Updrögt Beans

© Michael Recktenwald

Updrögt Beans are a speciality from East Friesland, a region in northwestern Germany.

Ingredients

for 4 servings

• 160 g dry white beans or 1⁄2 cord of Updrögt beans (dried bean pods harvested before full maturity, only available in East Friesland, Germany)
• 700 g potatoes
• 80 g vegetable oil (rapeseed, olive, sunflower)
• 500 g onions
• 700-800 ml vegetable stock* (for example prepared from vegetable leftovers like carrot peel, onion peel, cabbage stalks….)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 120 g mustard
• 1 bay leaf
• Depending on taste and season: Vegetables for grilling or roasting (pumpkin, zucchini, carrot, kohlrabi)
• Pickled or fermented beets or other vegetables
• Optional: Traditionally, a bacon rind is also cooked, or leftover sausages, if you don’t want the dish to be completely vegetarian, you are welcome to add that as well

Instructions

1. One day before cooking, soak the beans in water for a few hours, preferably overnight
2. Cook the beans in vegetable stock and, if necessary, a little water for about 1 hour until soft, add 1 bay leaf and the peel of the onion to the cooking stock
3. Prepare the pumpkin or other vegetables and cut them in 2 cm wide slices
4. Peel the potatoes and cut them into large cubes
5. Heat 40g of the vegetable oil in a saucepan
6. Fry 60g onions and 1 chopped garlic clove in oil
7. Before they turn brown, add the diced potatoes and sauté briefly
8. Drain the beans (keep the stock/cooking water) and add to the potatoes
9. Add 700 ml bean stock, cover and cook gently for approx. 20 minutes (add a little more stock if necessary)
10. In the meantime, heat the remaining vegetable oil and lightly sauté the remaining chopped onions, add the mustard and stir in, grill the vegetables.

More information

Updrögt Beans are a speciality from East Friesland, a region north west from Germany. For this old form of preservation, the beans are harvested before full maturity and dried in their pods on a thread.

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