Bean salad with pomegranate

Step 1

Cover the dried kidney beans with water in a suitable container and let them soak overnight. Then, pour running water through a colander, transfer to a saucepan, add plenty of filtered water, and bring to a boil.

Step 2

Once the water boils, add salt, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the kidney beans for about an hour and a half, until tender. Drain and keep warm.

Step 3

Peel and finely chop the onion. Remove the seeds and stem from the hot pepper and finely chop. Peel and roughly chop the garlic. Wash the cilantro, pat dry, and finely chop.

Step 4

Crush the walnuts in a mortar, add the garlic, and grind until smooth. Mix the resulting mixture with the onion, hot pepper, cilantro, cloves, and Imeretian saffron. Pour in the pomegranate juice.

Step 5

Add salt to the nut sauce to taste and stir it into the warm beans. Transfer the finished bean and walnut salad to a salad bowl and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

If desired, you can enhance the pomegranate's role in this salad by replacing the wine vinegar with pomegranate juice and adding a pinch of brown sugar to the dressing. The salad is so filling that it can be served for dinner instead of a main course.

Georgian lobio is a dish that has long been eaten for lunch by the poorest classes, as it was made from the cheapest, most accessible ingredients. It's said that in villages, it was served in a large bowl along with gomi, a corn porridge, which was placed directly on a carefully cleaned wooden table. Each family member would scoop a small portion of the porridge, top it with a slice of suluguni cheese, and scoop up the lobio with a large spoon. This meal ensured a long-lasting feeling of satiety, which is essentially what it was supposed to be. For us, Georgian lobio is something of a novelty, an unusual dish whose affordability makes it especially appealing.