Beans or legumes are one of the great pillars of the Greek Mediterranean diet. Often called ‘poor man’s meat’ they have been the main source of protein for many Greek people since Ancient times, also providing plenty of vitamins and antioxidants. While some people think beans and legumes are pretty boring, they don’t know Ma and her incredible repertoire of delicious bean dishes. The genesis for these dishes being Ma’s firm belief that too much meat is bad for you. Deeply religious, Ma also follows the fasting traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church. With more than 80 fasting days in the year, queue bean creativity!
Sophia recently shared this recipe with me for black eyed beans (μαυρομάτικα), sometimes known as ‘louvi xero’, swimming in bowl of olive oil-rich tomato sauce. This is a wonderfully comforting dish, perfect for cool days when you need something a little more satisfying.
Ma insists that when you make this dish (or in fact any other bean dish) that you used dried beans because of their quality – and you can sift out any unhealthy looking beans from the batch. Using dried beans just means you need to remember to soak them in water for at least 6 hours – either the night before (if you want to use them in the morning) or soak them in the morning and they’ll be ready to use that evening.
After soaking, remove any beans that float to the top and always discard the soaking water, thoroughly rinsing the beans before cooking. This makes the beans a lot more digestible and it removes any nasty toxic chemicals that may have been present, if your beans are not organic (or if they organic imported into Australia, which may have been sprayed by our customs officials).
Black eyed peas in tomato sauce
Ingredients
- 250 gr of black eyed beans
- 5 – 6 spring onions finely chopped
- 1 onion
- 1-2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 tea cup of finely chopped dill
- 1/2 tea cup of finely chopped parsley
- 2 tea cups of fresh tomatoes grated
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
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Soak dried black eyed beans for a minimum of 6 hours (when they should begin to be visibly plumper) to as long as overnight.
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Boil black eyed beans for about ten minutes and drain.
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Add olive oil to a saucepan and saute onions and garlic on very low heat until soft.
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Add the black-eyed peas, the herbs, salt and pepper as well as the tomatoes. Add water to cover them and simmer until the sauce has melded and thickened. About 1 - 1 & 1/2 hours.
