COPPERGrah recipe
A Bosnian white bean and smoked beef stew finished with zaprška, a garlic, flour and paprika roux that turns the broth red and velvety.
Ingredients
- 400 g dried white beans
- 400 g smoked beef
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp red pepper paste
- 3 clove garlic
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 potato
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp salt
How to make Grah
- Soak 400 g dried white beans overnight, then drain them.
- Bring them to a boil in fresh water, drain again, and cover with 2 l of fresh water.
- Add 400 g smoked beef or smoked beef ribs, 1 chopped onion, 1 sliced carrot and 2 bay leaves, then simmer uncovered for 1 hour 30.
- Add 1 diced potato and cook 20 minutes more, until a bean crushes easily between your fingers.
- Make the zaprška: fry 3 minced garlic cloves in 3 tbsp oil, stir in 2 tbsp flour and cook 2 minutes without letting it colour, then pull it off the heat and whisk in 1 tbsp sweet paprika and 1 tbsp red pepper paste.
- Loosen the roux with a ladle of hot bean broth, then stir the whole thing back into the pot.
- Simmer 15 minutes more so the broth thickens and turns red. Skip this step and you have plain bean soup, not grah.
- Salt only now, since salting early keeps the beans hard. Pepper heavily, scatter parsley and serve very hot with bread.
What is Grah?
Grah is a traditional dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina, simmered in one pot, and takes about 14 hours and 25 minutes from start to finish. It is built around dried white beans and smoked beef. The recipe below uses 12 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Grah take?
At 865 minutes it is slower than 89% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. The method runs to 8 steps, the longest being 20 minutes.
Any tips for making Grah?
Salt the beans only at the very end, since salting early keeps them hard, and do not skip the zaprška that thickens and reddens the broth.
How Grah compares
Hard to find elsewhere: dried white beans (1), smoked beef (1) and red pepper paste (3).
Cooked with the same thing elsewhere
Other traditional dishes built on red pepper paste, from other countries.
Copper documents Bosnia and Herzegovina alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.