Roxani Kamperou’s Fasolada

My grandmother used to make this, a classic Greek comfort-food dish, and it is cheap and simple to make - the ultimate in times of crisis, and Greece has seen a lot of those! It can be vegan as long as you leave out the feta cheese at the end. This is very much my variant on the traditional one, which doesn’t involve carrot or celery.

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Ingredients:

Must-have:

1 bag of Beans (not magic, not too large, here they are called Fasolia Metria, which look like white cannellini beans)

1 apple (washed and whole)

1-2 onions

1 can of tomatoes

1 veg stock pot

Olive oil for frying

Optional:

Bay leaf

Celery

Carrots

Tomato paste (1 tbsp)

Feta cheese

If you have tomatoes looking sad, you can add these so they don’t go to waste.

Method:

Soak the beans in water for 24 hours

Fry off the onions

Add chopped carrots and celery to the pan, fry for 3 minutes

Add can of tomatoes, tomato paste and fresh tomatoes if you have any, veg stock pot, plenty of water, the beans and the apple (not chopped, washed and added whole, adding pectin which helps to thicken the sauce)

Turn the heat down and cook for at least 5 hours on a low heat, the longer the better

Remove the apple

Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, feta (if not vegan) and bread if you’re really going to town.

Feel full, happy and comforted.

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