Love for Lima (Beans)

I used to open cans of beans, drain them, wash them and add them to anything. But when I first came to Peru, the stores did not have canned beans, canned vegetables, but they do use canned milk in just about everything! With the lack of canned beans, I had to learn how to use dried beans for everything! Like many other products here, I don't know if I will ever go back to canned. Sure, it takes more thought to soak them overnight instead of take them out of the cupboard and more time to prepare them than it does to open a can. But, dried beans have won me over!

One such bean is the pallar (pie-yar) bebe. Thankfully, I have sorted out the confusion in my mind of why the pallar bebe looks like a dry, white version of the green, pasty lima bean of my childhood. Green lima beans are the immature seed while the white is the mature seed. Here, I found a larger version which is known as the pallar. This giant lima bean was cultivated in the Andes long ago (approximately 2000BC) which the smaller version was in Mesoamerica in 800AD.

Enough about that. Why have a found a new love for pallares both big and small? Pallares are one of the few beans that become incredibly creamy as they are cooked. I decided to try the pallar in a Serbian bean soup recipe.

Country Bean Soup

2 cups of dried lima beans, soaked overnight then drained
6 cups of water
8-10 slices of lean bacon, chopped
2 carrots, thickly sliced
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 Tbsp of paprika

Bring beans, water and bacon to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Add carrot slices and salt and cook 30-40 more minutes or until the beans become creamy and carrots tender. Stir in paprika and cook until thickened. Serves 4.

Adpated from Extending the Table.