When people talk about traditional food on the Costa Blanca, rice dishes tend to get most of the attention. But Alicante’s old family recipe books contain plenty of other dishes worth discovering.
Olleta Alicantina is one of them.
This thick, slow-cooked stew combines pulses, vegetables and rice, with recipes changing from one town and family to another. Some versions include meat, while others are completely meat-free.
That means this traditional Alicante dish can also make a very good vegan meal, without needing modern substitutes or changing what the recipe is supposed to be.
What is Olleta Alicantina?
The name comes from the olla, the traditional clay cooking pot in which families prepared dishes like this.
As with many recipes passed down through generations, there isn’t one definitive version. Families used what they had available, while different parts of Alicante developed their own variations.
The basic ingredients usually include beans, lentils, rice and vegetables. Chickpeas, pumpkin, potatoes, chard, turnip and cardoon can all find their way into the pot.
In some areas, cooks replace the rice with tender wheat to make olleta de blat. Blat is the Valencian word for wheat.
Other versions add pork ribs, bacon or other meat. However, a vegetable Olleta is equally at home in Alicante’s traditional kitchen.
Is it the same as Borreta Alicantina?
If all this sounds a little familiar, you may remember another Alicante one-pot dish we’ve featured in Buen Provecho: Borreta Alicantina.
The two are related in the sense that both belong to Alicante’s traditional family of platos de cuchara, literally “spoon dishes”. However, they are not the same thing.
Borreta typically combines cod, potatoes, leafy greens, ñora pepper and egg. Olleta relies much more heavily on pulses, vegetables and rice or wheat.
Both developed from practical home cooking, where families made filling meals from straightforward ingredients. Both also vary considerably depending on who is cooking them and where in the province you happen to be.
Think of them as relatives rather than twins.
A dish built around what was available
Olleta comes from a style of cooking that didn’t involve heading to the supermarket with a long list of exact ingredients.
Families used what they had.
Dried pulses provided the base, seasonal vegetables went into the pot, and rice or wheat helped turn everything into a substantial meal.
That explains why you’ll find so many versions of the recipe.
If there was no chard, another leafy vegetable could take its place. Parsnip could replace turnip, while families might leave out one of the pulses if they didn’t have it in the cupboard.
The important part was making a good meal from simple ingredients and giving everything enough time to cook properly.
Why Olleta works so well without meat
Many traditional Spanish stews rely heavily on pork, chorizo or other meats for their flavour, which can make adapting them for a vegetarian or vegan diet rather difficult.
Olleta is different.
Beans, lentils, chickpeas, vegetables and rice already give the dish plenty of substance. A good sofrito provides flavour, while slow cooking allows everything in the pot to come together.
So you don’t need vegan sausages or meat substitutes to make this version work.
You’re simply making one of the traditional variations that leaves the meat out.
And with three types of pulses going into our recipe, nobody is going to leave the table wondering where dinner went.
Traditional Olleta Alicantina
This recipe serves around four to five people.
Ingredients
- 70g white beans
- 70g pinto beans
- 50g lentils
- 100g chickpeas
- 200g rice
- 1 bunch of chard
- Around 250g pumpkin
- 2 cardoon stalks
- 1 turnip
- 3 or 4 potatoes
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sweet paprika
- Salt
- 1 ñora
- 1.3 litres of water
Don’t worry too much if you can’t find every vegetable. You can replace the chard with spinach, for example, or use parsnip instead of turnip.
That flexibility is part of the recipe rather than a departure from it.
How to make Olleta Alicantina
Start the night before by putting the white beans, pinto beans, chickpeas and lentils into water with a handful of salt. Leave them to soak overnight.
When you’re ready to cook, finely chop the onion and grate the tomato.
Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a large pot, then gently cook the onion and tomato with a little sweet paprika. Once the onion has softened, add the ground ñora and stir it through the sofrito.
Take care not to burn the paprika or ñora, as this can make them bitter.
Pour in the water, followed by the soaked pulses, pumpkin and turnip. Bring everything to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover the pot and allow it to cook gently.
After around 30 minutes, peel and chop the potatoes and prepare the chard. Add these to the pot with the cardoon and continue cooking.
The pulses will need roughly an hour in total, although cooking times can vary.
Once they are nearly tender, check the amount of liquid. Olleta should eventually become thick, but you’ll need enough liquid left to cook the rice. Add a little more water if necessary.
Add the rice and cook for around 17 minutes, or according to the instructions for the variety you’re using.
Once the rice and pulses are tender, check the seasoning and your Olleta Alicantina is ready.
Don’t rush the pot
There isn’t a complicated chef’s trick hiding behind a good Olleta.
It needs time.
Cooking it gently allows the pulses and vegetables to soften while naturally thickening the liquid. Trying to hurry the process over a high heat rather misses the point.
The finished dish should also be considerably thicker than soup. You’re looking for a hearty spoonful containing rice, vegetables and pulses rather than ingredients swimming around in lots of broth.
If your first Olleta doesn’t look exactly like somebody else’s, don’t panic. Ask five Alicante families how they make theirs and you may well get five different answers.
Definitely one for the cooler months
We appreciate that suggesting a steaming bowl of Olleta Alicantina in the middle of an August heatwave may require excellent air conditioning.
Traditionally, this is very much a cold-weather dish.
But autumn will eventually arrive, and Olleta is a useful recipe to have ready when the temperatures begin to drop, particularly if you live further inland.
It’s filling, inexpensive and makes a large pot from straightforward ingredients. Leftovers also give you a very good excuse not to cook again the following day.
