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Tis the season for soup! And there is nothing I like better than a soup that you use a ham bone in for flavor. Which I didn’t have at the time, but after a Christmas ham, this will be a soup
I will make.
From Wikipedia:
Pasulj or Grah is a white or brown bean soup, considered a traditional dish of Serbia, though it is nowadays popular throughout many Balkan nations. It is normally prepared with meat — ideally smoked meat. This can be smoked bacon or a smoked sausage, as well as smoked joints of tough meat, such as ham hocks, pigs feet or ribs.
Ingredients Needed:
Ham bone with some meat on or 10-12 slices of pancetta
2 cups of Romano beans
2 tbsp vegetable stock seasoning
carrots
2 russet potatoes
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
one green pepper
1/4 cup of olive oil
flour
Soak your beans overnight in a bowl of boiled then cooled water.
Ok. Have a little pity on me, this recipe was done from word of mouth and email advice, so bear with me. However, this is the tried and true Serbian recipe of two of our friends, so any authenticity issues are going to have to be taken up with them.
I repeat: I have no idea what I am doing. I just did what I was told.
H’ok. Dice up your pancetta and your onion and fry them up together in a pan on medium heat.
While that is going on, decide: stove top or crockpot? Both work equally well. Whichever you decide, add 8 cups of water to the pot and mix in 2 tbsp of the vegetable stock.
When the pancetta and onions are almost done, throw in the garlic and let it sizzle for a few moments. Add the pancetta, onions and garlic from the pan into your soup pot.
Ok, I lied, the potatoes are completely my addition to the recipe. I love potatoes in soup and russets give such a creamy texture to soups that I couldn’t resist.Peel and chop the potatoes and carrots up and get them into the pot as well.
Core and slice the green pepper into four and add to the pot as well. This is just for flavor, you remove it at the end of the cooking time.
Add in your drained two cups of beans that have soaked overnight.
For stove top this takes about 90 minutes and for the crockpot a good 4 hours on high. When you are ready to serve, take the 1/4 cup of oil and mix in as much flour as you can, until it’s crumbly almost. Then add a teensy bit more oil to smooth it out and whisk the mixture into the pot to thicken.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 10-12 slices of pancetta or Ham bone with some meat on
- 2 cups Romano beans
- 2 tablespoons vegetable stock seasoning
- 6 carrots
- 2 russet potatoes
- 1/2 white onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 green pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
- Soak your beans overnight in a bowl of boiled then cooled water.
- Dice up your pancetta and your onion and fry them up together in a pan on medium heat.
- While that is going on, decide: stove top or crockpot? Both work equally well. Whichever you decide, add 8 cups of water to the pot and mix in 2 tbsp of the vegetable stock.
- When the pancetta and onions are almost done, throw in the garlic and let it sizzle for a few moments.
- Add the pancetta, onions and garlic from the pan into your soup pot.
- Peel and chop the potatoes and carrots up and get them into the pot as well.
- Core and slice the green pepper into four and add to the pot as well. This is just for flavor, you remove it at the end of the cooking time.
- Add in your drained two cups of beans that have soaked overnight. For stove top this takes about 90 minutes and for the crockpot a good 4 hours on high.
- When you are ready to serve, take the 1/4 cup of oil and mix in as much flour as you can, until it’s crumbly almost. Then add a teensy bit more oil to smooth it out and whisk the mixture into the pot to thicken.
Griffa says
While the recipe looks delicious, it’s not Serbian pasulj. My mom’s side of the family is Serbian, my dad’s is Croatian. No pasulj contains potatoes. Grasak does, but that has peas in it. Not the white beans.
Karen Trifunovic says
Hi, I live in England, my husband is a British Serb, my Mother-in-Law Ljubica showed me how to make the soup 25 years ago – she used a ham bone or pork ribs to flavour the soup and she always used dried Rose Coco beans with conchiglietti stirred in for the last 10 minutes (not potato) . My whole family loved it!
Laura says
This looks delicious – but what are Romano beans? What other beans can be used?
A Canadian Foodie says
To our palate, a ham bone… to their palate – that is messing with perfection! There is always the “friendly banter” about whose is the best amongst them all!
🙂
Valerie
Karlynn says
I thought I had read that one of you two was Serbian, now I know which one! Friends of ours are both Serbian and he makes this soup regularly, a favorite from his childhood.
I think I would love it with a ham bone, like a split pea but with beans…mmm..it lends itself to adding other ingredients so well! Like the potatoes I threw in.
A Canadian Foodie says
PS – about magpies… and I should have known better… I already wrote about them last winter (Canadian Freezer) but just two days ago had some steak outside in a sealed package from the store (freezer was full and it was for dinner the next day). I went to get it, and two were missing. YES. Litte beak marks on the package. They stop at NOTHING. 🙂 🙂 🙂
A Canadian Foodie says
My heart is racing (oh, I am so easily thrilled!!!) How do you know this soup? Invite us when you make it next – better yet, teach me how. Ok OK I will try it myself first. That is why you wrote such gorgeous and detailed post after all…. but, you may or may not know from reading my posts on occasion… that my husband is Serbian and this is his favourite soup!! If you know the food of the culture. I just posted my burek and homemade phyllo recipe last week.
🙂
Love your site and just found the subscribe my e-mail button today – so I AM IN!
🙂
Valerie