Black-Eyed Pea Pilaki nimbuls(Börülce Pilaki)

Pilaki is a general name for a group of dishes that are cooked in tomato sauce with onion, garlic, carrot, potato, parsley, lemon juice, and most importantly olive oil. Among favorite pilaki dishes are barbunya pilaki and fish pilaki.


























serves 6 people
1 lb frozen black-eyed peas (once you soak them you can also start with dried ones)
1 big onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 green chillies, finely chopped or 1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
3-4 tomatoes, diced
3-4 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped dill or parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
ground pepper
crushed red pepper flakes (optional)


-Heat oil and add onion and garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
-Add green chillies, potatoes, and carrot. Cook until soft.
-Stir in black-eyed peas and diced tomato. Let boil.
-Once it boils, stir in sugar, salt, pepper, bay leaves, pepper flakes, juice of half lemon, and 1 cup of water.
-Cook on medium heat for 30-35 minutes until peas are soft.
-Once it's cooked, take out bay leaves and add dill or parsley.
-Let it cool down a bit. Serve warm or cold.

Black-eyed Peas with Sujuk-nimbuls (Sucuklu Tane Börülce)

The colder the weather gets, the more I cook with beans and grains. This is a hearthy, spicy, and belly warming stew from Central Anatolia. I was lucky to find fresh black-eyed peas, but you can start from dry black-eyeds or use canned peas.

Sujuk is Middle Eastern beef sausage dried with several spices black pepper, cumin, garlic, paprika, etc. You can find sujuk at Middle Eastern stores.

1/2 lb black-eyed peas
1/2 or 1/3 sujuk, sliced (I never tried but probably, you can substitute sujuk with pepperoni or kielbasa)2 tbsp butter
1 onion, cut in thin half moons
2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp sugar
4-5 tomatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper



























-Heat butter in an earthenware. Stir in onion, garlic, sujuk, sugar, and cumin seeds. Cook for 3-4 minutes until onion is softened.
-Add tomato, salt, and ground pepper. (optional add pepper flakes) Cook for 2-3 minutes.
-Add black-eyed peas. Add enough water to cover the peas.
-If you started with an earthenware, cover and bake at 375 F for 40-45 minutes.
-If you use a regular pot, cover and cook on low for half an hour.
-After turning it off, add chopped parsley.
-Serve with rice, brown rice, or bulgur pilaf.

For parsley's refreshing power, the stew is for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded and is hosted this week by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen.