One of my favorites since the hungry Bulgarian years ’95-’97. I’ve eaten so much beans, cooked in so many different ways that I can fill another blog with them.

Ingredients

30-40 ml olive oil,	2 ltr. cooking pot,	one big or few small carrots,	One medium onion or few green onions,
A cup of white beans (250 gr.),	One big red pepper,	250 grams of ground meat (60% pork, 40% veal),	10 leaves spearmint, ground black pepper, ground red pepper, ground cumin, one tbsp of salt.

Preparation

Wash the beans in cold water. Put them in the pot, pour a liter of warm water and let them boil for 1 and a half hour (90 minutes) on the hot plate set to 5 or 6 (high). It should be enough for most of the bean types.

[If you are using peeled beans, 30-40 minutes are more than enough but I rarely use this type. The bean shell has some GI lowering abilities, that are good for most of the slightly obese people like me.]

Take a wooden spoon and get few beans from the boiling water. Blow gently to reduce the temperature and taste the beans. The bean is ready when it does not feel crunchy while chewing.

Turn off the hot plate for now. Remove the pot from it and let the beans cool a bit. Rinse the whole lot with cold water. (You don’t want to keep that water the bean has been boiled with at all). Let them dry a bit and put them to a side dish or a large cup for later.

Clean the pot.

Put some olive oil in the pot and take it again on the hot plate. Set the power to “4” or medium.

Make 10-15 small meat balls with slightly oiled palms and put them in the pot to fry just for a minute on each side.

Dice one carrot, one onion and one red pepper. Put them in the pot and leave them for 5 minutes to get the smell of slightly fried meat.

Put the beans. Sprinkle the spices and pour 1 liter of warm water. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with the lid. Let it boil for 50 minutes.

The stew is ready when the carrots are soft (check one with the wooden spoon) but you may keep boiling for another 10 minutes to make it even tastier.

And … as I always suggest drinks – for this one it’s beer 😉

This one is my all time favorite. I prefer having this salad with every meal. Regardless what time of the year is and what is the price of the vegetables.

Ingredients

2-4 tbsp olive oil,	One medium cucumber,	One onion,	One big tomato,	100 grams of cheese,	10-12 olives,	some parsley,	salt.

Preparation

Wash the vegetables. Slice them in 1/2 cm slices and distribute in 2 salad bowls. Stir. Put salt. Stir again. Let it rest for 5 minute, the salt will start pulling juices from the vegetables. Put the olive oil. Get the cheese and crush it to crumbs in your fist over the salad bowls. Sprinkle with some parsley and drop some olives over the whole lot.

If you are drinking often – Grape spirits like Rakia, Vodka and Brandy are the most suitable with this salad. Enjoy!