Cannellini bean stew with Turkish salami

Since my halfling's birth, I have carelessly moved from one country to another chasing the sun. But as all good things, my third summer in a row is coming to an end and it looks like it will be one hard winter for this mama.

There are, hopefully, a few more beach days left in February but as the beautiful sunny days were abruptly replaced by the cool autumn breeze last week, my foodometer started pointing comfort food. And when it is cold, there is nothing that can warm your insides like a hearty, gooey and spicy stew.

Kurufasulye (Cannellini bean stew) is the ultimate traditional dish in Turkey, beautiful pearly white cannellini beans cooked in a delicious broth consisting of juices from succulent pieces of meat, onions and tomato paste, served with pilaf and pickled green peppers topped with as much dried red chillies as your mouth can handle.

Usually the tender and succulent meat (off the bone used to make the broth) is added to the beans. But if you feel like something a bit more fancy, you can use sucuk (Turkish salami) or pastirma (Turkish pastrami) instead of the meat. And if you are a vegetarian simply use vegetable stock and leave out the meat all together and dinner is as easy as one two three. 

I had a large can of beans bought from the Turkish store in my pantry cupboard and a half a log of sucuk so I decided it was time to spice things up a bit in the kitchen. It took me a matter of minutes to cook this simple wonder and even less time for my hubby to polish it off his plate. 


Sucuklu Kurufasulye (Cannellini bean stew with Turkish salami)

 
Ingredients

2 400 gr tins of cannellini beans*
250 gr sucuk (Turkish salami), thinly sliced**
1 large brown onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp redpepper paste (optional)
Salt to taste
1 cup broth or hot water



Wash and drain the beans and set them aside. 

Place the oil and onions in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and sauté until they are transparent. 

Add the sliced sausages to the pan and saute until they darken in color and their juices starts coming out and coloring the onions. 

Stir in the tomato paste and let it sizzle for a couple of minutes. Stir in tomato paste and pepper paste (if using). 

Add the broth and a touch of salt and let the broth boil before adding the beans in.

Let the stew simmer on very low heat for about 5-10 minutes (depending on the softness of the beans.***)

Serve with rice pilaf and pickled vegetables. 

Afiyet Olsun! 


* If you prefer to use dried beans, then soak them overnight and boil them in salty water until they are soft before adding them to the recipe. 

** If you prefer to use meat instead of sucuk, use diced lamb or veal that is suitable for slow cooking. Follow the same steps but just make sure you cook the meat in the broth longer until it reaches the "melting in your mouth point" before adding the beans in. If you cannot find Turkish salami, then you can very easily replace it with chorizos.

*** I find every brand has a different softness to their canned beans so check regularly to make sure that the beans are not overcooked as they would loose their shape and turn into mush.