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Soup

Burundian Bean Soup

A hearty bean soup from Burundi made with lima, white, and pink beans, onions, peppers, celery, parsley, basil, cumin, salt, and peanuts.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lima beans and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 156 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Burundian Bean Soup

Time1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the beans

  1. Combine beans and water; bring to a boil for 2 minutes, cover and remove from heat.

  2. Let beans soak for 1 or 2 hours.

  3. Drain off water and add 8 new cups of water, return to a boil and cook over low heat for 1 hour. (Or do it the quick way in a pressure cooker).

Make the vegetable base

  1. While beans cook, heat broth in a non‑stick skillet and add onion and pepper.

  2. Sauté until soft but not brown, about 5 minutes.

  3. Add celery and parsley and cook 3 minutes longer.

Finish the soup

  1. Add sautéed vegetables to beans along with seasonings.

  2. Continue to cook, covered, until very tender (about 1 to 1½ hours longer).

  3. When just about cooked, stir in the ground peanuts and cook for 15 minutes more.

  4. Freezes well.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

368Calories
18 gProtein
16 gFat
44 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 13 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Peanut1 oz (28g)161
Lima Beans1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Beannot in our table0
Red Beannot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lima beans + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together156 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Beans + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,188 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dried lima beans
Provide starch and body, thickening the soup as they break down during long simmering.
Dried white beans
Provide starch and body, giving the soup a creamy, hearty texture.
Dried pink or red beans
Add firm texture and earthy flavour that holds shape through long cooking.
Raw virginia peanuts
Add fat and richness, thickening the broth and giving a nutty flavour.

The step that matters

Cooking the beans until very tender. Dried beans contain compounds that resist digestion and firm starches that need prolonged heat to soften. Stopping early leaves them chalky and hard, so keep cooking, covered, until they yield fully.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, onion, pepper, celery, parsley, basil, cumin):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Lentilsfits better
  3. Black-eyed peafits better
  4. Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, onion, pepper, celery, parsley, basil, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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