What is lobio?
As some of you may already know, I was born in the city of Sochi in Russia. Sochi is a beautiful seaside holiday destination and is situated on the Black Sea very close to the Georgia/Russian border. This meant that growing up I was raised on eating not only Russian food but also a lot of dishes that were Georgian or Georgian-inspired. One of those happened to be lobio.
My mum would often make a big bowl of lobio for a special occasion among other delicious Russian dishes for a dinner party when I was little and I have been obsessed with it ever since I first tried it.
The best way to describe the dish could be a comforting, nutty bean stew, filled with flavour and texture. Lobio is also vegan too, which makes it perfect for anyone looking to cut down on their meat consumption but also want to have something hearty and filling at the same time.
The key ingredient in this dish has to the the Khmeli-Suneli, a fabulously fragrant mixture of ground fenugreek seeds, coriander, dill, celery, parsley, basil and black peppercorns. It sucks that this spice mix isn’t readily available in the UK supermarkets (yet?), but thankfully we can count on the internet to help us out – I’ve found some on Amazon to purchase here.
Another part of this dish that makes it typically ‘Georgian’ is the adjika paste – a hot and spicy dip often used to flavour food. The paste has a wonderful and rich depth of flavour in the same way that Gochujang (Korean chilli paste) has – its just delicious! I’ve included a link to purchase it here.
Here is my easy lobio recipe…
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 2 x tins of kidney beans (drained)
- 1.5 onions (finely chopped)
- 100g walnuts (crushed)
- 4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon adjika paste (or chilli paste)
- 2 teaspoons of Khmeli-Suneli (Georgian Five Spice)
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- A large bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- Salt to taste
- Couple tablespoons of water
Method:
- Get everything chopped & prepped! Drain your kidney beans, finely chop your onions, garlic and and then either use a rolling pin or food processor to crush up your walnuts into smaller pieces. I like my recipe with a bit of bite so my walnut pieces (pictured) are irregular in shape. If you’d prefer them to be smaller and finer feel free to do so!
- Put the oil in a frying pan and add the onions and garlic. Fry them both off until the’ve softened and begin to go a light golden colour.
- Add the adjika paste, tomato paste and a couple tablespoons of water to the frying pan and mix it all in together. Once nicely combined, add the Khmeli-Suneli. Let this cook for a few minutes.
- Add the kidney beans and walnuts into the frying pan and combine all the ingredients together, stirring the mixture for about 3-4 mins.
- Finally stir in the lemon juice and parsley and season the dish to taste. It’s now ready to serve!
I can’t tell you how warm and comforting this dish is on a wintry day. It’s so fragrant and very mildly spicy – utter perfection! You can serve this with pretty much anything you want – its a great side dish or can be eaten as a main with salad and bread. I would honestly eat it on its own with a big spoon if I could!
If you do happen to give this dish a go, please let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear your feedback. I hope you love this dish as much as I do!
Until next time,
Lica xoxo
