Bulgarian Bean Soup

Boris and I visited Bulgaria last summer and I enjoyed the food so much. My favorite dish was a bean soup. I tried my first bowl on our way to Vidin. It was love at first bite. Boris' mother made a big batch for us to eat the rest of the week. I joked that I wanted to take a thermos home with me. 

I recently had a craving and decided to try my hand at making the delicious soup.

You will need:

300 g white or red beans

1 carrot finely chopped 

1 bell pepper finely chopped

1-2 tomatoes pureed

1 white onion finely chopped

4-5 sprigs of fresh mint

1-2 cloves of garlic (optional)

1 tbsp paprika 

2 tbsp oil

pepper and salt to taste

Soak the beans for 3-4 hours. Drain them and add fresh water. Bring to a boil.

Chop up all of your veggies.

I like this traditional dish because the ingredients make up the colors of the Bulgarian flag, white, green and red.

In a separate pan add oil, chopped onion, carrot, pepper and garlic. Sauté for 10-15 min. Then add the sauteed veggies to the boil. Go ahead and add the paprika as well.

Once the beans have softened, add the sprigs of mint and the pureed tomato. Salt and boil for another 15-20 minutes. 

We added parsley and grumbled feta on top. Enjoy! 

Do you have a traditional dish I should try? Let me know!