The recipe for Antalya’s famous tahini piyaz is here!
The short answer
Antalya-style tahinli piyaz is boiled white beans topped with a tahini sauce loosened with lemon, vinegar and water to the thickness of boza, plus red onion, tomato, hard-boiled egg and parsley. Two things set it apart from other piyaz: the tahini sauce and the egg. In my version the sauce goes on twice: once over the beans, and again over everything layered on top.
Antalya’s piyaz
Tahinli piyaz is a much-loved dish in Antalya. The city has a tahini made from its own sesame, and a bean that used to grow there but is hard to find today; the famous piyaz was born where the two met. On top goes something you won’t see in other piyaz: hard-boiled egg.
People who have never had it are surprised: beans and tahini sauce? They can’t picture the combination. Eat it once in Antalya and you know how well the egg suits those beans. What I give here is that dish with a few touches of my own.
Recipe
Antalya-Style Tahinli Piyaz
- Prep16 hours (including soaking)
- Cook90 min · medium heat
Ingredients
Beans
- 2 cups dried white beans (dermason)
- water, for soaking and boiling
Tahini sauce
- 200 g lightly roasted tahini
- 90 g (a little under ½ cup) lemon juice
- 30 g (about 2 tbsp) sour cherry vinegar (or grape vinegar)
- 90 g (a little under ½ cup) water
- 12 g (1 level tbsp) salt
Topping
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 2 large tomatoes, finely diced
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced
- parsley leaves, as many as you like
- 90 g (a little under ½ cup) lemon juice
- 60 g (about ¼ cup) sour cherry vinegar (or grape vinegar)
- 90 g (a little under ½ cup) olive oil
- 12 g (1 level tbsp) salt
- 12 g (1 level tbsp) black pepper
Equipment
Deep bowl, several small bowls, spoon, pot
Method
- Put the beans in a bowl and cover with water by four fingers. Drain and refill every 6 hours, three times in total.
- Once the beans have swelled, boil them for about 90 minutes. Turn off the heat, let them cool, then drain.
- Put the tahini in a deep bowl and add the lemon juice, vinegar, water and salt little by little, stirring constantly. When it turns pale and thick, like boza, taste it.
- Spread the beans on a plate and top with the sauce, onion, tomato, egg and parsley. Add another layer of sauce, then season again with lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil.
- Finish with salt and pepper, and enjoy!
How to make the tahini sauce
I add the lemon juice to the tahini a little at a time, then the sour cherry vinegar, then the water. Regular grape vinegar works instead of sour cherry; I wouldn’t use white vinegar, darker vinegars suit it better.
Why vinegar and water? The moment lemon hits tahini, the tahini seizes and thickens. To bring it back and get it to the consistency of boza, you need more liquid. Add it bit by bit, stirring all the time, and taste once it turns pale and thick.
Some recipes add garlic and cumin to the sauce, even the bean cooking water. Mine has none of these.
The beans
Soak the beans the night before: cover them with water by four fingers and change the water every 6 hours, three times in all. Once they’ve swelled, boil them for about 90 minutes, turn off the heat, let them cool, then drain and spread them on a plate.
Onion, tomato and egg
- Red onion is the nicest onion to eat raw, so that’s my choice.
- Cut the onion and tomato in half-moons for more bite, or dice them small so you get more of everything in each spoonful.
- For tomatoes, I went specifically for ones from Antalya’s highlands.
- The hard-boiled egg is what makes this piyaz. I understand if you’ve never put egg in a bean salad; eat tahinli piyaz in Antalya once and you’ll see why.
- I use only the parsley leaves, not the stems.
What I do differently
I pour tahini sauce over the beans too, then another layer after the onion, tomato and egg go on, so the sauce reaches everything.
I keep the sauce thick on purpose at first, then balance it on the plate with lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil, finishing with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Use a peppery, pungent olive oil if you can; it really suits this dish.
Where to eat it in Antalya
Two şiş kebab places I recommend for tahinli piyaz in Antalya; both make their own:
- Volkan Şişçi Kadir’in Yeri, inside the Yeni Toptancı Hal wholesale market in Kepez.
- Şişçi Özgül Kebap, in the Elmalı neighborhood of Muratpaşa.
Keep reading and listening
- Roots and Antalya on our podcast YBYK (in Turkish): episode 26, with Gülay and İdris Hamamsarılar
- 7 Mehmet’s broccoli and cauliflower salad
- Armenian-style bean plaki
- Silky smooth hummus
