members recipes

A Macedonian classic. find out why these baked beans are good enough to be a national dish!

Ingredients
500g flat, white beans
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
2 tblspoons of paprika
1 dried chilli
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
salt
pepper

Method
Soak the beans overnight, cover with water and cook on a simmer for 2-3 hours stiring only in the first hour (the beans have to be fluffy, but not mushed). Add (at least) one dried chilli and one bay leaf (savoury is also great if you can get it) to the beans when you start to cook them. Add salt to taste near the very end, otherwise the membranes will toughen up. When they\'re almost done finely dice the onion and garlic, put them in a hot oiled frying pan and turn down the heat to low. Add a pinch of salt and pepper cover them and let them sweat for about 5 minutes. After that add the paprika and a bit of flour and stir untill you have a thick brown mush. Add a cup of water and stir it in. Get your earthenware dish (it HAS to be earthenware, it\'s half the taste) oil the inside, puour in the beans and the onion mixture. There should be enough liquid to almost cover the beans, if not, add some more water. Chuck it in a 200C oven and bake for about 40 minutes (you want to get a nice brown skin on top). Take it out and leave it to settle for 5-10 minutes. It\'s amazing with various smoked meats such as bacon, sausages, hock, ribs etc., but it\'s more than good enough on it\'s own as a veggie meal.