Pasulj

As our waiter in Belgrade called it: "Serbian Caviar".

Pasulj is a bean soup that can be made with or without meat. It's perfect for this time of year. Stick to your ribs food. This is my Tetka Ljuba's recipe and she didn't give me any measurements, but I'll give you the ones I used. It turned out very well...as usual, she didn't steer me wrong.

Ingredients:

1/2 pack of Romano beans, rinsed and soaked overnight.
about 10 cups cold water (you can add more if it's too thick for your liking
1 piece of slanine (smoked bacon...it looks like this..cut into chunks..but, you can use a ham hock or kobasice)
Vegeta (to your liking) and whole pepper corns and sweet paprika (to your liking)
1 carrot, peeled and sliced or medium chopped
1 large red potato, peeled and cut into medium pieces
1 hot Hungarian pepper (they're yellow), medium chopped
1 large onion, medium chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Method:
In a large soup pot, place beans, water and slanine. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally so beans don't stick, and skimming off any foam that rises to the surface. Add vegeta, paprika and pepper to taste. Lower temperature and simmer 1 hour. 

Add vegetables, bring back to the boil, reduce heat and continue to simmer for 1 more hour.  

It's done.