Georgian Beans

It is known that a successful combination of easily digestible vegetable protein, vitamins and microelements with high taste qualities gives beans a special value in cooking. The protein composition close to that of meat makes beans an indispensable component of vegetarian recipes. It occupies not the last place in the diet of diabetics, lowering sugar levels.
Beans (Lobio) occupy one of the most prominent places in Georgian cuisine. There are many recipes for making beans and we would like to provide you with one of the most popular among Georgians:
Ingredients:
    Beans - 500 g (red or variegated)
    Walnuts - 100 g
    Bulb onions - 3 pcs.
    Tomato - 2 pcs.
    Garlic - 3 teeth.
    Cilantro - 12 g
    Hops-suneli - 1 tbsp
    Hot red pepper - 0.5 pcs.
    Salt to taste
    Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons
    Black pepper - to taste
Preparation:
1.Pour the beans into a large bowl and cover with water. Water is cold.
If some beans have floated to the surface, touch them with your fingers, they may be empty in the middle. These beans should be thrown away.
Leave the red beans to swell for 6-8 hours.
2. Then drain the water, transfer the beans to a deep saucepan and add fresh water so that the water completely covers the beans. Set the saucepan over high heat to bring it to a boil.
As soon as the water boils, you need to get rid of it - pour it out and refill it with cold water (the ideal ratio is 1: 4). Cook over medium or low heat, stirring occasionally, for 50 minutes - an hour and a half. The beans should be soft.
Mash some of the beans a little with a fork right in the saucepan. Just don't overdo it, there should be a lot of whole beans in the dish.
3. To sort out the kernels from the husks and shells. Nuts should not be rotten or spoiled.
4. Grind them in an accessible and convenient way for you - using a blender or a meat grinder.
5. For the classic lobio, take two large onions weighing about 180-190 grams or three medium-sized onions. It is necessary to remove the husk from them and cut into a not very small cube. The onion in the dish should be felt and visible.
Prepare a frying pan (preferably a large diameter with high sides) - heat it, pour in vegetable oil.
Spread the onion in an even layer and fry it with a low heat of the stove burner until it is transparent, with a light golden color in color.
6. Blanch fresh tomatoes. First, wash the tomatoes well, make cross-shaped shallow cuts near the stalk and on the opposite side with a sharp knife and, lowering the tomatoes in boiling water, count to ten. Keep vegetables in boiling water for more than 10 seconds. If there is a bowl of ice nearby, then you can instantly cool the tomatoes in it, if there is no ice, hold it under running cold water. Pry off the skin with a knife blade and remove it without much effort. All our tomatoes are blanched.
7. Next, cut them into a medium cube, about the size of an onion.
8. Cut a bunch of cilantro with a knife. Grind the greens not very finely. Finely and finely chop the cloves of garlic into cubes. You can grind them through a press, but chopping with a knife will still be more correct.
9. Add tomato cubes to the transparent onion, season with spices - suneli hops, black pepper, a small amount of dried red pepper. Control the amount of hot pepper to your taste. In principle, the dish should be spicy and savory, but at the same time edible for spiciness.
Add beans, nuts, cilantro, garlic and a little broth in which the beans were cooked to the onions and tomatoes. Salt.
10. Stir and simmer for 3-4 minutes. If you see that the dish turns out to be dry, you can add more water from the beans.
If lobio is served hot according to the classic recipe, then this is the main course. And if cold - a snack.