White Bean Salad – Piyaz

Piyaz – Classic

Piyaz – Antalya Style

Piyaz is usually a bean salad, mostly of white beans, with lots of onions and parsley, olive oil & vinegar, garnished with olives, tomatoes and hard boiled eggs… Piyaz is a very simple, yet a tasty salad which is a great companion to all the kebabs and fish.

Throughout Turkey, ingredients and the taste is pretty much standard, well, only until you go to Antalya. They make it with the same main ingredients, but the sauce is different, and how! They use tahini (sesame paste) and garlic in the sauce which adds pizzazz to piyaz making it a totally different kind of a meze. Once you taste it, it is hard to go back to the “standard” recipe.

I will give you both recipes, try them and see which one you’ll like best.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white beans, soaked overnight
• 5 cups boiling water
• 1 medium onion, cut in half and thinly sliced lengthwise (half moon cut)
• ½ cup parsley, finely chopped
• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 egg, hard boiled, cut into 4 slices
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 3-4 table spoons apple or rice vinegar
• 1 table spoon tahini (sesame paste) (optional for Antalya style)
• 2 table spoons water (optional for Antalya style)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional for Antalya style)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Soak beans overnight or at least for 6 hours.

Soaked White Beans

In a pot combine 5 cups of boiling water, 1 teaspoon of salt and beans.  Let it simmer over medium heat until the beans are tender, about 30-45 minutes. Drain, let it cool to room temperature.

Prepare the sauce next.
Regular Piyaz sauce: Mix olive oil, lemon juice and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Antalya Piyaz Sauce: In a blender, combine olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, tahini (sesame paste), minced garlic and 2 table spoons of water, salt & pepper to taste. Mix until it is smooth.

When the sauce is ready, in a bowl, combine cooked beans, onions and parsley. Mix gently with a spoon. Place in a serving dish, add sauce over the mixture. Garnish with tomatoes, olives and boiled eggs.

Piyaz – Classic

Piyaz – Antalya Style

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!