Macedonian bean soup

This simple, spicy soup from Macedonia is flavoured with mint and paprika. This will fast become a winter favourite.

Bean soup (Macedonian)

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  2:30 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups white beans, sorted and rinsed three times
• 4 whole dried large Balkan chillies
• 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• oil
• 2 tsp red paprika
• good sprinkling dried mint

Instructions

Place beans in a large saucepan. Cover with water and heat on low heat. Deseed chillies and add to pan, along with garlic and bay leaf. Simmer for 2 hours.

Remove the chillies. Gently peel away and discard the skin, leaving the soft chilli pulp.

Brown onion in oil. Add the chilli pulp and a ladleful of cooked, mashed beans. Add the paprika and fry for another minute. Return the mixture to the saucepan and allow to simmer for a further 20 minutes. Close to serving, add the dried mint.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.