Just before the Kurban Bayram I shopped at a bustling weekly market on the Asian side of Istanbul. This time one could feel not only the fuss of a weekly market, but also the festive determination to stock for the four days of celebration and the urgency to cook with the last produce of the season. Each and every stall broadcasted the swan song of summer - okra, green beans, tomatoes, eggplants and such accompanied by the labels Son elveda / Farewell batch and heart-rending cries of the vendors, “Last tomatoes from the garden, not a greenhouse. Çanakkale will not come back,” referring to the last supply of the popular heirloom tomato variety from the area of the same name. Abundant gigantic pumpkins and cabbages, wild berries and mushrooms on the stalls nearby only confirmed that if you were to cook summer, this might be your last opportunity this year.
Among the “farewell crops” you could quickly spot piles of fresh borlotti beans lined up like jewels in the white and pink marble pods. Unlike their green cousins, they don’t boast edible pods, but the gift hiding inside is worth the shelling effort: borlotti beans taste like a chestnut and have a wonderfully creamy texture. Savvy home cooks in Istanbul buy fresh borlotti beans by bagfuls to shell and store them in the freezer for winter. This opportunity window will close in a few weeks.
Why all this fuss with the freezing and such? Well, borlotti beans make a stew called barbunya pilaki any cook in Istanbul swears by.
The other day we discussed with my husband how people entertain in Istanbul. Özgür insisted that you see the same set of dishes hosts make for their guests including yaprak sarma (stuffed grape leaves), haydari (yogurt and mint spread) and not at least barbunya pilaki. I wondered whether his mom cooked the same essentials when she lived in Istanbul as I could not believe her table might be complete without the Turkish Mediterranean essentials of hummus or muhammara. “Believe or not,” my husband replied. “She did not make hummus. Hummus? We would call it chickpea puree and people would ask, could you make a puree out of chickpeas?” Then he addressed his friend across the table, “What does your mom cook for her guests?” The friend repeated Özgür’s list topped with a few more dishes and added, “Barbunya pilaki goes without saying“. His answer made me feel defeated in the argument, but I could not help feeling victorious as another curious case emerged from this conversation.
Convergence of many Turkish regional cuisines into a uniform shortlist of appetizers served in every Istanbul house is rather characteristic. It shows that the regional cuisines in Turkey are ultra-local and don’t travel beyond the region; as people move to Istanbul from other places in Turkey, they do not necessarily carry their food traditions along. It also proves that there is such an animal as Istanbul cuisine, a mix of pan-Anatolian food found across the rural Turkey married to the urban Ottoman fare of Turkish, Greek, Armenian and Jewish communities that used to define Istanbul not so long ago. Barbunya pilaki is then a characteristic example of Istanbul cuisine.
Pilaki is a stew of a protein (most commonly beans or fish) cooked - along with vegetables, notably tomatoes - in olive oil. The name comes from plaki, a popular preparation style in Greek cooking. Plaki turns into pilaki similarly to how sport becomes see-por, our friends’ dog Scotty becomes See-cotty and my sister Sveta becomes See-veta for a Turkish language speaker.
Our recent trip to Bozcaada reminded me of this borlotti bean stew. Oya, the proprietor of Patiska Bağ Evi, recalled how she was mesmerized by her mom Nihal Hanım cooking barbunya pilaki. Your impeccable Istanbul hanımeffendi, Nihal Hanım had all the bowls with the diced vegetables ready to go and added each ingredient in its own time so they evenly cook into a delicious stew.
When Oya took me to the weekly farmers’ market at the island where she procured, among the rest, a sack of borlotti beans, I purchased a large bag to take home too. Like other fresh beans, borlotti beans should be consumed within a few days after harvesting, before the starches get a chance to turning into sugars. I shelled my batch, divided between a few bags and stocked the deep-freezer. Who would not want to make the “farewell crops” and hence the summer last a bit longer?
Fresh Borlotti Beans Stew (Zeytinyağlı Barbunya Pilakisi)
There is a bit of discussion whether you need to soak fresh beans before cooking. Fresh beans have higher hydration and cook quicker than the dry ones, so if you soak only to shorten the cooking time you may skip that step. However, if you strive to increase the nutritional value of the beans and want to remove the phytic acid that binds critical nutrients and thus inhibits their absorption, you may want to soak the fresh borlotti beans anyways.
I could not find any source to confirm it, but I have come to believe that fresh beans contain less phytic acid. My fresh borlotti beans started sprouting after 2 days in a bag as we continued our road trip indicating that they have higher ratio of phytates that neutralize phytic acid and enhance sprouting (never happens with untreated dry beans, right?). When in doubt, I soak beans anyways to increase the nutrition availability.
Source: Olga Irez of Delicious Istanbul
Prep Time: 10 Min
Cook Time: 1 Hr 10 Min
Total Time: 1 Hr 20 Min
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh borlotti beans (300 g)
- 1/2 medium onion (70 g) cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) dice
- 1 small carrot (70 g) cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) dice
- 2 small tomatoes (200 g) skin removed and finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small potato (120 g) cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) dice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups high-quality vegetable stock or water
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- fresh parsley for garnishing
Directions
- Soak borlotti beans: The night before soak the fresh borlotti beans in plenty of cold water; water should cover the beans by at least 2 fingers. Before cooking discard the soaking water, thoroughly rinse and drain the beans.
- Cook borlotti beans: Combine the borlotti beans and 2 cups of the vegetable stock in a medium cooking pot and bring to a boil. Dial down the heat to the low and gently simmer the beans for about 30-35 min. You know your beans are cooked if they keep the shape, but easily mash when squeezed between the thumb and the index finger. Drain the beans and reserve the cooking liquid.
- Make stew: Warm up the olive oil in a medium cooking pot. Toss in the carrots and cook for a minute or two on the medium heat. Then add the diced onions and let them soften (4-5 min). Next, stir in the diced tomatoes and minced garlic and continue cooking for 5-7 min, or until the tomato juices dry out and the vegetables start slightly sticking to the bottom of the pot. Add the cooked borlotti beans, reserved cooking liquid and remaining stock. Season with the sea salt, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered for 10 min. Finally toss in the potatoes and simmer for another 10 min, until the potatoes are fork-tender. Cool down completely before serving. Refrigerate overnight for the best result. Serve generously garnished with coarsely chopped fresh parsley as a part of a meze spread.
Hi, how do you freeze these type of beans?
Thanks!