Kvasolyanyi Salat (квасоляний салат, bean salad)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •A large bowl for soaking beans
• •A heavy pot for boiling beans
• •A wide frying pan for the onions
• •A big serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beans

   Rinse the beans, cover them with plenty of cold water, and leave them overnight. They should swell and wrinkle a little at the skins. If your kitchen is hot, put the bowl in the fridge so the water stays clean-smelling.

2. 2

   Cook until creamy

   Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water, add the bay leaf and halved onion, and bring to a lively boil for ten minutes. Lower the heat and simmer gently until the beans stop knocking against the spoon and turn creamy in the middle. Salt them once they begin to soften, not at the beginning.

   Kidney beans need that first hard boil for safety. After that, keep them gentle so the skins stay mostly whole while the insides soften.
3. 3

   Fry the onions

   Warm the sunflower oil in a wide pan and add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt. Let them cook slowly until soft, sweet, and golden at the edges, stirring when they begin to catch. You're not making crisp onions. You're making onion oil, and that oil is the dressing.

4. 4

   Wake the garlic

   Turn the heat low, add the garlic to the onion pan, and stir just until the raw bite changes into a warm smell. Half a minute can be enough. If the garlic browns, it goes bitter, so pull the pan off the heat when your nose tells you it has opened.

5. 5

   Crush the walnuts

   Toast the walnuts in a dry pan until they smell warm and oily, then crush them roughly with a rolling pin or the bottom of a glass. Leave some pieces big enough to find under your teeth. Walnut dust thickens the dressing; walnut chunks make the salad worth chewing.

6. 6

   Dress while warm

   Drain the beans, saving a small cup of their cooking liquid, and tip them into a large bowl while still warm. Add the onion oil, garlic, walnuts, vinegar or fermented tomato brine, black pepper, and chilli if using. Fold gently, adding a spoonful or two of bean liquid if the bowl looks dry, until everything turns glossy.

7. 7

   Rest and finish

   Let the salad sit for at least thirty minutes so the beans can take in the oil and sourness. Taste again, then add salt, a little honey or sugar if the vinegar is too sharp, most of the dill, and one last thread of green sunflower oil. Serve at room temperature, with the remaining dill scattered over the top.

Chef Tips

• •Dress the beans warm. This is the step that matters; cold beans repel the oil and stay separate, warm beans drink it in.
• •Canned kidney beans work on a tired Tuesday. Rinse them well, warm them gently with a splash of water, then dress them as if you cooked them yourself.
• •Fermented tomato brine gives a rounder sourness than vinegar, especially if you keep a jar from summer. In August we'd be drowning in tomatoes; in January we open a jar instead.
• •Use walnuts that smell sweet and fresh. If they smell dusty or paint-like, they're rancid and will spoil the whole bowl.
• •This salad improves overnight. Add fresh dill after chilling, because tired dill looks punished.

Advance Preparation

• •Soak the dried beans overnight, 8 to 12 hours, before cooking.
• •The finished salad keeps 4 days in the fridge. Bring it back to room temperature and refresh with dill and a little sunflower oil before serving.
• •The onions can be fried a day ahead and kept in the fridge with their oil.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 225g)