Purslane and Ancient Grains Stew

Vegetarians are always surprised by how many interesting dishes the land of lamb lovers can offer. In season, this stew appears regularly on the famous ‘Fifty Bowl’ display table at Çiya restaurant in Istanbul’s Kadıköy market, using the kind of grains humans have been boiling for millennia. While it is likely that lentils and chickpeas originated in Anatolia, black-eyed peas are recent arrivals—brought from Africa in the fifteenth century for palace chefs eager to surprise the sultan.</