Jani me Fasule 🍲 Albanian White Bean Soup 🇦🇱 (Bean Stew)

Description

Creamy white beans simmered with onions, carrot, tomato, and fragrant mint—clean, hearty, tavë-style comfort in a bowl. In Albania, this staple appears from village pots to city tavernas, especially on fasting days. 🫘🌿

Hook: Pantry beans, one pot, silky broth—weeknight-simple, mezze-worthy. ⚡

Ingredients

• 🫘 Dry white beans (cannellini/navy), soaked overnight & drained: 350 g (2 cups / 12.3 oz)
• Shortcut: cooked beans 700 g (4½ cups / 25 oz)
• 🫗 Olive oil or sunflower oil: 45 ml (3 tbsp / 1.5 fl oz)
• 🧅 Onion, fine dice: 200 g (1⅓ cups / 7 oz)
• 🥕 Carrot, small dice: 120 g (¾ cup / 4.2 oz)
• 🧄 Garlic, minced: 9 g (3 cloves / 0.32 oz)
• 🍅 Tomato passata (or grated fresh tomato): 250 g (1 cup / 8.8 oz)
• 🌿 Dried mint (classic Albanian note): 1–1½ tsp (0.5–0.8 g / 0.02–0.03 oz)
• 🌿 Bay leaf: 1
• 💧 Water or vegetable stock: 1.2–1.4 l (5–6 cups)
• 🧂 Salt: to taste (≈10 g / 1¾ tsp)
• ⚫ Black pepper: ½ tsp (1 g / 0.04 oz)
• 🌶️ Sweet paprika (optional): 1 tsp (2 g / 0.07 oz)
• 🍋 Lemon wedges, to serve: 4

Preparation

1. 1️⃣ Cook beans: Cover soaked 🫘 beans with fresh water; simmer 45–60 min until tender but intact. Drain. (Skip if using canned.)
2. 2️⃣ Aromatics: Warm 🫗 oil in a pot. Sauté 🧅 onion and 🥕 carrot with a pinch of salt 6–8 min until sweet; add 🧄 garlic 30 sec.
3. 3️⃣ Build the soup: Stir in 🍅 passata and 🌶️ paprika; cook 2 min. Add cooked beans, 🌿 bay, 🌿 mint, and 💧 water/stock to cover by ~2–3 cm.
4. 4️⃣ Simmer: Cook gently 20–25 min until broth turns lightly creamy; mash a ladleful of beans against the pot to thicken. Season with 🧂 salt and ⚫ pepper.
5. 5️⃣ Finish: Rest 5 min. Serve with 🍋 lemon wedges and warm bread.

Total Time

🕒 Prep: 15 min (+ soak if using dry)
🔥 Cook: 45–60 min (dry beans) or 25–30 min (cooked beans)
⏳ Total: 1 h–1 h 15 min (or ~35 min with cooked beans)

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