Serbian Bean Soup and Why You Should Eat It

Serbian Soup

BEAN SOUP
(pasulj)

INGREDIENTS

3 garlic cloves
1 large onion
1 carrot
1 pound smoked sausage or other smoked meat 2½ tablespoons vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
1½ tablespoons flour
½ tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon parsley
½ teaspoon pepper
4 peppercorns
15-ounce can cannellini or white kidney beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4½ cups water
½ teaspoon salt

Makes 8 bowls. Takes about 1½ hours to make.

PREPARATION

Dice garlic cloves and onion. Cut carrot and smoked sausage into ½” thick slices. Add vegetable oil, garlic, onion, and sausage to large pot. Sauté for 5 minutes on medium-high heat or until onion softens and sausage starts to brown. Stir frequently. Reduce heat to low. Add bay leaves, flour, paprika, parsley, pepper, and peppercorns. Mix to form a paste.

Add water to pot. Bring to boil using high heat. Add beans, carrot, and tomato paste. Stir until paste blends in completely. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 hour. Add salt. Mash the beans near the side of the pot to thicken the soup. Now you know beans.

TIDBITS

1) On June 28th, a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. This event triggered the horrific First World War. The Archduke had been taking a carriage ride.

2) It would have all turned out much differently if the Archduke had been eating Serbian bean soup instead. No one gets assassinated in a restaurant that serves good bean soup. Suppose, you could normally kill someone, just hypothetically mind you. Once you entered the restaurant, the wonderful aromas wafting their way from the soup pots would make you so hungry you’d postpone your murderous deed until you’d have just one bowl, thank you, of wonderful bean soup. And then you’d be so full of good will to all humanity, you couldn’t kill any one. Nor under tip, even. Which is why world leaders always frequent restaurants with good bean soup.

– Chef Paul