Fasole bătută is one of the best-loved fasting dishes in Moldovan cooking. It is a thick purée of white beans with garlic and golden fried onion: simple, cheap, filling and very tasty. It is eaten during fasts, but also on ordinary days when you want something warm and homely. It is served with pickles and bread.

Which beans to take

Any white bean will do for the purée: small or large. Small ones cook faster and give a finer purée, large ones a crumblier one. Do not take old beans with darkened sides: they will not soften.

Dried beans are cheap and keep for years in a closed jar. Whether beans are in the catalogues today and what they cost is shown in the recipe card above.

Soaking and cooking

Rinse the beans and cover them with plenty of cold water, because they swell a lot. Soak for eight to ten hours, ideally overnight. In the morning drain, add fresh water and cook on low heat.

Salt and sour things go in right at the end: at the start they make the skins tough. The beans cook an hour and a half to two hours. When done they crush between the fingers without effort.

How to "beat" the beans

The name of the dish means "beaten": the beans are mashed into a purée. Drain, leaving a glass of the cooking water. Add salt and garlic and mash the beans with a masher. As needed, pour in the cooking water until you get a thick purée that holds its shape on a spoon.

A blender speeds things up, but try not to whip too long: the purée turns sticky. The traditional texture has small pieces.

The onion: golden and sweet

The onion is the other half of the dish. Cut it into half-rings and fry in oil on medium heat, without hurry, for fifteen to twenty minutes. The onion should turn golden and soft, not black. Burnt onion is bitter.

Stir half of the onion with its oil into the purée and put the rest on top. The onion can be prepared in advance.

Onions and vegetables for the table are in the catalogues now:

In the catalogues now: vegetables

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What to serve with it

The beans are served warm: with bread, pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, pickled peppers. It is a starter and a main dish at once. In Moldova beans are loved with mămăligă and hot pepper.

You can compare the prices of pickles in the catalogues. For bread and starters our page on vegetables will be useful.

How to make it tastier

A few small things that change the dish. Do not pour away the cooking water: it has flavour, and it is used to thin the purée to the right thickness. Put the garlic raw into the hot beans: it warms slightly and is not too sharp. Fry the onion on medium heat and do not cover it with a lid, otherwise it stews instead of browning. Do not skimp on the oil: on non-fasting days the fat from smoked belly is used in its place, and the dish smells of smoke.

Other bean dishes

Moldovans also make iahnie from beans: a thick stew with onion, carrot and tomato, sometimes with smoked ribs. A cold bean salad with onion and herbs is good as a starter. And bean soup, zeamă with beans, is a classic of fasting days.

How to keep it and save money

The purée keeps in the fridge three or four days. It freezes well in portions. Dried beans are the cheapest protein: half a kilo makes six portions. Buy them by weight or in packs and keep them in a closed jar.