fresh borlotti beans, Istanbul style, olive oil braised / zeytinyağlı barbunya
a very traditional yet contemporary summer dish
Don’t be shocked or terrified by the huge amounts in this recipe. In Istanbul households in summer maybe twice a week one would cook one or two types of zeytinyağlı and then consume these for many days to come. It would mean in the hot weather you would make the effort only twice a week and then you would keep them in the fridge and enjoy as and when required. It would also mean anyone who came home during the day, be it work, school or swimming, would find something home-made nourishing and delicious to eat.
A zeytinyağlı is a dish that involves a seasonal vegetable that’s been cooked with copious amounts of extra virgin olive oil, never with meat, always eaten either cold or at room temperature. How one prefers to eat the zeytinyağlı can be a heated debate among Istanbulites.
A zeytinyağlı can be a whole meal in itself, or a starter if you prefer though it almost always follows the main course in old proper İstanbul households, or can be a part of a meze selection. Suit your needs and enjoy a zeytinyağlı.
{ Zeytinyağlı translation: with olive oil; meaning: olive oil braised}
Zeytinyağlı Barbunya / Olive oil braised borlotti beans -12 people ( can easily be halved )
2 kg Unshelled fresh borlotti beans
2 kg Onions, peeled and diced
12 Cloves of garlic
3 Chopped summer tomatoes (if unavailable use canned whole ones)
150 gr Extra virgin olive oil (I find it much more practical to weigh in grams not mililiters)
6 gr Caster sugar
1 Bell pepper, whole
70 gr Picked parsley leaves, chopped
Salt
• Shell the borlotti beans and wash them thoroughly. Set aside to drain.
• Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
• Start sautéing the chopped onions in the olive oil in another pot. Pick one that would be large enough to contain all the onions, beans, tomatoes etc.
• When the onions are almost translucent -do not brown them- parboil/blanch the borlotti beans in the other pot with boiling water for only 2 minutes. That is to get rid of the initial scum that would rise atop.
• Immediately drain the parboiled/blanched beans and add to the now translucent onions. Do not rinse the beans.
• Add the tomatoes, garlic cloves, caster sugar, salt and enough water, preferably luke-warm, to cover the beans by ½ inch. Give it a good stir.
• Place the bell pepper in the middle and sprinkle with half of the chopped parsley.
• Cover the pot, bring it to a steady boil on medium high heat and then lower the flame and cook till the beans are soft to eat. Make sure you stir everything occasionally.
• At any point if you feel it would need a bit more liquid, add some from the kettle, but not too much at once. Because you aim to loose the water and have the beans pooling in their own tomato-y olive oil concoction.
• If you think the beans are almost cooked but you have too much liquid, then uncover the pot and keep cooking to loose the watery bit.
• Once it’s cooked, turn off the heat, remove the bell pepper, add the rest of the chopped parsley, give it a stir and let it cool down in its pot.
• Transfer to a service dish - ideally ‘from the fridge to the table’ kind of- and sprinkle with some extra chopped parsley.
I prefer to eat this at room temperature after it has cooled down. If already in the fridge, I take it out at least 30 minutes before eating to allow to come to room temperature.
It is best to mop up the juices with some fresh sourdough bread.
Enjoy.