Savory
Legumes soup
The weather plays games. As it seems it's getting colder, a soup is what we need.
We can choose a white bean soup ... or lentil soup ... or even meat ball soup! Why not a "palikaria" soup ?
When in a known store with goodies in Piraeus I heard about this variety of legumes. I was curious about it so I bought some to cook. Surfing in the internet I found that "palikaria" is the name of a Cretan recipe (usually salad) made from "all kinds of legumes that we can have in our pantry " .. as dear Vagelio says. I think that this variety of legumes is named after that Cretan recipe (can't be sure though). I'm not fond of bean salads so, I decided to make a soup with this legumes.
"Palikaria" consists of : brown lentils, red lentils, yellow split peas, chickpeas, beans, beads, black beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, red beans, butter beans, green beans fine, peas. Interesting eh; The instruction that was given to me by the salesman was to soak legumes overnight and then cook them as I would do for a normal soup. The result ... an amazing taste ... I think it's ideal for those who do not eat beans... all together they make a perfect combination.
Enjoy

Ingredients :
- 250 gr. legumes "palikaria"
- 1 large red onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 stalk of celery
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 cup olive oil
- salt & pepper
- about 4 cups of water
Preparation :
- Soak legumes in water overnight.
- The next day drain in colander , rinse under water and set aside.
- Finely chop the onion, celery, dice the tomatoes and slice carrots in rounds.
- In a saucepan put half of the oil and sauté the onion and carrots.
- Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, remaining oil and toss.
- Add the legumes and the water and simmer for about 40 minutes.
- Depending on how thick you like your soup, adjust the amount of water accordingly.