Jani me fasule

Ingredients

Beans

• 500 gdried white beans, small Korça or cannellini, soaked overnight
• 2 litrescold water
• 1bay leaf

Base

• 150 mlextra virgin olive oil
• 3onions, finely diced
• 3garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbspsweet paprika
• 1 tspdried chilli flakes, optional
• 3tomatoes, grated, or 400 g tinned tomatoes
• 2 tbsptomato puree
• 2 tspfine salt
• 1 tspblack pepper

To finish

• 2 tbspdried mint, crumbled
• 1 bunchflat-leaf parsley, chopped
• extra olive oil, for pouring
• pickled chillies and cornbread, to serve

Directions

1. Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh cold water with the bay leaf, bring to a boil and boil hard for 10 minutes, then drain and discard that first water; it carries the compounds that make the stew heavy.
2. Return the beans to the pan with 2 litres fresh water and simmer gently, uncovered and unsalted, for 60 to 75 minutes, until the skins are soft and a bean crushes to cream between two fingers.
3. Meanwhile cook the onions slowly in the olive oil in a wide pan for 15 minutes, until sweet, slumped and pale gold, not browned.
4. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika and chilli, so the paprika swells in warm oil without scorching and turning bitter.
5. Return to the heat, add the grated tomato and puree and cook 8 to 10 minutes until the mixture darkens and the oil begins to separate and pool red at the edges.
6. Tip the sofrito into the beans with most of their cooking liquid, add the salt and pepper and simmer together 25 to 30 minutes so the flavours marry and the broth thickens.
7. Crush a ladleful of beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in; that is how the stew is thickened, never with flour.
8. Stir in the dried mint off the heat, rest 10 minutes, then serve in deep bowls with parsley, a pour of raw olive oil, pickled chillies and cornbread.

Technique

• Salt goes in only once the skins are soft. Early salt firms the skins and the beans can simmer for hours without ever going creamy.
• Jani is an olive oil dish, made in quantity through Lent and on Fridays, and the oil is not a garnish but a third of the flavour. Do not cut it.
• Dried mint added off the heat is the Albanian signature. Boiled, it goes grassy and loses the cool top note that lifts the whole pot.

Substitutions

• Tinned beans work for a weeknight: use 3 x 400 g tins, rinsed, and simmer 25 minutes with the sofrito and 500 ml water.
• Smoked paprika is not traditional but stands in convincingly if your sweet paprika is old and dusty.

Variations

• Fasule me speca adds two roasted red peppers, peeled and torn, in the last 15 minutes.
• The baked version, jani në tavë, is finished for 30 minutes in a clay dish at 190°C (375°F) until a skin forms on top.

History

Bean stew with onion, paprika and mint, an everyday and Lenten dish eaten across the country.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jani me fasule?

Jani me fasule is a soup & stew from Albania: olive-oil white bean stew, everyday comfort. Bean stew with onion, paprika and mint, an everyday and Lenten dish eaten across the country.

How long does Jani me fasule take to make?

Jani me fasule takes 20 min plus overnight soaking of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Jani me fasule?

Yes, within limits. Tinned beans work for a weeknight: use 3 x 400 g tins, rinsed, and simmer 25 minutes with the sofrito and 500 ml water. Smoked paprika is not traditional but stands in convincingly if your sweet paprika is old and dusty.

What is the most important thing to get right in Jani me fasule?

Crush a ladleful of beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in; that is how the stew is thickened, never with flour.