Today we’re making a humble longevity dish with a wonderful, garden-fresh flavor. No fancy ingredients needed and as always, the recipe is very easy to follow. The soup is hearty, flavor-packed and vegan-friendly, and is a typical example of what the people of Ikaria typically have for lunch. If you haven’t heard of Ikaria before, it’s a small Greek island known as one of the world’s 5 longevity hotspots-the “blue zones”.
The main ingredient are plain white beans, but this is by no means a classic greek ‘fasolada’ soup -meaning bean soup. What really flavors the soup is the addition of fresh tomatoes, fresh celery stalks, green onions and red pepper-try to find a sweet variety if you can, as it goes really well with white beans.
All recipes found here are our original creations. We developed them in our humble kitchen, to help you follow the guidelines of the ‘Blue Zones’ diet and the ‘Ikarian’ diet in a simple, tasty and uncomplicated way
Tips & tricks for making this recipe
To make sure beans are cooked quickly and evenly, don’t forget to soak them overnight. You might find our short video on how to cook beans and legumes helpful:
Add 1 chili pepper and remove it before serving the soup. It will gain a distinct, spicy flavor and character. We recommend trying it especially on cold days, because nothing warms you up like spicy bean soup.
You can experiment and instead of chili pepper, you can add a piece of peeled ginger root. The soup will warm you up just as well and will gain a slightly different, exotic taste.
Instead of white beans, this soup can be made with brown beans, pinto beans, or even lima beans. Anything you find in your pantry will do!
Why where you buy your ingredients makes all the difference
To cook this simple soup, we buy all the ingredients at the outdoor greenmarket called ‘laiki agora’. We love the fact, that we can buy everything we need to execute our recipes directly from the farmers. These people come to Athens every day from different regions of Greece. They can be found in a different neighborhood each day, and they visit our area once a week, always on the same day, making it easy to plan ahead!
They often cover many kilometers and leave their villages very early in the morning to distribute fresh agricultural products to people living in the city. Thanks to this, we know that what we buy is ecological and produced on a small scale, as most of them run small, family farms.
If you have a similar market in your area, it is worth visiting it at least once a week to buy the basics for your weekly longevity meals. It may be a little more time-consuming than buying from the supermarket, but in terms of nutritional value and taste it makes all the difference in the world!
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Ikarian Diet White Bean Soup- Longevity Blue Zones
Ingredients
- 250 g white beans-soaked overnight
- 2 tomatoes-peeled and diced ( if using canned tomatoes, you'll need 1/2 a can)
- 1/2 a red pepper-diced
- 1 clove of garlic-diced
- 1 carrot-diced or sliced
- 2 L of water
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp of salt
- a pinch of black pepper
- 2 tbsp parsley-chopped
- 2 sprigs of green onions-chopped
- 1 sprig of celery-chopped
- 1 whole chili pepper -optional
Instructions
- If you can, soak the beans overnight. This will make cooking easier and faster
- Use a deep cooking pot of minimum 3 liters
- Add 5 tbsp of olive oil
- Sauté the green onions over high heat for about 1 minute
- Continue by adding celery and carrot and give it a stir
- Now add the red pepper and the tomatoes
- Time to add 250 gr white beans
- Add 2 liters of water
- Add the parsley ( about 2 tbsp finely chopped)- leave some parsley aside to garnish the soup at the end
- Add the garlic
- if you fancy a spicier soup, feel free to add 1 chili pepper
- Season with 2 tsp of salt and a pinch of black pepper
- Bring the soup to boil and switch the heat to low
- Cover the pot and slow cook for about 60 minutes
- Uncover the soup during the last 15 minutes of cooking, so that excess liquid can evaporate- this will give your soup a nice, thicker texture
- When the soup is ready remove the chili pepper and serve- garnish with the remaining chopped parsley
Serving and Storing
Garnish with the remaining parsley and serve while it’s still hot. You can refrigerate the soup for 2-3 days, freeze and store it in a freezer for up to 2 weeks.
For more variety, you can add some small pasta ( try orzo, lumache, orecchiette, rotelle, ditalini ) Another healthy and tasty alternative is millet. Adding some pasta will provide you with extra carbohydrates and the dish will be more filling. Hope you enjoy this simple Ikarian diet soup!
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