 onions, finely chopped; 4 cloves garlic, crushed; 3 tbsp oil; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp blue fenugreek; 1 tsp dried marigold; 1 tsp ground chilli; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; salt; black pepper; 100 g walnuts, ground, optional; 1 large bunch coriander; 2 tbsp red wine vinegar or pomegranate molasses; mchadi corn bread; pickles; sliced raw onion; a ketsi clay pot, ideally

Makes 6 servings

Units

Ingredients

Beans

500 gdried red kidney beans, soaked overnight
2bay leaves
water

Pot

2onions, finely chopped
4 clovesgarlic, crushed
3 tbspoil
1 tspground coriander
1 tspblue fenugreek
1 tspdried marigold
1 tspground chilli
½ tspground cinnamon
salt
black pepper

To finish

100 gwalnuts, ground, optional
1large bunch coriander
2 tbspred wine vinegar or pomegranate molasses

To serve

mchadi corn bread
pickles
sliced raw onion

Equipment

a ketsi clay pot, ideally

Directions

Soak the beans overnight and boil them in fresh water with the bay leaves for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, until completely soft.
Do not salt the water while they cook. Salt added early keeps the skins tough however long you boil them.
Keep the cooking liquid, because it becomes the sauce.
Mash about a third of the beans against the side of the pot, leaving the rest whole.
That partial mashing is what gives lobio its texture: a thick sauce carrying whole beans, rather than either a soup or a purée.
Fry the onions in the oil until soft and golden, then add the garlic.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the coriander, blue fenugreek, marigold, chilli and cinnamon.
Blue fenugreek and dried marigold are the two spices that make this Georgian rather than a generic bean stew, and both are worth buying rather than substituting.
Add the fried onion and spices to the beans with enough of the cooking liquid to make it thick and spoonable.
Simmer 15 minutes to bring it together.
If using walnuts, grind them very finely and stir them in off a hard boil.
Grind the walnuts fine and never boil them hard, or the oil separates out into a slick on the surface.
Finish with vinegar or pomegranate molasses and a very large quantity of chopped coriander.
The herbs go in raw at the end and by the bunch, which is how Georgian cooking works throughout.
Season and let it stand 10 minutes.
Serve warm in a clay ketsi if you have one, with mchadi corn bread, pickles and raw onion.
Mchadi is the fixed accompaniment and it is used to scoop rather than as a side.
It is everyday food across Georgia, entirely vegan in its plain form, and it is standard through Orthodox fasting periods.

Technique

There is also a cold version, lobio nigvzit, made with more walnuts and eaten as part of a supra spread.
The red kidney bean is the standard, though Georgia grows many bean varieties used locally.
It is better the next day and is often made in quantity.

Substitutions

Tinned kidney beans, which cut the cooking to 20 minutes.
Fenugreek with extra coriander if blue fenugreek is unavailable.

Variations

Lobio nigvzit, the cold walnut version.
With smoked ham or bacon, which is common in the mountains.
Baked in a clay pot with a mchadi lid, as lobiani’s cousin.

History

A dish of stewed kidney beans, seasoned with walnut, garlic, coriander and often pomegranate seed, documented across Georgia for many generations as an essential staple dish, closely tied to Georgian Orthodox Christian fasting periods during which meat is traditionally avoided, making the plant-based, protein-rich lobio a particularly important dish during those observances. Its walnut-and-spice seasoning reflects the broader Georgian culinary tradition of building deep, complex flavour into vegetable and legume dishes, treating them with the same care given to meat dishes rather than as a lesser substitute. Lobio remains one of the most essential and widely eaten traditional Georgian dishes, commonly served with cornbread called mchadi.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lobio?

Lobio is a soup & stew from Georgia: kidney beans stewed with herbs and spices, served in clay pot. A dish of stewed kidney beans, seasoned with walnut, garlic, coriander and often pomegranate seed, documented across Georgia for many generations as an essential staple dish, closely tied to Georgian Orthodox Christian fasting periods during which meat is traditionally avoided, making the plant-based, protein-rich lobio a particularly important dish during those observances. Its walnut-and-spice seasoning reflects the broader Georgian culinary tradition of building deep, complex flavour into vegetable and legume dishes, treating them with the same care given to meat dishes rather than as a lesser substitute. Lobio remains one of the most essential and widely eaten traditional Georgian dishes, commonly served with cornbread called mchadi.