by From the first waft of deliciousness as the bowl was placed in front of me, I knew it was going to be a memorable lunch but I was also surprised at the nostalgic feelings that came with every flavor packed bite.
The steaming bowl of crimson with a hearty amount of beans, veggies & meat under the surface was more than just soup! It was a representation of a peoples resilience to make do with little and prevail with distinctiveness … as food traditions are a community’s best cultural markers. This bowl of Fazuľová Polievk was Slovakia!
I suspect every grandmother in Slovakia has a special bean soup recipe that is a cherished dish of comfort. This dish from a little local restaurant called Staromestská Piváreň located in the historic center of Košice Slovakia, could have been the same dish that’s been served here since the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or maybe just the chef’s own concoction? When I asked the waiter/owner nothing was translating properly so this isn’t THAT recipe. But for years my palate has had a lot of delicious practice (and success) at deciphering ingredients in dishes, and the below recipe is pretty close to that memorable bowl of Slovakian bean soup I enjoyed one cold rainy afternoon in the medieval city of Košice.
** this recipe makes a BIG batch, but leftover soup is the best AND you could freeze this in portions as well!
250 g dried beans.
200 g “smoked meat” is what most recipes call for but I’m 99% sure they used the equivalent of a ham hock
2 liters of water
2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
1 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
2-4 veggie stock cubes
** KITCHEN TIP: In Slovakia they have a kitchen staple called “domácej vegety”:homemade vegeta , which is very finely diced up (pulsed) vegetable scraps (like onions, garlic, peppers, all root vegetables) that they oven dry on very low temperature and then crush and used later as seasoning to make vegetable stock. Sometime they also just pulse all the scraps in a processor and the freeze or “can” in jars (but the dried method has a much longer shelf life and easier storage)
Vegetables:
1 carrot (diced small).
¼ of a small celery (diced small).
¼ of kohlrabi (diced small).
2 medium potatoes (diced small).
Handful of diced parsley (traditional ingredient but my bowl did not have)
Zápražka (Roux/soup thicker)
1 tablespoon of oil or lard.
1 tablespoon of plain flour.
1 teaspoon of ground smoked paprika
A little water to thin.
1️⃣ Preparing the beans and meat:
Soak the beans for a few hours (ideally overnight).
Rinse the soaked beans and put them in a pot.
Add the smoked meat, pour 2 liters of water and bring to a boil.
Add the vegetable stock cubes.
Cook over low heat for 60-90 minutes until the beans are soft.
2️⃣ Adding the vegetables:
When the beans are almost soft, add the diced carrots, celery, parsley, kohlrabi and potatoes.
Add pinch of salt, the garlic & smoked paprika
Cook for another 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
When able remove the smoked meat and dice it up into small pieces then return to the pot.
3️⃣ Preparing the stew:
Heat the oil or lard in a frying pan.
Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until light brown. Turn down heat.
Quickly aside, add a little smoked paprika to the water mix and pour into flour slowly while stirring to make a paste. Then take off heat and slowly stir the paste into the soup (with soup pot heat on medium) this will thicken the broth.
Season with ground black pepper and cook for another 5-10 minutes or leave to simmer a bit
5️⃣ Serving:
Serve the hot soup with fresh rye bread. Thick chunks of rye bread is traditional and the best!
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