Writer: Osman Yüksel
May 2010
        
‘Ağ pahla’ is a name given to a special haricot bean of Nevşehir; it is a traditional food with a specific way of cooking. Traditionally ‘ağ pahla’ is prepared with dry rib in clay and is cooked very slowly in tandoor, approximately 4 hours. Especially ‘ağ pahla’, which is grown in Karşıdağ region with 1500m altitude of Göre town, 3 km far away from Nevşehir, is known as delicious and easy cook.

How to prepare?
Early in the morning the tandoor is fired. The ‘ağ pahla’ which was put in the water previous night is boiled. After boiling the ‘ağ pahla’, it is filtered and put in a clay together with tomatoes, paprika, onion and 2-3 pieces of dried ribs. The clay is placed in tandoor and surrounded by ember and then the cover of tandoor is closed. It is important not to have tandoor on high level fire otherwise the clay might be broken. Time to time it is checked to see if the water level in the clay is enough or not. If it is boiled out, the hot water would be added. The food is mixed by shake the clay up and down or mixing the food from bottom to the top. Spoon is never used because the haricot beans can be fall apart.
Generally rice and pickle, the closest friends of haricot bean, should take place on the table. But the situation in Cappadocia is a bit different; rice is cooked with lentil instead of meat and pickle is the “red” one which is tomatoes pickle. Opposite to general, tomatoes pickle here is prepared with red tomatoes, not with green one. Complementary of this dish is filo dough bread. During autumn, filo dough bread, enough amounts for the whole winter, is prepared by the women as collective work and kept in storage, locally called kayit dami. Half an hour before eating, the daily amount of filo dough bread is wet to be softening and brought together with ‘ağ pahla’.

Note: This article has been published in Peribacası Cappadocia Culture and Publicity Magazine, May 2010 issue. It is under protection of the copyrights of the magazine. No part of this article may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by electronic, mechanical or other means without prior permission from the owner. www.cappadociaexplorer.com