Bolinha beans.

(In Portuguese)





Last weekend I've been to Curitiba's public market, and saw these bolinha beans [I couldn't discover how these are called in english].

I found it beautiful, so I bought 1/2kg, along with other grains and a different kind of mate.

As usual, I let it soak overnight, and cooked it all with a teaspoon of cumin seeds

until soft.

I've set half of it apart to freeze in tupperwares, and the other half I prepared as follows.

2 cups cooked beans

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove of garlic in thin slices

1/2 onion in strips

1 small beet in medium dices

Zest of mayer lemon

Salt and black pepper to taste

I sauteed the garlic over medium heat until crunchy,

added the onion and sauteed until tender.

I threw in the beet, let it sauté a little more, until it was soft and the onions turned pink.

So I poured the beans and cooked over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

Towards the end of this time, I grated the zest of about 1/3 of the lemon peel,

and seasoned the stew with salt and pepper (I think I've used 1/2 teaspoon)

Let it cook for 5 minutes more, than I served.

I think the lemon zest brings a nice fresh touch, matching the pepper.

It's a shame that the beans loose their awesome color after cooking, but it is easy to

fix that with a beet. :)