Serves 4-6

This recipe works great with canned beans and tomatoes and is quick and simple to prepare with these. But you could use dried beans and fresh tomatoes instead (which are the cheaper options in Turkey!).

To use dried beans, the rule of thumb is to rinse and sort discarding any stones, then soak the beans in water for about 8 hours (to reduce the cooking time). Next rinse and drain again before boiling in fresh water for anything up to 2 hours, or until they are soft - the time varies depending on which beans you use, and the texture you prefer. Once you have done this preparation you can add them to any sauces, and serve them hot or cold.

For the Bean Hotpot use approximately 200g of dried beans in total (which will triple in volume once cooked). You need to have the beans cooked before adding them at step 3. If you use fresh tomatoes in this recipe, you can skin them first then roughly chop them, and you may like to add some 'domates salçası' to help thicken the sauce up a bit.

Leftovers (if you have any!) are delicious the next day served cold with some salad or in a tortilla wrap.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, thickly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, cut into thin sticks
• 1 red pepper, thickly sliced
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 300ml hot vegetable stock
• 600g mixed beans (e.g. cannellini, fava, red beans)
• 1 lemon, thickly sliced
• 20g fresh coriander

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, and cook the onions and carrots over a moderate heat until they are softened, about 7-10 minutes.
2. Add the red pepper, ground coriander and ground cumin, then cook for a further minute.
3. Pour in the tomatoes, stock, beans and lemon, then cook gently for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the coriander and remove the lemon pieces. Season to taste and serve with rice, couscous, crusty bread, or jacket potato.