Dried Bean Stew (Mash Shorbasi)

Dried Bean Stew (Mash Shorbasi)

My ancestors are from the city of Ordubad in Azerbaijan. Even though neither my parents nor my sister and I were born there, we have been influenced by the food of that region immensely with authentic recipes from Ordubad having been passing from generation to generation in our family.

The following recipe of a hearty and flavorful stew is one of those dishes. In Ordubad beans, both dried and fresh, are especially popular. Traditionally, beans are slow cooked with “govurma”- lamb fried in its own fat and stored in buckets for winter, then added to the stews and soups. I don’t have a luxury of using “govurma” in my recipes, so mine is a simplified version of the stew. Dried mint leaves and sour prunes we use in the stew add that special flavor to this delicious dish.

I was going to post this recipe later with better pictures, but decided to do it today, in memory of my dear grandma (nene) who passed away 3 days ago. Nobody in the family could compete with her Dried Bean Stew. Hers was just different, aromatic, so flavorful. This is to you, my dear sweet Nene. I will miss you and your “tasty hands” that nobody will ever replace for me.

Dried Bean Stew (Mash Shorbasi) - Beans

Dried Bean Stew / Ordubad usulu Mash Shorbasi

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

1 cup (8 oz/230g) dried pinto beans, picked over and soaked in cold water overnight
2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil or butter
1 pound (450g) boneless meat (lamb or beef) cut into 1-inch cubes
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into halves
4 dried sour plums (optional), pitted
1 tablespoon dried mint

VARIATION: If sour plums are not available, add a slice of lemon or 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice to the pot in Step 6.

1. Drain the beans, place them in a pot filled with water (about 4 cups). Bring to a boil and boil for 15 minutes. You will notice the water will get darker from the bean. Remove from heat, drain, rinse well and set aside.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium non-stick saucepan. Add meat and cook for about 15 minutes or until evenly brown. Stir occasionally at first and frequently when the released liquid has reduced to the oily consistency to prevent meat from burning.

3. Add the onions and cook together for 5 minutes longer or until the onion is transculent.

Dried Bean Stew (Mash Shorbasi) - Stirfry

4. Add tomato paste, mix well and stir-fry for another minute. Toss in the beans, season with salt and pepper. Pour water and bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to low. Cover the pan and simmer for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until meat and beans are just tender (beans should not be mushy).

6. Add potatoes, sour prunes, and dried mint and continue to cook covered over medium heat for another 10 minutes or until potatoes are cooked. Adjust seasoning. If the stew is too thick, add more boiling water to loosen it. It should be hearty but still soupy in consistency.

7. Pour the soup into individual serving bowls and serve immediately with bread.

 

10 Comments

Leave a Reply

  1. Allah Neneye rahmat elesin!

  2. Eziz Farida Xanum,
    Allah neneye rahmet elesin. Allah seni saxlasin, size jan sagligi arzy edirem.
    Zikret Hasan

  3. Eziz Farida, Allah nenene Rehmet elesin, Gebri nurla dolsun, Axir gemin olsun. Sen haglisan, geribedir ki menim de nenem lalangani ele bishirir ki, men ne geder elesem de onun lalangalarinin dadini ala bilmirem. Ruslarda lalangaya oladushki deyrler.

  4. Feride’cigim,
    Allah nenene rahmet eylesin.sizin de basiniz sagolsun.Ellerine saglik cok lezzetli gorunuyor.Sevgiler

  5. Dear friends, thank you for your words. I hope you enjoy my Nene’s recipe. I’m having a problem loading pictures on my blog, so things have been slow on this end. Will be back with more postings once I solve the problem. Thanks again!

  6. allah nenemize rehmet eylesin. keshki sag olsaydi ozu bishirseydi:(
    gorseydi senin mash shorbani:(

  7. Thank you Farida for this great recipe.I omitted sour plams(I am from Iran but I live in indonesia and it is not available in indonesia) and add half green bell pepper instead and a little fry it at the first.The taste was still good.

  8. Eating Sasrahp Egnn Melian Old Onion

  9. Hello, Faride,

    I have made this dish several times and every time it was great. Once I did not have pinto beans so I used cranberry beans, it was delicious. Yesterday, at the farmer’s market, I got the most gorgeous fresh beans, cow peas, cranberry and lima, all in the pods. Can I use fresh cranberry beans instead of the dried pintos? How would I adjust the recipe?

    Thank you very much.

    • You can make this stew with fresh peas but just add them towards the end of cooking, since they are fragile. That will be a completely different recipe with a different taste:)

Leave a Reply