No bean spread gets more glory than a hummus. I mean, I get it -- it’s smooth and creamy
and delicious. I love hummus. But hummus is like a blonde. It’s appealing in a mainstream
way (not that there's anything wrong with that),
but this black bean and walnut pate is appealing like a brunette. It’s mysterious and sophisticated.
This is an Armenian dish. I got introduced to it about 20 years ago shortly after I moved
to Boston. If you’ve ever lived in Boston, you probably know who Ana Sortun is. Ana has
several restaurants in the Boston area that serve dishes inspired by the Eastern Mediterranean
cuisines (in other words, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Armenia, and other countries in that
region). These cuisines rarely get much attention in the US. People think of the restaurants
serving them as “ethnic” or holes in the wall where the college students eat. But Ana
changed all that in Boston. She gave these cuisines the care and the amazing local produce
that they deserve. Nowadays, that’s not that unusual, but 20 years ago it was revolutionary.
When I tasted Ana’s bean walnut pate, I knew that I absolutely had to learn to make
it. I don’t know if my version is authentic Armenian, or even authentic Ana, but it is
addictively delicious.
You can use canned drained beans for this dish or cook your own. Because I have an instant
pot, cooking my own takes absolutely no effort, so I might as well. Put a pound of rinsed
black beans into the pot. Add 8 cups of water and 12 grams of salt. That’s 1.5 Tablespoons
of Diamond Crystal Kosher or 2 teaspoons of table salt. Stir, cover, and seal the pot.
Press pressure cook for 30 minutes, make sure the pressure setting is set to “more”
and turn off “keep warm”.
In slightly over an hour, the cycle will complete and the pressure will drop. Make sure you
let it drop all by itself. Do not release the steam since that will cause many beans
to break. Open the pot and taste at least 5 beans before you decide that they are done.
Find the most intact ones since they’ll be cooked the least. If your beans are almost
there but not quite, reseal the pot and cook on low pressure for 5 minutes, letting the
pressure drop naturally again.
Get the insert with the beans out of the Instant Pot and let the beans cool until they are
room temperature. If you drain them prematurely, they’ll all burst. I actually find it a
lot more convenient to cook the beans the day before and chill them overnight.
Slow cooking is another option for dry beans. I’ll link to a video on that below. And
of course you can just simmer them very gently in a pot on the stove top.
For the walnuts, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 cup of walnuts on a baking sheet
and bake until they get aromatic, about 10 minutes.
Let’s slice 2 garlic cloves and measure out 2 and half cups of drained beans (but
don’t discard the cooking liquid -- we’ll need it later). If you are using canned beans,
you’ll need about 2 fifteen ounce cans. Put the beans into the food processor. Add
the walnuts, 3 Tbsp of butter, the garlic, and my favorite ingredient -- pomegranate
molasses. I’ll use about 1 Tbsp. Let’s add a little salt and puree.
Don’t forget to scrape down frequently.
If the texture is too thick, add a couple tablespoons of the bean cooking liquid. If
you are using canned beans, you can just add water. My acidity level seems good, but the
salt is too low, so I’ll add more. Let’s puree it and then we’ll taste it again.
Now let’s talk about the texture. This pate will get significantly stiffer in the fridge,
so you want it to be roughly the texture of mashed potatoes after you puree it. If it’s
not there yet, add even more bean cooking liquid.
Now I feel like I got the texture right and a good balance of salt and acidity.
You can serve it right away, or put it in the fridge.
I like it drizzled with a bit of pomegranate molasses. It’s particularly good with pita
chips, but any bread will work.
Oh, and if you need a recipe for pita chips, look in the description below.
In case Ana ever sees this video, I want to thank her for being the inspiration for this
dish and for giving me my pantry. I can’t even imagine life without pomegranate molasses.
For someone who has never been to the Middle East, I use an awful lot of labne, and sumac,
and zaatar, and bulgur. That’s all because of Ana and here is why. My first restaurant
internship was at Casablanca in Cambridge where Ana used to run the kitchen. It was
right after Ana left to open Oleana, so we’ve never met. But even if Ana wasn’t there
in person, I think she was there in spirit.
Here are a few frequently asked questions about this dish:
What brand of pomegranate molasses do you use?
I use Cortas. It has the most acidity out of all the brands that I’ve tried, that’s
why it’s my favorite. It’s also the most popular brand for Middle Eastern cooks in
the US, so any middle eastern market will carry Cortas. Some of the brands that I’ve
bought from the regular supermarkets were too sweet for me, so I would try Cortas at
least once to learn what this ingredient should taste like. I know that there are many recipes
for making your own pomegranate molasses. I think it’s a waste of time and money.
Cortas is made in Lebanon and their pomegranates are way better for this purpose. It’s also
cheaper to just get Cortas on Amazon than to buy bottled pomegranate juice and reduce
it yourself.
Can I omit the butter? Yes, you can. If you are trying to keep it
vegan, you can use olive oil or vegan butter like Miyoko’s. Olive oil will give you a
looser texture more similar to hummus. That’s why I like the butter so much in this dish.
It gives it a really different personality, more like a chicken liver pate than a dip.
Why did I have beans leftover? If you cook 1 Lb of dry beans, you’ll only
need about half of the batch for this recipe. That’s not a bad problem to have. You can
turn the leftovers into a soup or a salad, or freeze them for some future use.
Here are more culinary tutorials for you to check out, and if you are ever in the Boston
area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.