My new heart throb in blogs is Georgia About http://georgiaabout.wordpress.com/. It has been a long time since I’ve been introduced to a new (to me) and interesting cuisine. In addition to Georgian recipes, Georgia About showcases South Caucasus Georgia’s rich heritage and culture. I am dazzled and want to go for a visit 🙂 But first I wanted to dabble in Georgian cuisine!
The Georgian bean dish, lobio, sort of reminds me of refried beans, in a non-Mexican way, flavored with onion, garlic, bay leaf (they know what’s good), cilantro, coriander and blue fenugreek. I couldn’t find blue fenugreek but substituted crushed fenugreek grains and instead of using dried kidney beans, I used fresh borlotti beans. For the authentic recipe, go here http://georgiaabout.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/about-food-lobio-georgian-bean-dish/.
Besides being delicious as a hearty main course, these beans would also be great as a hot dip or spread inside flour tortillas to make soft, bean tacos.
Lobio: A Georgian Style Bean Dish
1 lb fresh borlotti beans
2 bay leaves
Salt
1 1/2 quarts water
2 onions, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium size bunch of cilantro, chopped
3 large garlic cloves chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
http://georgiaabout.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/about-food-mchadi-georgian-cornbread/.
Put the beans, salt and bay leaves in a pot with the water , bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. In the meantime, fry the onions in the olive oil and set aside.
Put the cilantro, garlic, coriander, fenugreek, salt and pepper in a food processor and process into a paste. Remove and set aside.
Drain the beans, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid, then return to the pot. Coarsely mash the beans with a hand, potato masher, add the fried onions, cilantro paste and reserved cooking liquid, stirring to blend well.
Mound the beans into one baking pan or a variety of ramekins and bake for about 25 minutes in a 375 F oven. Serve with pita bread/tortillas/Navajo bread or Georgian cornbread
Cooking in Sens 
I love bean dishes! I would never have thought about using fenugreek in beans. Looks and sounds so delicious!
Thank you Tessa. Be sure to visit the site. Very well done.
Those Georgians appear to have incredible longevity, It seems that their active life, plenty of good red wine and a predominantly vegetarian diet keeps their motors running to a ripe old age, I read an article on Georgian cuisine by Caroline Conran in the Observer Sunday Colour Supplement (UK Sunday newspaper) in the mid 70’s. It was one of the things that kick started my love of cooking,
Their food looks and sounds wonderful. The beans were excellent!
Thank you so much for the lovely comments about Georgia About blog. I am thrilled that you are enjoying seeing the best of our beautiful country – including the delicious food! I am so pleased that you tried the recipe. It’s a great suggestion to spread inside flour tortillas to make soft, bean tacos. Visit Georgia soon!
Thank YOU! I’m delighted that I found your site.
I like those dip containers. Its so cute… Very appealing and healthy.
Thank you.
Reblogged this on Georgia About and commented:
Our American blogging friend who is “Living, Drinking and Eating in Burgundy” saw our Lobio recipe and is now trying Georgian cuisine – great!
Thank you Bassas!
I have two blogs – Bassa’s blog is a lighthearted look at life in Georgia through the eyes of my beautiful Caucasian Shepherd dog : http://bassasblog.wordpress.com/
Georgia About is where I share the best of beautiful Georgia. .
Okay! Thank you Bassas’ father 🙂
Sounds great, I love pulses and garlic 😉
I’m not really sure what a pulse is….. However, I love garlic 🙂
Dried beans and seeds (legumes):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(legume)
Okay. Pulse 🙂
What an amazing sounding and looking dish. Looks like we are all going to have a Goergian moment soon in our kitchens!
Hi Chica. They’ve got other recipes also. One that I’m thinking about is a cheese stuffed bread. I might try that!
I´m off to check this site out!
I LOVE Georgian food! The bread! Oh my gosh. Om nom nom nom!
This bean dish looks amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us and letting us know about the Georgia About!
This is my first experience with Georgian food. Where have I been?
I only started getting into it a year ago after reading this in NY Magazine:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/underground/mtskheta-cafe-2011-10/
I had the same thought: Georgian food, where have you been all my life?!
They have DUMPLINGS!
Thanks, I just read the article. God, their food sounds amazing! Unfortunately, I won’t be in NY until next year but I’m going to look around the internet and see what else I can find. I want the dumplings!
Me too. I always want dumplings. It’s my favorite word in the English language because it rhymes with plumpling 😉 Which isn’t really a word, but it should be!
Like, “I ate so many dumplings, I’m a plumpling!”
😀
Thanks for introducing us to such an awesome blog. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes.
You are welcome Anna.
This looks delicious. Fabulous photos as well, of course. Georgia is a very under-appreciated country, as is its cuisine. Kudos for helping to bring it to the forefront.
Thank you Focused. I’m just so happy that I made an over due discovery 🙂
When I think of Georgian beans, I think pintos and cornbread. This is much more gourmet. Looks wonderful.
Thank you. Actually they are into dried kidney beans. Pintos are gourmet 🙂
Beans how can such little items be so good for you and taste so delicious at the same time. Love the presentation and the pics as usual.
Thank you Susan.
Pingback: Doing Georgian Ojakhuri – Part 2 | Cooking in Sens
Lovely recipe. I just made lobio for the first time a couple weeks ago as we were featuring Georgia for Independence Day (National Day of Unity). Everyone at home just loved it! I even found blue fenugreek (utskho suneli) at a local online store, which made this lobio really authentic. Made my own mchadi (Georgian bread) too. Easy and the real deal. I will definitely make lobio again!
http://www.196flavors.com/2015/04/14/georgia-lobio/
I also will make lobio again. Great recipe, great cuisine.