A Bean Showcase from Turkey
Sit down in a Turkish restaurant and almost before you've sipped your drink, your table will be blanketed with meze, or small dishes, most of them from beans, grains and vegetables. The Turks eat healthfully naturally; they don't have to work at it. Their bean repertoire offers many ideas for chefs trying to please health-conscious diners.
Who knew that Turks ate mung beans? In fact, the beans are thought to be a female aphrodisiac, says Turkish restaurateur Musa Dagdeviren. At the 2005 Worlds of Flavor conference, he prepared an unusual mung bean dish that—the story goes—women would prepare together before going to the Turkish baths. The dish would loosen their tongues, and after sweating together in the bath, they would share stories about their spouses.
True or no, the dish has plenty to recommend it. Along with the mung beans, it includes blackeyed peas, green onions, fried eggplant, carrots and sun-dried tomatoes. Fresh and dried mint, sumac and red pepper heighten the flavor, and a final drizzle of pomegranate molasses adds richness and depth. Watch chef Musa Dagdeviren make Salad with Mung Beans and Blackeyed Peas. Imagine this exotic dish on a buffet, on a small-plates menu, or as a side dish for grilled or roast lamb.
We've seen Dagdeviren demonstrate a number of kibbeh—known in Turkey as köfte—with meat and bulgur. But vegetarian versions abound, including a highly spiced one with lentils and bulgur. To make it, Dagdeviren cooks the lentils to a near-puree, then combines them with fine bulgur, butter-softened onions and garlic, tomato paste and Turkish red pepper paste. He deftly shapes them into elongated ovals and presents them on a bed of lettuce. Although the chef used butter here, olive oil can be substituted.
Watch chef Musa Dagdeviren make lentil köfte, an unusual and healthful meze for American tables.
Related Recipes:
Turkish Red Pepper Paste
This concentrated brick-red paste adds warmth and depth to dishes. Many Turkish home cooks make their own paste in late summer from home-dried peppers—both sweet and hot—olive oil and salt. The best are made with peppers dried in the shade, not in the sun, to preserve their color and flavor. You can purchase Turkish paprika paste from www.kalustyans.com.