Black-eyed Bean (Pea) Salad

Kuru Börülce Piyazı

Black-eyed beans are consumed both fresh and dried in Turkey. I love the former, but have found out about the latter only recently. During my mum's short visit early this year, we were inspecting the numerous dried pulses in our corner Pakistani shop. My mum spotted these beans and told me that they were dried "borulce". So we bought a big packet. I placed the dried beans in a large bowl overnight, and boiled them in the morning (beware, cooking time is shorter than it is for some other beans such as chick peas). I placed some in the freezer, and made a nice black-eyed bean dip (which was more Moorish than Turkish). This week, I took out another batch and made this Turkish salad, as my mum said the black-eyed beans made excellent "piyaz" (dried bean salad). The more common beans for piyaz is white beans, which is the version I know, although the black-eyed beans also made a very tasty salad.

1 cup boiled black-eyed beans

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 teasp dried mint

salt and pepper to taste

juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red-wine vinegar

Mix the beans and vegetables. Add the parsley, dried mint and seasoning. Mix the dressing and pour over the salad. Gently mix, and serve.