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)
1️⃣ Cook beans: Cover soaked 🫘 beans with fresh water; simmer 45–60 min until tender but intact. Drain. (Skip if using canned.)
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.
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.
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.
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)
Nutritional Value
🔋 Energy: ~290 kcal
💪 Protein: ~13 g
🧈 Fat: ~9 g
🍞 Carbohydrates: ~42 g
🧂 Sodium: ~680 mg
Advice
Salt the soup toward the end—early salting can toughen bean skins. Mashing a scoop of beans in the pot gives body without flour.
Why it works
Gentle simmering keeps beans intact while starch naturally emulsifies with oil and tomato; dried mint adds classic Albanian lift without overpowering the clean bean flavor.
Twist
Stir in spinach or Swiss chard (150 g / 5 oz) for the last 3–4 min; or add 1 roasted hot pepper (chopped) for a Tirana-style kick.
Status
Village-humble, city-comfort—Albanian jani me fasule that eats like a hug. #grannyzen #albanianstew 🫘🇦🇱
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