Kuru Fasulye (Turkish White Bean Stew)
کورو فاسولیے (ترکی سفید لوبیے کا سالن)
Ask Turks to name their national dish and many will say kuru fasulye with pilav, just as many Pakistanis would say daal chawal or rajma chawal. White beans are soaked overnight and simmered slowly in a sauce of onion, tomato and red pepper , often with a few small pieces of beef or a spoon of sucuk for flavour, until the beans are creamy and the sauce is thick and glossy. It's served over buttery pilav with pickles and raw onion on the side.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr 45 min
- Prep: 15 min
- Cook: 1 hr 30 min
- Easy
- Serves 5
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water in a pot, boil for 10 minutes, then drain again. This pre-boil makes them easier to digest.
Heat the oil in a heavy . If using beef, brown it for 5 minutes. Add the onions and green peppers and cook for 6–8 minutes until soft and lightly golden.
Stir in the tomato and pepper pastes and fry for 2 minutes, then add the grated tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes until thick.
Add the beans, hot water, pul biber and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer on very low heat for 60–75 minutes, until the beans are completely creamy inside.
Add the salt and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the beans. Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving; it tastes better as it settles.
Serve over butter pilav, with pickles, raw onion and bread.
Kitchen notes
Add salt only after the beans are soft. Salting early can keep the skins tough.
Safed lobia from any Pakistani grocer works well. Check that it's from this year's crop; old beans can take hours and never soften fully.
A pressure cooker cuts the simmering to 20 minutes after the first whistle.
Turkey’s daal chawal
Kuru fasulye means “dry beans”, and pilav üstü kuru fasulye, beans on rice, is the comfort meal of Turkish workers’ restaurants, school canteens and Sunday family lunches. Pakistani readers will recognise the idea at once: a slow-cooked pulse curry spooned over plain buttery rice.
How it gets its flavour
There are no ground spices beyond pepper and pul biber. The flavour comes from the , tomato and red pepper pastes fried briefly in oil, and from long, gentle cooking. As the beans soften, some of their starch thickens the sauce, so it turns glossy and coats each bean. A little beef, or a few slices of sucuk (a spicy beef sausage) in Turkey, adds depth, but the vegetarian version is just as common.
Getting creamy beans
- Soak overnight in plenty of water.
- Pre-boil and drain for 10 minutes. This is a Turkish home habit that makes the beans easier on the stomach.
- Cook slowly. A bare simmer for an hour or more gives creamy beans with whole skins. A hard boil splits them.
- Salt at the end.
Serving
The classic plate is beans on şehriyeli pilav, with turşu (pickles), raw onion and a glass of ayran. Like rajma, it tastes even better the next day.
Questions people ask
Can I make it vegetarian?
Yes. Leave out the beef and use butter for a richer flavour. Many Turkish families make it this way.
Can I use tinned beans?
Yes. Use three 400 g tins, rinsed, with only 2 cups of water, and simmer for 25 minutes.
Is it spicy?
Mildly. The heat comes from pul biber and pepper paste. Add more pul biber at the table if you like it hotter.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 340
- Protein
- 19 g
- Fat
- 12 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
