This delicious traditional stew is very popular at Turkish homes, and as well as in our traditional restaurants, lokantas. It is lovely when cooked with Pastirma, Turkish Pastrami, dried cured beef with a special spicy coating too. This is the Turkish version of the French Cassoulet, the sausage, meat and white beans stew, though much lighter and easier to prepare. You can replace the sausage here with any other sausage (chorizo works well) or meat of your choice. For a vegetarian option, simply omit the meat.
You can cook this stew ahead of time, even a day in advance. It freezes very well too.
Serves 4 – 6
Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 55 minutes (+ 20 minutes for partial
cooking for the dried beans)
2 cup / 340 gr Cannellini dried white beans or
Pre-cooked Cannellini beans in can, drained
1 medium yellow onion, finely sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 oz / 225 gr Turkish sausage, sliced in quarters
14 oz/ 400 gr Can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1/2 tablespoon red pepper paste (optional)
6 cups / 3 pints of water
1 teaspoon Kosher salt/ Maldon sea salt flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Soak the dried beans in plenty of water overnight. Next day, drain the water and boil the dried beans in fresh water for about 20 minutes, covered. Drain the water and set the partially cooked white beans aside (If you are using precooked white beans, simply drain the juice and rinse the beans under cold water.)
Sauté the onion with the olive oil until soft. Add the sausages and sauté for another minute or so. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, (and the red pepper paste if using) and mix well. Then add the white beans and water, mixing gently so that the beans won’t break. Season with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Cover and cook in medium heat for about 50 minutes, or until the beans are cooked (cooking time should be about 20 minutes if precooked beans in can are used).
Serve hot with plain rice by the side.
Thanks so much just ate the vegatarian version here in antalya at a tiny locals only place and just had to have the recipe cheers jss
That’s awesome, but I was looking for the old ways to make the white beans with lamb..thank you for sharing..and I am big fan of you
Thank you so much Salma, so glad you are enjoying my recipes. I made another version here with chicken; you can replace with lamb if you wish, Afiyet Olsun, Ozlem https://ozlemsturkishtable.com/2012/10/beans-in-many-delicious-ways-turkish-bean-stew-with-chicken-onion-peppers-and-tomatoes-etli-kuru-fasulye-more/
You are most welcome:) The vegetarian version is just as nice. Apologies for my late reply as I just spotted your comment!:)
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
mmmm i like it
Looks so yummy ill sure try it.Itis almost same as we made in Pakistan.But we add ginger garlic paste.Anyway thanks.
Dear Nelofar, thank you for your kind comment, I hope you enjoy it- and I love hearing similarities and variations we have in our cuisines : )
best wishes, Ozlem
This was wonderful. I just made it for lunch with cornmeal muffins and it was wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Merhaba Deborah, so glad you enjoyed it – one of my favorites too; easy, delicious and wholesome:) Thank you so much for stopping by & you are very welcome!
I had this with the pastirma one time when I went to Istanbul on holiday almost ten years ago. Except it also had finely sliced red bell pepper. And yes it was delicious and I’m glad I’ve found a recipe here to try and recreate it for myself from time to time.
On another occasion I had something similar with the Sucuk sausage but with chickpeas instead of beans. Do you know this recipe?
Merhaba Been, yes the version with chickpeas in it is lovely too. You can make that easily with a good quality canned chickpeas, really delicious. Afiyet olsun!
Hi Özlem. I just want to congratulate you sincerely for your book. I got it recently and I think is a beautiful tribute to your country and to your family. Thank you for sharing all those delicious recipes. We have been enjoying, here in Canada, the food a lot.
The only thing that was missing was the Simit’s recipe in it.
Merhaba dear Zulema, thank you so much for your kind note, really delighted to hear you are enjoying my book, it is a pleasure to share. Simit recipe is in my blog if you’d like too. My best wishes to you all in Canada and Afiyet Olsun, Ozlem