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Fassolia Piaz (Greek White Beans Salad)

Fassolia Piaz (Greek White Beans Salad)

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Fassolia Piaz are white beans boiled and made into a salad.  There are a lot of variations of this salad but we like it with tomatoes, onion, tuna, parsley, served with olive oil and lemon juice.

I also like making the same salad with fassolia mavrommatika (black-eyed peas).

Mavrommatika louvi with tuna image

Mavrommatika louvi with tuna

Beans are considered to be the national food of the Greeks. I do not know the story behind this, maybe it is because they used to eat them a lot, but according to food historians, fassolia and fassolada has been around since ancient Greek times.

However, years back they used to call beans “the meat of the poor” as beans are rich in proteins. Our recent ancestors who used to eat meat once a week were considered amongst the privileged.   Before Word War II Greece relied a lot on agriculture and agricultural products which were very cheap at the time. On the other hand the live stock bred was channeled to the cities to be consumed by the rich.

After the World War II, the Greeks suffered a lot and many people starved to death, as in many other countries as well. Gradually a post war syndrome developed which has made the generation after the war to change their nutritional habits because of the abundance of products available.

Nowadays, we consume a lot of meat and eat dried legumes and vegetables once or twice a week. We seem to be losing track of the Mediterranean nutrition which is considered to be the best in the world. So we have to put vegetables and dried legumes again on the top of our list if we want to be healthy.

In Greece, we prepare beans in many ways and this is one of my favourites.  Fassolia Piaz, is a simple bean salad, which is perfect for summer, as it is eaten cold with lots of vegetables.

It is important to follow the instructions given below in order to cook them properly in order to avoid the “gas” effect 🙂

Fassolia Piaz (Greek white beans Salad)

Servings: 5 – 6

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 1 – 1 ½ hours

Ingredients

  • 500 grams of medium size beans (white haricot beans, cannellini, or navy beans soaked overnight)
  • Salt
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tomatoes
  • Parsley
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 medium onion
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Fresh oregano, optional
  • 2 cans of tuna fish (optional)

Directions:

  1. Soak beans overnight.
  2. Next day strain, add fresh water and boil. When they start boiling foam is formed on top which remove with a slotted ladle. When this is done, strain them again and put fresh water to cover the beans. When they start boiling, add salt, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 – 1 ½ hours covering with lid, until they are soft.
  3. When they are cooked, let them cool down and strain them.
  4. Add olive oil, lemon juice, taste and adjust salt if necessary and sprinkle some black pepper on top.
  5. Serve with all the other ingredients i.e., tuna, finely chopped tomato, onion and parsley, oregano.

 Note:

If there is fish in the menu, skip the tuna fish in the salad.


Fassolia Piaz with anchovies image

Fassolia Piaz (Greek White Beans Salad)

Yield: 5 - 6
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Fassolia Piaz are white beans boiled and made into a salad. There are a lot of variations of this salad but we like it with tomatoes, onion, tuna, parsley, served with olive oil and lemon juice.

Ingredients

  • 500 grams of medium size beans (white haricot beans, cannellini, or navy beans soaked overnight)
  • Salt
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tomatoes
  • Parsley
  • Lemon juice
  • 1 medium onion
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Fresh oregano, optional
  • 2 cans of tuna fish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Soak beans overnight.
  2. Next day strain, add fresh water and boil. When they start boiling foam is formed on top which remove with a slotted ladle. When this is done, strain them again and put fresh water to cover the beans. When they start boiling, add salt, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 - 1 ½ hours covering with lid, until they are soft.
  3. When they are cooked, strain them and let them cool.
  4. Add olive oil, lemon juice, taste and adjust salt if necessary and sprinkle some black pepper on top.
  5. Serve with all the other ingredients i.e., tuna, finely chopped tomato, onion and parsley, oregano.

Notes

If there is fish in the menu, skip the tuna fish in the salad.

Did you make this recipe?

Tried this recipe? Tag me @ivyliac and use the hashtag #kopiaste!

The same salad can be made with black-eyed peas but in Greece, it is not necessary to soak them overnight.  However, follow the instructions on the package as some varieties need to be soaked.

During Lent when we do not eat fish, I substitute tuna with avocado.

Mavrommatika with avocado image

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi,

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Demetra

Monday 30th of November 2015

Brilliant. The recipe looks great and very delicious..thanks for the post.

Takis

Monday 16th of November 2015

Greek white beans. This looks so healthy and delicious. Thanx for the recipe.

Jenny

Monday 1st of February 2010

This is my kind of food. Sounds very healthy! Thanks for sharing, Jenny.

Jenny

Tuesday 17th of November 2015

Me too. love the white beans. great recipe.

George

Monday 1st of February 2010

One of my favourite dishes!

Ivy

Wednesday 9th of January 2008

We always discard it and add extra virgin olive oil.

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