This recipe comes from the fabulous Russian cookbook "Please to the Table" by Anya Von Bremzen and John Welchman.
1&1/3 cups small red beans (I used Kidney instead)
soaked overnight
1 onion, peeled
1 medium sized carrot
3 inches of a celery rib
salt to taste
5 pitted prunes
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. Tamarind concentrate or
2 Tbs. unsweetened plume butter
1 teaspoon Chinese chili and garlic paste
( I used Sambal)
1/3 cup EX olive oil
3/4 tsp. coriander seeds, crushed
1/4 tsp. ground fenugreek
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Combine beans, onion, carrot,and celery in a soup pot. Add enough water to cover the beans by three inches and bring to a boil. Add salt, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook the beans until tender but not mushy.
Meanwhile, combine the prunes and the balsamic vinegar in a nonreactive saucepan and simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the prunes and chop finely. Add the tamarind concentrate to the vinegar and let stand about 10 minutes until it dissolves. Whisk in the chili paste, coriander, fenugreek and olive oil.
Drain the beans and discard the onion, carrot, and celery. Let cool.
Toss the beans with the tamarind mixture and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.
