Beans with Onions

Name: Beans with Onions Baked in a Clay Pot – Hearty Vegan Recipe
Prep time: 6 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 6 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Dried beans 1 cup (170 g); Onion 2-3; Dill, parsley 2-3 sprigs; Garlic 1-2 cloves; Vegetable oil 4 tbsp; Salt, black pepper to taste; Ground coriander 1-2 pinches; Sugar 0.5 tsp (optional) (2 g); Cold water for soaking, plus 2-3 l for boiling; Hot water for the pot, depending on the desired consistency

☆ Rate it

more than 6 hours

Beans with onions baked in a clay pot are wholesome and filling. The beauty of this dish is that it can be a full main course, an excellent bean side dish, or even a first course: a thick bean soup.

The common bean is a plant of the legume family. It has been grown for food since ancient times and comes in many varieties and cultivars. Remarkably, the seeds are eaten at different stages of ripeness. Green pods, or “blades” as they are sometimes called, are great for soup or as a side dish. The famous Caucasian green lobio is, in essence, often a stew of beans and vegetables. It is served with herbs, pomegranate seeds and unleavened bread, tonis puri or shotis puri, baked in a wood-fired oven. Dried beans can be turned into all kinds of dishes: soup, salad, and even a filling for tasty pies.

In Peru, Mexico and other Latin American countries, for example, the bean is the foremost and oldest plant of ancient agriculture. The ancient chronicles and treatises of explorers of the New World contain curious accounts by the Aztecs and Maya about beans, especially their variety. Although the classification of ancient bean varieties and species seems to have been based mostly on the size and colour of the beans.

Beans reached us quite late, no earlier than the 17th century and, it seems, from France. That is why for a long time they were called French beans and grown as ornamental plants.

I remember from childhood that my grandmother rarely planted beans in garden beds. Most often she sowed them along the paths and along the edge of the garden. In autumn the bushes were pulled out of the ground and left to dry completely under a shed. Then began a fascinating game for the grandchildren: shelling the beans. The beans were stored in sacks in a cold room so that the bean weevil would not appear. By the way, I always keep beans in the fridge for exactly that reason.

For any dish, dried beans must be soaked. Then, in the vast majority of recipes, they have to be boiled until done. Bean cooking time is a thing in itself, and no exact time can even be given. Even familiar, well-tried beans can cook differently. Beans with onions are best made from beans that are almost fully cooked, so they don’t turn to mush.

More with beans

Stewed Beans with Onion and Tomatoes

7 h

Pumpkin Chili with Red Kidney Beans and Tomatoes

1 h

Beans in Tomato Sauce with Meat and Vegetables

1 h 15 min

Beans with Mushrooms

45 min

Beans with Vegetables

1 h 15 min

More beans recipes

Ingredients

2 servings

Dried beans 1 cup (170 g)
Onion 2-3
Dill, parsley 2-3 sprigs
Garlic 1-2 cloves
Vegetable oil 4 tbsp
Salt, black pepper to taste
Ground coriander 1-2 pinches
Sugar 0.5 tsp (optional) (2 g)
Cold water for soaking, plus 2-3 l for boiling
Hot water for the pot, depending on the desired consistency

Step-by-step recipe

Turn on cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

How to soak and boil the beans

Beans with onions is a simple, versatile dish. There is one subtlety: the beans must be soaked really well. Otherwise you can boil them forever and end up with mush. Of course, you can use any variety of beans you can get. Just make sure all the beans are the same variety, because different varieties cook differently.
Soak the beans in cold water ahead of time, preferably the day before, and put them in the fridge for at least 6 hours.
At home we usually cook bean dishes with local white beans, and mostly we make bean purée soup. Or with speckled beans of a very beautiful colour. They make an excellent stew, beans with vegetables. Not long ago dried red beans appeared, indispensable for “chili con carne” and even for simple stewed beans with vegetables.
Rinse the soaked beans and, preferably, pick them over. After soaking, the marks left by bean weevils, which are often present in dried beans, are easy to spot. While you are at it, discard any odd or damaged beans.
Boil the beans until almost done. Put the soaked beans in a large pot, pour in 2-3 l of cold water and bring to the boil. Cook uncovered over low heat so the water doesn’t bubble hard. The simmer should be gentle; then the beans are sure to cook through and not fall apart into mush.
Cooking time for soaked beans can be anywhere from 20 mins to 1 hour. Always check how done they are. In the end the beans should be nearly cooked, with just a faint firmness in the very centre of each bean. The “al dente” stage, so to speak.

How to fry the onion with garlic

Generally, you can add a lot more onion, considering that the dish has no other ingredients that give it volume.
Fry the onion until golden. Peel the onion and cut it into thick strips. Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the onion over high heat, stirring. If you like, add 0.5 tsp of sugar (2 g) to the onion; it improves the flavour of the onion considerably. Salt the almost-done onion lightly, add pepper to taste, and add 1-2 pinches of ground coriander.
Add peeled garlic, finely chopped with a knife, to the fried onion. Note: chopped, not grated. Take the pan off the heat, cover it with a lid and let the onion and garlic stand for a few minutes.

How to cook beans in a clay pot

The beans with onions will be cooked in a large ceramic pot or, if you like, in small individual pots. It is important that the pot has a tight-fitting lid.
Layer the boiled beans (without the water they were boiled in) in the pot, alternating with the onion. Start with a layer of beans to cover the bottom. On top, spread 1-2 tbsp of fried onion evenly. Then another layer of beans and a layer of onion.
The top layer should be beans.
Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and pour in hot water from the kettle. How much depends on the consistency you want:
- soup: up to two thirds of the pot height;
- stew: a small amount of water, less than half the height;
- side dish: no more than a third of the height.
Cover the pot with the lid and place it in an oven preheated to 210°C. So that the liquid doesn’t boil over onto the bottom of the oven, always set the pots in a deep heatproof glass baking dish.
It takes a while for the liquid to come to the boil. From the moment it starts to boil, the beans should cook for 20 mins. They should become soft but not fall apart into mush.

Serving

The finished beans with onions are served at the table in the same pot they were cooked in. The pot is very hot, so it is best to set it on a saucer or a stand.
Spoon the beans with onions onto plates right at the dinner table and garnish with sprigs of dill and parsley.