Tavče gravče

Ingredients

Beans

• 500 gdried tetovac beans (large white Tetovo beans), soaked 12 hr in cold water
• 1bay leaf
• 1 tspsalt

Sauce

• 6 tbspsunflower oil
• 3onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbspsweet red paprika
• 1 tsphot paprika, or 2 dried red chillies
• 2 tbspplain flour
• 2 tspdried mint, rubbed between the palms
• 1 tspsalt
• ½ tspblack pepper
• 1 tbsptomato paste (optional, modern)

To finish

• 4fresh red peppers or pickled piperki, laid whole on top
• 1small bunch flat parsley, chopped
• cornbread and white cheese, to serve

Directions

1. Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh cold water, bring to the boil and cook 5 minutes, then drain and discard that water – this removes the compounds that make beans hard on the stomach.
2. Cover with fresh water by 4 cm, add the bay leaf and simmer gently 60–90 minutes until the beans are tender but still whole and their skins have not burst. Salt only in the last 10 minutes. Reserve 500 ml of the cooking liquid.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion over medium-low heat 12–15 minutes until soft, sweet and just golden – do not brown it hard.
4. Pull the pan off the heat, let it cool for 30 seconds, then stir in both paprikas and the flour. Paprika burns and turns bitter in seconds over direct heat.
5. Return to low heat and cook 2 minutes, stirring, until the flour smells toasted and the mixture is a rust-coloured roux.
6. Tip the drained beans into an earthenware tava or a shallow cast-iron dish, pour over the onion mixture and enough of the reserved bean liquid to come just level with the beans.
7. Stir in the dried mint, salt and pepper – the mint is what makes the dish Macedonian rather than merely Balkan – and lay the whole peppers over the surface.
8. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30–40 minutes, uncovered, without stirring, until the top has set into a dark red crust, the edges bubble and catch, and most of the liquid has been drunk up.
9. Rest 10 minutes so it thickens, scatter with parsley and bring the dish to the table still in the tava, with cornbread and crumbled white cheese.

Technique

• The unglazed clay tava is the point of the dish – it holds a gentle, even heat and lets the surface dry into a crust while the beans below stay soupy. A heavy cast-iron pan is the nearest substitute.
• Do not stir once it is in the oven. The crust that forms on top is the best part and stirring it back in gives you a plain bean stew.
• Tetovac beans are prized because they cook to a creamy interior without disintegrating. Old beans will never soften properly, however long you boil them.

Substitutions

• No tetovac? Large white butter beans or corona beans are the closest in size and texture; cannellini will work but break up more.
• Sweet paprika from Macedonia or Hungary is essential for colour and sweetness – Spanish smoked pimenton changes the dish into something else, though it is a pleasant something else.

Variations

• Posno tavce gravce, the meat-free Lenten version served on fast days – this recipe.
• A richer everyday version made with a whole head of roasted garlic and extra dried red peppers stirred through the roux.
• A version finished with a whole beaten egg poured over in the last five minutes, found around Bitola.

History

Beans baked in an earthenware tava with paprika and onion, the national dish; the large Tetovo bean is the preferred variety.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tavče gravče?

Tavče gravče is a main from North Macedonia: beans baked in a skillet with paprika, mint; national dish. Beans baked in an earthenware tava with paprika and onion, the national dish; the large Tetovo bean is the preferred variety.

How long does Tavče gravče take to make?

Tavče gravče takes 20 min of preparation and 2 hr, plus overnight soaking of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tavče gravče?

Yes, within limits. No tetovac? Large white butter beans or corona beans are the closest in size and texture; cannellini will work but break up more. Sweet paprika from Macedonia or Hungary is essential for colour and sweetness – Spanish smoked pimenton changes the dish into something else, though it is a pleasant something else.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tavče gravče?

Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion over medium-low heat 12–15 minutes until soft, sweet and just golden – do not brown it hard.