Every single Greek person that I know and every single household has this hearty (usually vegetarian) soup in their family's roster of dishes. Fassoulada is often served on Fridays when no meat is prepared, during Great Lent or on any other religious fasting day.
I like abstaining from red meat on Fridays and this soup remarkably does fill you up. If you take a look at the photos, Fassoulada is accompanied by bread, olives and toursi (pickled veggies). Some Greek homes make this a spicy soup with a noticeable presence of peperoncino.
Another variance that I like for fassoulada is giving it a split-pea soup kind of twist by simmering a smoked ham hock in it and make it an even heartier soup. Before I get on to the recipe, remember that you must soak the dry beans overnight or else you'll have tough, chewy bean soup and to speed up the cooking time, use a pressure cooker.
Fassoulada (φασολάδα)
1 cup of small dry (white) navy beans
1 large stalk of celery, halved lengthwise then cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large carrot, halved then cut into 1/2 inch pieces on a bias
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 cup of pomodoro or tomato sauce
1/2 olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 whole chile pepper
2 tsp. of smoked paprika
8 cups of water
Vegeta seasoning for taste
- The night before you are to make this soup, soak the beans in water overnight.
- Drain the water from the beans and place them into a pressure cooker. Now add all of the remaining ingredients into the pressure cooker.
- Close the lid of your cooker (according to mfgrs' instrcutions) and place in on high heat. You should have the cooker whistling in about 20 minutes.
- Lower your heat to medium and allow the soup to simmer in the cook for an hour. Take your cooker off the heat, release the steam switch and ONLY open the cooker after you cease to hear any whistling.
- Adjust for seasoning with with salt or I recommend Vegeta seasoning.
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