Fasolada (Greek Bean Soup)
- Ready In:
- 1hr 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Serves:
-
8
ingredients
- 1⁄2 kg dried navy beans, soaked overnight (cannelini beans are traditional in greece)
- 1⁄2 cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1⁄2 cups onions, cut in small dice
- 1 1⁄2 cups celery, cut in small dice
- 1 1⁄2 cups carrots, cut in small dice
- 1 1⁄2 cups potatoes, cut in small dice
- 1⁄3 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
- salt and pepper
-
Possible garnishes
- Tabasco sauce
- Tabasco jalapeno sauce (jalapeno)
- grated parmesan cheese
directions
- Cook the beans until tender. Drain.
- In a soup pot, add beans and enough water to cover beans plus 3 extra cups of water. Bring to a simmer. Add remaining ingredients, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer until vegetables are cooked through, and soup has thickened, about 20 minutes. (greeks like soft veggies, you may want your soup cooked slightly less if you like crispier veggies). This soup only improves over the next few days, so go ahead and make it way before you plan to eat it.
- Note: At the table, I like to serve this with the choice of regular Tabasco, and the green (jalapeno) version, for people to add to their bowls as per their liking. I like a couple of drops of the red Tabasco, and a bit heavier on the green for more herbal notes. Also, for a more European flavour, a generous sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese at the table is divine.
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Reviews
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I really enjoyed this soup. I had soaked the beans overnight and cooked them in the morning, which made it easy to finish this up for dinner. Generally I do not use celery as I don't like the texture, but I've just found that if I dice it very finely, I like it quite well. I used about half chicken broth instead of water, and would add a bay leaf, perhaps some savory or thyme next time to round out the flavor. I plan to add some spinach to the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, as I think that would work out well.
Tweaks
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I really enjoyed this soup. I had soaked the beans overnight and cooked them in the morning, which made it easy to finish this up for dinner. Generally I do not use celery as I don't like the texture, but I've just found that if I dice it very finely, I like it quite well. I used about half chicken broth instead of water, and would add a bay leaf, perhaps some savory or thyme next time to round out the flavor. I plan to add some spinach to the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, as I think that would work out well.
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OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages!
I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure.
So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call.
What did I do wrong?
Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths.
I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time.
That's all for now.