Braised Green Beans mean Taze Fasülye in Turkish and it is a delicious and classic Turkish cuisine vegetarian meze. Braised Green Beans is a very simple meze to prepare. In Turkey, some restaurants consider this delicious dish as a meze and some consider it as a side dish. It is a combination of braised green beans, extra virgin olive oil, onion, and summer tomatoes. Is that it? Yes, that is the all ingredients you need. Just make sure you use extra virgin olive oil and summer tomatoes while making this dish. It will be ready in 30 minutes and it will be one of your favorite dishes.
There are two cooking types of Braised Green Beans dishes in Turkey. One is with a pressure cooker and another one is normal cooking in a saucepan with a lid. Some restaurants use pressure cookers to increase the quantity to serve, but I can easily feel the taste if it is cooked in a pressure cooker or normal method within a saucepan. In my opinion, always prefer the normal method because pressure cookers are killing the quality of the green beans and give a dull taste.
The Story of Braised Green Beans
As I mentioned above; we say Taze Fasülye to braised green beans in Turkish. Taze means fresh and Fasülye means beans in English. The Latin name of this vegetable is Phaseolus Vulgaris. So when we spell the phaseolus word, it sounds like fasülye in Turkish. So basically we made a dish name from a mix of Latin and Turkish languages.
There is no specific information on when exactly Green Beans were involved in Ottoman cuisine, but some Ottoman historians say it is after the 1450s. Historians say Green Beans came from Spain’s Al-Andalus region of the Ottoman Empire.
At that period, Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia or Muslim Spain) and the Ottoman Empire had close relations with each other because both were Muslim countries. Al-Andalus merchants and Ottoman merchants were making mutual trade. As a vegetable, Green Beans grow in warm regions and if we consider Spain’s location, we see that it has the optimum weather conditions to grow Green Beans. So it makes sense when we think about how this dish involved Ottoman cuisine.
Today, Green Beans widely grow in the southern part of Turkey. Antalya city is one of the biggest producers of Green Beans in Turkey because they have the best weather condition to grow such vegetables. Let’s make this delicious meze.
Braised Grain Beans
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh green romano flat beans, cut into 3 pieces
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 cup tomatoes diced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
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Pour the extra virgin olive oil, diced onions and diced tomatoes in to a pan. Then put the green beans in a pan and stir them.
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Add the sugar, black pepper and salt and water and stir all and close the lid. Cook over medium-low heat about 35 minutes.
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Serve hot or cold.
Recipe Notes
Tip: I always prefer olive oiled dishes to be served cold. Let the dish rest in the refrigerator for an hour or some. You will taste the difference.
Thank you for the recipe. The green beans are delicious and it reminds me of eating with my family in Turkey. I had it as a side dish with some potatoes and fish. I added a table spoon of tomato purée as I live in England and the tomatoes here aren’t as tasty.
Hi Melissa. I am so glad that you liked the Braised Green Beans recipe. It is totally fine to add tomato puree because at winter times in Turkey; we cannot able to find tasty fresh tomatoes too. And also, it is a great choice for a side dish and I do prefer it as side dish too because it is so light and goes well with any main dish. ☺☺
Can I freeze this dish? I’ve a gluten of beans!
Hi David. Yes you can freeze it after the dish is cooked. Make sure you freeze the beans after you make the dish and it cooled down to the room temprature.
This recipe is very similar to my dad’s Neapolitan recipe, only difference is the onions are replaced with garlic. Delicious either way.
Hi Maria;
I am glad you liked it. Maybe next time; I should give a try your dad’s way of making Braised Green Beans. ☺☺
I appreciate the recipe but the taste is only as good as the beans. The dish is almost tasteless. I made it to the letter though with haricots verts from Whole Foods. A waste of money and an hour and a half of my time. It’s delicious in Turkey and maybe in the States if you taste the raw beans first to make sure they actually have a flavor. Stay away from haricots verts at Whole Foods.
Dear Fliz;
I m sorry to hear that it was tasteless. The type of Green Bean may cause this. In Turkey, we use a certain type of Green Beans. It called “Green Romano Beans”. Next time, try this type.
My Fasulye is very delicious. I mean your recipe. I add oregano and I do not use sugar as I do not eat sugar at all in any thing or meal. Other than that, thank you for your recipe, it is super delicious.
Dear Juno; I am so glad to hear that you liked the recipe. Try other recipes too. I believe; you will find other great tastes at my blog. ☺☺
I totally disagree, perhaps you didn’t follow the recipe properly, or maybe cooked it too long? Never been disappointed using this recipe.