We; the Turks, love white beans. We like to consume white beans in various dishes and salads. Piyaz or in English Mediterranean Bean Salad is one of the most preferred salad varieties of Turkish cuisine. It is made with white beans and is considered the wingman of the Turkish Köfte (meatballs).
Piyaz salad is either consumed as salad or meze in our cuisine. In Turkish cuisine, there are two different Piyaz salad variations. The first variation is the one that belongs to the Marmara Region of Turkey (the northwestern region of Turkey). The second variation is the one that belongs to Antalya city of Turkey (the heart of the Mediterranean region of Turkey).
The main difference between these two variations is the sauce we use. We use tahini-based tarator sauce in the Antalya city variation of Piyaz salad. This tarator sauce is mainly made with a mixture of tahini, apple cedar vinegar, and lemon juice. On the other hand, the Marmara Region variation of Piyaz salad has apple cedar vinegar, virgin olive oil, and fresh lemon juice mix sauce in it. To me, both variations are delicious.
Today, I want to share with you the first Piyaz salad variation recipe which belongs to the Marmara Region of Turkey. It is very easy to make and has a very refreshing taste. The summer has already come and I thought; it will be nice to share with you this famous Piyaz salad recipe. If you are raw onion intolerant, you can use the below-mentioned hack to remove the strong raw onion taste.
How to remove the bitterness of raw onion for making Piyaz Salad?
One of the main ingredients of this salad is raw onion. In Turkish restaurants, chefs are using a simple method to reduce the strong raw onion flavor from the Piyaz salad. With this technique, you will not get that strong raw onion taste from your salad.
Just before adding the sliced onions to the Piyaz salad; coat the sliced onions with a generous pinch of salt, and wait for a few minutes. Then rub salt into onions and then rinse, drain and blot dry onions with a paper towel.
This is the most efficient and fastest way of removing the strong flavor of raw onion. Otherwise, raw onion’s strong taste dominates the entire salad and you don’t get other ingredients’ tastes.
Piyaz
Ingredients
- 1 cup white beans
- 1 cup parsley leaves chopped
- 1 red onion (mid-size) sliced
- 1 egg (hard boiled) quarter cut
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp apple cedar vinegar
- 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon sumac
- 1 salt to taste
Instructions
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Soak the white beans overnight (12 hours).
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Rinse the white beans well and put them into the salad bowl.
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To remove the raw onion strong flavor; place the sliced raw onions on a separate plate and coat the them with a generous pinch of salt, and wait for few minutes. Then rub salt into onions and then rinse, drain and blot dry onions with a paper towel. Then add to the salad bowl.
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Add the chopped parsley leaves.
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Add the sumac and mix them all well.
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Distribute the salad evenly to the serving plates and place the each hard-boiled egg quarter on top of each salad serving.
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Combine apple cedar vinegar, virgin olive oil, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. And then pour it evenly to the salad on each serving plate.
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Serve
