Description
Serbian baked beans (prebranac) is a traditional dish that can be made with or without meat, ours being the latter. It’s full of flavour using simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- 5 large / around 800g brown onions, diced*
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 4 cans (400g / 14.10 ounces each) lima beans, drained and washed* (aka butter beans)
- 2 whole heads (around 80g / 2.82 ounces) of garlic, minced*
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika*
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika*
- 1½ teaspoons salt (or to taste)
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
Serving suggestions:
- Bread of choice
- Sauerkraut salad – sauerkraut, olive oil and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celcius (390 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Add the onions to a saucepan on high heat with the lid closed. Saute the onions until they become translucent, leaving the lid on between each stir. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Add in the olive oil and put the lid back on. Saute until the onions begin to brown, then remove from heat.
- Once the onions are done, add in the rest of the ingredients (besides the bay leaf). Give it a good stir.
- Add the bean mixture to a ceramic baking dish, and flatten it out with the back of a spatula.
- Once finished, pour boiled water (around 1½ cups / 330ml) to cover the beans completely. Making sure you are adding just enough to cover them.
- Place the bay leaf in the middle of the dish.
- Put the dish carefully in the oven and bake for around 60 minutes or until it starts to brown a little on the top.
- At this point, change the oven setting to grill and grill the top for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Onions: You can speed up the process and save yourself some tears by pulsing them in a food processor.
Beans: This would bearound 1 kilo cooked beans. See notes above for cooking instructions if beans are dried.
Garlic: See tips above to speed up garlic peeling.
Sweet paprika: If you have Hungarian style sweet paprika powder, use 2 tablespoons instead of the sweet and smoked paprika.
- Diet: Vegan
