BROAD BEAN SOUP: FROM NAKHIJEVAN, A DISH FEATURING "WHITE GREENS"
Gayane Lazarian

ArmeniaNow reporter
30.04.10

It looks like a red bean, but something like a lentil. Or even
like green peas. It has a distinct name, though, to bypass other
definitions. The broad bean.

"Broad beans are also used while they are green. Currently people do
not prepare broad bean soup very often.

Armenians have become somehow Europeanized now. But I cook it, and I
am sure that it will gradually take its proper place in the Armenian
cuisine again, like many started preparing dishes with pumpkin again,"
says Sima Baldayna, resident of Yerevan, whose ancestors were off
Nakhijevan extraction.

Sima starts preparing broad bean soup, which is also called broad
bean and white bellevalia soup.

This dish, which is typical to Armenian cuisine, is made of mainly
broad beans, white edible greens (the bellavalia is green on the
outside and white inside), bulgur, dried plums, and walnuts.

The previously cooked brown broad beans and the bellevalia (which
according to Sima, are also known as ‘Alagyaz edible greens’) are on
Sima’s kitchen table.

"I have previously cooked [broad beans] with salt, so that they are
cooked fast in the soup. Generally, when broad beans are melted in
the soup, they become jelly-like," Sima explains and starts preparing
stewed onions.

(Broad beans and the greens can be bought in Armenian markets. One
kilo of broad beans costs about $6 in Yerevan markets.)

She has added about 150 grams butter, and constantly stirs the stewed
onions with a wooden ladle, until it becomes brownish. She adds one
tablespoon of cayenne and half a teaspoon of tomato paste. Leaving
it to cook for several minutes, she adds 0.5 kg cooked broad beans,
in a few seconds, the greens.

"I add white bulgur to the mass and later some boiled water, estimated
by sight, to make the soup neither too thin nor too thick. At the end,
I add some black pepper, depending on taste," she explains.

Sima put 200 grams dried plums in cold water. She says that it is
necessary to leave it that way for several hours, so that the dried
plums pass their sourness to the water.

While the soup cooks, Sima chops 200 grams walnuts. She says that
people in Nakhijevan add walnuts to many dishes.

"In our dialect, we say that we add ‘khen’ [walnut] to the dish. There
are plenty of walnut trees in Nakhijevan’s parks," she recalls.

The soup is cooked for almost 25 minutes. Five minutes before turning
the gas fire off, she adds the chopped walnuts and some salt (depending
on taste) to the soup.

"Many also call this soup ‘pakhla soup’. Some prefer eating it with
garlic, depending on taste," Sima says, putting the soup into bowls.

The following ingredients are necessary to prepare broad beans and
"white greens" soup: 0.5 kg broad beans 300 grams bellevalia greens
150-200 grams white bulgur 1 onion 200 grams dried plums 200 grams
walnuts 1 tablespoon cayenne 25 grams tomato paste black pepper and
salt – depending on taste

How to prepare broad beans and "white greens" soup:

Cook 0.5 kg broad beans with salt beforehand, when the beans soften.

Cook the greens with salt beforehand, too (almost 30 minutes). Then
make stewed onions, putting one chopped onion into 150 grams butter.

Stir the onion constantly to make it brownish and add one tablespoon
cayenne and 25 grams tomato paste. In a few minutes, add the cooked
broad beans and greens, white bulgur, and some boiled water so to
make the soup neither too thin nor too thick. Later add some salt,
depending on taste. Put dried plums in cold water beforehand: it is
necessary to leave it that way for some 2 hours, so that the dried
plums pass their sourness to the water. When the soup starts boiling,
add the plums and water in which they soaked. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Five minutes before turning off the heat, add 200 grams chopped
walnuts. Serve with garlic, according to taste.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress