Piyaz

The onion is salted and rinsed before it goes in, and the dressing is a tahini tarator rather than oil and lemon.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

the salad

• 400 g cooked haricot beans
• 1 large onion, sliced very thinly
• 2 teaspoons salt, for the onion
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• a large bunch of parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sumac
• 3 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered

the tarator

• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• juice of 1½ lemons
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons cold water
• salt

Method

1. THE ONION IS SALTED AND RINSED BEFORE IT GOES IN. Sliced as thinly as possible, rubbed hard with two teaspoons of salt until it starts to go limp and release liquid, left ten minutes, then rinsed under cold water and squeezed dry. That removes the harsh sulphurous heat raw onion would otherwise contribute while leaving the crunch and the sweetness intact -- and in a salad where onion is a main ingredient rather than a seasoning, raw onion dominates everything and the dish becomes difficult to eat more than a forkful of.
2. THE DRESSING IS A TAHINI TARATOR RATHER THAN OIL AND LEMON. Tahini, garlic, lemon juice, oil and cold water whisked to a pourable cream. It coats the beans in a way a vinaigrette cannot, and it makes the dish substantial enough to be eaten as a plate of its own rather than as a side. This is the form it takes where it is treated as a main dish, and it is the more interesting of the two.
3. THE WATER GOES INTO THE TAHINI LAST AND A SPOONFUL AT A TIME. Tahini seizes when acid hits it -- it goes stiff and grainy and looks ruined. It is not: cold water whisked in a spoonful at a time brings it back to a smooth cream. Adding all the liquid at once leaves it split.
4. THE BEANS ARE DRESSED WHILE STILL WARM. If they have been cooked from dried, dressed within half an hour of draining. A warm bean absorbs the tarator; a cold one is merely coated by it, and the difference in how much the dish tastes of its dressing is large.
5. THE SUMAC IS TWO TABLESPOONS AND IS NOT A GARNISH. Stirred through, not dusted on top. It is the souring agent working alongside the lemon, and it brings a fruity astringency that lemon alone does not.
6. THE EGGS GO ON AT THE END AND ARE NOT STIRRED IN. Quartered and arranged over the top. Folded through, the yolk breaks up and clouds the tarator.
7. The onion sliced VERY THIN, RUBBED HARD with the salt until limp, and left 10 MINUTES.
8. RINSED under cold water and SQUEEZED DRY.
9. The tahini, crushed garlic and lemon juice whisked together -- it will SEIZE and go stiff.
10. The cold water whisked in A SPOONFUL AT A TIME until it comes back to a smooth cream, then the olive oil and salt.
11. The warm beans, prepared onion, tomatoes, parsley and sumac combined in a wide bowl.
12. The tarator poured over and folded through gently.
13. The quartered eggs arranged on top, NOT stirred in.
14. TESTED: the dressing should coat the beans in a smooth cream. Grainy means the water went in too fast.
15. Served at room temperature.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes