Nur Pinner, Nur’s Kitchen

Nur Pinner’s lima been plaki seems like such a simple dish, consisting as it does of lima beans, tomatoes, carrot dices and thin slices of garlic. But behind this unfussy façade is the kind of complexity that emerges from exceptional raw materials and a subtle hand.

“I look around for the best ingredients,” says the founder of Covington-based Nur’s Kitchen, which sells Mediterranean prepared foods at the Red Stick Farmers Market and Whole Foods in Baton Rouge. “I buy a lot them from the farmers markets, and I take time to really look for quality when I pick things out.”

A steady fixture in recent years at the Baton Rouge farmers market, Pinner also brings her wares to the Crescent City Farmers Market in New Orleans, the Covington Farmers Market and the Hub City Farmers Market in Lafayette, as well as to several independent grocers on the Northshore.

Pinner’s small signature containers of hummus, cilantro hummus, tabbouleh, red lentil balls, chicken dip with tahini, leeks with quinoa, baba ghanoush, dolmas and more are made from recipes she learned while cooking at her mother’s side growing up in Turkey. Years later, she moved to Louisiana after marrying a local man, and started a business selling authentic Turkish foods. Her booth selections form the experience of meze, the tradition of small dishes shared prior to the meal in Levantine and Mediterranean cuisines.

As for the lima bean plaki, it makes you struggle to pinpoint the unnamed mystery ingredient that gives it its flair. Pinner’s not telling. These, after all, are family recipes that haven’t deviated since she learned them as a girl.