Kuru Fasulye

Kuru fasulye is white beans slow-simmered in a tomato-and-onion sauce with a little meat for richness. It's often called Turkey's national dish, humble enough for a weeknight and common enough that most households and lokantas have their own version, usually built around whichever cut of beef or lamb happens to be on hand.

What it actually is

Dried white beans soak and then simmer for a long stretch in a sauce built from tomato paste, softened onion and garlic, along with a small amount of diced beef or lamb, sometimes just a piece of bacon-like cured meat for flavour rather than as a main ingredient. The slow simmer is what matters — the beans need real time to turn creamy inside while holding their shape, and a rushed pot leaves them chalky at the centre.

The meat is there for flavour, not as the point of the dish. Kuru fasulye can be made with only a token amount of meat, or none at all, and the beans-in-tomato-sauce format still reads clearly as the same dish — the beans and the sauce, not the protein, are what define it.

How it's served

• Hot, in a bowl, with rice pilaf on the side, almost always.
• With pickled vegetables (turşu), a classic pairing that cuts the richness.
• As a main course, filling enough on its own with just the rice.

Writing it on a menu

• Say which meat, if any, is used, since versions range from meat-forward to nearly vegetarian.
• Note that it's traditionally served with rice pilaf, since the pairing is close to fixed in most households.
• Mention if a vegetarian or vegan version without meat is available.
• Flag that it has no major common allergens in the base recipe.