Almost Turkish Recipes

Cannellini Beans with Eggplant (Patlıcanlı Kuru Fasulye)


























A great twist to a very traditional recipe: white beans, which are generally referred to as the national dish of Turkey.




























1 medium size eggplant, diced
1 cup of dry cannellini beans, soaked over night or 1 can of cannellini beans
1/4 lb stew beef [for a meatier stew you can use more stew beef and for a vegetarian version skip it completely]
1 big onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, diced or 1 can of diced tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 green chilies (slightly spicy anaheims?), finely chopped
3 tbsp butter
frying oil, ~1/2 cup
salt
red pepper flakes

-Heat frying oil in a pan and fry eggplant until golden brown. Let fried eggplant cubes soak on a paper towel. If you want to keep the oil level low, you can bake the eggplant in stead of frying. Brush an oven tray with oil and place eggplant cubes. Bake ~20-25 minutes at 390F.
-Heat butter in a pot. Add onion and garlic. Stir until soft.
-Add pepper and stew beef. Cook until beef releases and then soaks its juice.
-Add diced tomatoes, 1 cup of hot water, salt, and red pepper flakes--optional, [and if you are using dry beans, add them now, too.] Cook for 30 minutes.
-Add fried eggplant cubes and beans [if you are using canned beans] and cook for another 15-20 minutes on low-medium.
-Serve hot with crusty bread and rice.

3 comments:

  1. tilki7:11 AM

    Hi Burcu,
    Thank you so much for your wonderful website! I am a foreigner living in Turkey, and I love being able to recreate the foods I eat here. I especially love the bulgur buttons! One of my friends' mothers made it for me and it became a fast favorite. I have a question about this recipe--do you recommend cooking with the pot covered or uncovered? Many thanks for all your work!

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  2. Thanks, Tilki. I love those buttons, too. Cook it with the pot uncovered; you need to wait for the buttons to come up to the surface, that's how you'll tell that they're done. So, I recommend having the lid off.

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  3. Jennifer9:02 AM

    I was looking for eggplant recipes for Thanksgiving, and was delighted to find your site with a whole category of eggplant recipes! I'm cooking this one now (eggplant with beans). Cheers!

    ReplyDelete