Georgian kidney beans with walnuts (lobio) and cornbread cakes
Kidney beans mashed with walnuts, garlic, coriander and loads of cilantro, sharpened with vinegar and eaten with crisp pan-fried cornmeal cakes, a warm, herby dish from the Caucasus.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $1.40 a serving
- 670 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups cornmeal
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ tsp ground coriander
- 2 cans kidney beans, 1 drained, 1 not drained
- ½ cup walnuts, finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- 1¼ cups water, hot
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil, divided
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp dried marjoram
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Each serving has about 670 calories, 18 g protein, 86 g carbs and 29 g fat, and costs about $1.40 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Stir the cornmeal and ½ teaspoon salt with the hot water in a bowl until it forms a soft dough. Let it rest 10 minutes.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: It should hold together when squeezed. Add a spoonful of water if it crumbles.Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium over medium heat and cook the onion 7 minutes, until soft and .
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 7 min
Stir in the garlic, coriander, paprika, marjoram and pepper flakes and cook 1 minute, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heat
Add both cans of beans, with the liquid from the undrained one, and ¾ teaspoon salt. 10 minutes, mashing about half the beans.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 10 min
Meanwhile, shape the cornmeal dough into 8 small oval cakes about ½ inch thick.
Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil in a large over medium heat and fry the cakes 4 to 5 minutes a side, until and .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: They’re fragile until the crust forms. Wait for it before you flip.Stir the walnuts, vinegar and most of the cilantro into the beans and take them off the heat. Taste for salt.
Serve the lobio warm with the rest of the cilantro on top and the cornmeal cakes alongside.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
