The Gambilia, larger than the lentil, resembling the pea, is a kind of pulses growing in and around Bodrum and it and has a different flavor than the like. It is also called Bodrum broad bean, kambilia or gambilia. It is also known as murdumluk or aragan in some regions, as well. The harvest time of the gambilia, which meets with the soil in November-December, is spring. Gambilias, which are very troublesome to reap, are cracked in the mill after harvest and are separated from their shells.

Saniye Karakurt, the diligent woman from Gurece, has been cultivating gambilia in her land for many years. She highlights, “We as the people from Bodrum call the fava, which is the most popular appetizer of restaurants, as “gambilia pava”. Together with her sister Fatma, she rolls up her sleeves for a delicious gambilia pava.

1 glass of shelled gambilia broad beans, 

2.5 glasses of water,

2 teaspoons of salt, 

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil,

1 medium onion

Add 2 teaspoons of salt. The average cooking time is 45 minutes. An important detail to prevent gas is to skim off foam when cooking beans. Put the cooked gambilias through the blender. (Until recently, this process had been applied by a strainer and a wooden spoon.) Pour olive oil over it and serve. Onion and pepper flakes roasted in olive oil are recommended for adding a different flavour to this dish.

They say that pava would swear an oath and deny to have seen any oil at all when oil added onto pava. In a nutshell, pava likes oil; it absorbs all, no matter how much oil is added. That is what Aunt Saniye says; we also encountered that and added plenty of olive oil, however, it was not too much at all.

Bon appétit…