High Society Manti

Sosyete Mantisi

I know I already have two different recipes of manti in my blog, but I tried this one for the first time and adore it. I learnt it from my second mom  (my mother- in-law), who is also a creative cook. She knows how much I love manti but also I don’t have much time to prepare an original manti. While talking on the phone, she suggested a manti recipe, which is totally new to me. I heard its name many times, but never tried. She told me that this time saving  recipe is just for me and added it is as tasty as traditional manti. It is time saving because 1)you don’t prepare the dough, you use phyllo sheets instead. 2)you don’t work on making small shapes, this one is pretty big when we compare it to traditional manti. For these two reasons it’s called High Society Manti (Sosyete Mantisi). You know people from high society don’t like working on effortful dishes. Altough I’m not a member of that society, I’ll make this hearty manti during my busy working term.

Ingredients
•    One phyllo sheet
•    ½ cup vegetable oil (for frying)

Filling:
•    150g mince (ground meat)
•    1 onion
•    1tsp salt
•    1tsp black pepper
•    1tsp red pepper flakes
•    A few leaves parsley
•    2 tbsp vegetable oil

For its Sauce:
•    A bowl of yogurt
•    4 cloves garlic, mashed
•    Red pepper flakes
•    Dried mint

Note: I made it from one phyllo sheet as we were just two at dinner and 8 pieces came out from it.

First let’s prepare its filling. Mince the onion and saute it in oil in a pan. Then add ground meat, salt and other spices. Stir while sauting. Don’t let the ground meat cook completely, 5 or 7 minutes sauting will be enough. Then let it cool.

Lay the phyllo sheet on the counter and cut into pieces of triangle shapes as you see in the picture. To cut it into 8 pieces, first make a plus on the phyllo sheet with a knife, then cut it again between each line.

After having 8 pieces, grab one of the triangles and put some filling mixture on the broad side of it. Do not put it much, otherwise it will be difficult for you to wrap it up.

Wrap the triangle as you see here, you can stick the end of the sheet by dipping a finger into a little water and touching on the end.

Then twist it as in the picture, the triangles turn into rose like shapes. To prevent any distortion in this shape, insert a toothpick attaching the end and the head of the sheet. Do the same until you finish all triangles.

Heat he vegetable oil in a pan. Then stir fry these rose like pastries. It doesn’t need to be too crispy, when it turns to brown, it’s OK. Take them on a serving plate.

For its sauce, mix yogurt and mashed garlic. Pour some on the fried pastries and sprinke some red pepper flakes. Unfortunately I forgot to sprinkle some dried mint on it, I realized it when I finished all. I was so impatient to eat them that’s why I forgot it. But I know it’ll be more hearty if you don’t forget to add it.

I’d like to thank to Mely from mexicoinmykitchen, who has delectable Mexican dishes in her blog. I’m always so curious about Mexican cuisine,  which takes my attention especially with its spices and special sauces with traditional flavors, so I learn a lot from Mely. Go visit it!

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Bulgur Pilaf with Green Lentil

Mercimekli Bulgur Pilavi
This pilaf is another rare recipe even in our country. So many people don’t know this pilaf, they generally cook tehm seperately, bulgur pilaf near green lentil stew. I love them, but I also love them combined in the form of a pilaf. If you have a kind of stew, this pilaf will be a perfect side dish.

Ingredients
•    1 cup bulgur
•    ¼ cup green lentil, boiled
•    2 cups water
•    2 green pepper, 1 onion
•    2 tbsp butter
•    1 tbsp olive oil
•    1 tsp black pepper
•    2 tsp salt
•    ½ tsp cinnamon

Melt the butter in a pan and add olive oil. Saute chopped  green pepper  and onion until soft, then add bulgur and boiled green lentil in it. Saute them for 5 minutes until bulgur gets crispy. Then pour water and sprinkle salt, black pepper and cinnamon in it and stir. Cover the pan and bring the heat to the lowest. When all the water’s gone, let it rest.

To serve it, put some in a small bowl and reverse it on a plate. You can garnish it with fresh dill or parsley. And if you have a bowl of homemade yogurt near it, you enjoy it more.

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Chicken with Potato

Fırında Patatesli Tavuk

As you know chicken is one of the most beneficial nutrition, which is so important for child growth. Moreover, it has no negative effect on old people’s health like red meat. Everyone should eat it without any fear. But of course the cooking style matters. If you prefer frying, you make it impossible to mention the benefits of chicken although you create a scrumptious dish.

I perefer a better and easier way, saving its nutritional value: baking it in oven, which is as tasty as fried one. Also, you don’t need to clean your kitchen deeply as you do after frying, which is so important for me as I’m a working girl. I can count a lot of reasons here why I love cooking it in oven. Then you have to wait longer to read the recipe, so not to make you angry, I’ll stop here and tell you how to cook this hearty chicken with potato easily.

Ingredients (serving: 2)
•    4 chicken legs
•    2 middle potatoes
•    2 tomatoes
•    2 green peppers
•    6 cloves garlic
•    ½ tbsp pepper or tomato paste
•    3 tbsp olive oil
•    2 tsp salt
•    1 tsp black pepper
•    1 tsp red pepper flakes
•    1 tsp thyme
•    3 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 200C (400F)

Coat a small oven tray with 1 tbsp olive oil.

Peel the potatoes, cut them in apple slices and place them in the oiled tray. We should put the potato slices first because the cooking time of them is longer than chicken.

Discard the seeds of peppers, chop them in big pieces and place them on potatoes.

Remove the skin of chicken legs. If you love them, you can leave. Rinse the chicken pieces in water. Rub each chicken legs with the spices given above. And put them on potatoes and green peppers.

Slice the tomatoes in big pieces and lay them on chicken pieces. Do not slice the garlic cloves, just peel them and intersperse in the tray randomly. Sprinke 2 tsp salt on it.

Dilute ½ tbsp tomato/pepper paste in 3 tbsp water and pour it on the raw dish. Finally add the the rest of the olive oil and put the tray in oven. Cook it about an hour. When you check it poking one of the legs with a knife at the end of this time, it shouldn’t be juicy or the color inside shouldn’t be pink. You can cook it about 10 minutes more if you hink it’s not cooked enough.

You can serve rice with carrot as a side dish near this hearty chicken cooked in oven. And serving them with a season salad is a must.

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Chicken Soup

Tavuk Çorbası

I got a phone call from my close friend yesterday, she said that she had an excruciating stomachache and asked me some advice. I was worried when I realized the uneasy tone of her voice. I was at work, so couldn’t do anything for her. Then her husband took her to hospital. A doctor examined her and it wasn’t her stomach, but her appendicitis. The doctor told her that she should have an operation for her appendicitis. Once she called and told these, we went there. We were all stunned by this unexpected operation. I learnt that we shouldn’t ignore if we have such complaints, and consult a doctor as soon as possible.

Doctors say that apendicitis doean’t have any function in our body, so why do we have it? I heard a lot of cases like we had yesterday. You go to hospital for your stomachache, but they say that it’s appendicitis, and you should immediately have an operation for it. It’s definitely bothersome, I wish noone experiences it.

Her operation was successful, and she was discharged today. Fortunately she’s better now, and having a rest at home. We visited her this evening and I cooked a chicken soup for her. She couldn’t eat enough as she still have some pain. But she said it’s definitely a soup for patients. I generally make this soup if one of us have a cold, and we always see its positive effects. I hope my friend recovers soon.

Ingredients
•    3 chicken pieces (with bone is preferred)
•    A handful of chickpeas, soaked overnight or boiled
•    1 cup milk
•    3 cups chicken stock
•    1 tbsp flour
•    2 tbsp cream
•    A few leaves parsley
•    1 lemon
•    1 tsp salt
•    1 tsp black pepper
•    1 tbsp butter

Boil the chicken pieces in a pot. The pieces should have bones, it’s very importat as the food value of chicken bone is higher and so curative when boiled.

When it boils, and the chicken cooks, seperate the bones and shred the chicken pieces. We’ll use this chicken stock, so do not throw it away.

Melt the butter in a pot. Pour 3 cups chicken stock (the one you boil the chicken) into the pot. Add chickpeas into it. Bring it to boil.

Mix milk and flour very well in a bowl and pour it little by little into the boiling chicken stock. Stir occasionally.Then add the shredded chicken pieces, parsley leaves. Parsley gives a hearty flavor to this soup, so it’s so important. Squeeze a lemon into the soup, sprinkle salt and black pepper. Stir them well. When it boils for about 10 minutes, pour the cream into it and stir for the last time. Take it from heat and serve hot. I love it sour, so I always squeeze extra lemon into my bowl. If you have a cold, do the same.

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Spinach with Yogurt

Yoğurtlu Ispanak

We thought that we’d been living the last days of winter, but this morning we understood that it’s too early for winter to leave us. It was so cold and snowy again this morning. So I thought we still have time for cooking fresh spinach.

There was an open market in our neighborhood today and we bought some winter vegetables from there such as spinach, leek, celery, carrots. And we gave the priority to spinach. I generally prefer cooking it with eggs or making borek with it, but today I tried something I learnt from mom again. While she was giving the recipe on the phone, I didn’t think it would worth writing it here as it was so simple. I think the word “simple” exactly defines it.  And mom must have realized my thoughts on her recipe as she continually added how tasty it was.

I decided to give this spinach salad a chance. We made it as a side dish near pasta topped with white cheese. And it becomes one of our favorite. It was incredibly delicious.

I have still some suspicions on eating spinach and yogurt together, I made some search but couldn’t find a consensus on it. Some say yogurt makes it healthier, some say yogurt decreases its vitamins. I decided not to be so cautious this time for the sake of this hearty spinach salad. We love it so much that we’ll make it often.

Ingredients
•    500g spinach
•    1 cup yogurt
•    3 cloves garlic,mashed
•    2 tsp red pepper flakes
•    3 tbsp olive oil
•    2 tsp salt

Wash and clean the spinach very well. Put it in a pot, add salt on it. I prefer not chopping them. Cover the pot and cook it over medium heat until the spinach leaves change their color to dark green and become soft. Do not add any water as the leaves release their own water. Don’t overcook them, 10 or 15 minutes will be enough.

Take the boiled spinach leaves on a plate. Set it aside.

Mix the mashed garlic with yogurt and pour some on the spinach.

In a small pan, heat olive oil and fry red pepper flakes. Drizzle it on spinach and yogurt.

You see how simple it is, but I can gurantee you’ll be a fan of this side dish/salad just like us after trying. Of course if you don’t have any problems with vegetables.

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Bazlama Bread

Bazlama

This is a traditional bread, generally baked over wood fire in villages. When my grandpas were alive, we used to visit them  very often. They used to live in a village and whenever we went there, grandma would always bake bazlama for us. She would also brew a teapot of tea again over a wood fire. I don’t know why, but the fire of wood changes the taste of everything. If you have the chance of cooking a dish over wood fire, you’ll understand what I mean. Even tea gets a different flavor when brewed over it.

Grandma would always serve bazlama with a piece of butter she herself made and with some olive oil which they themselves produced. So this simple breakfast became a feast for us. Imagine a piece of newly baked bazlama, still fuming, and dipping it into some very natural olive oil or spreading some fresh butter, which has a milky scent, on it.

As I don’t have a chance of baking it on a wood fire, I bake it on a non stick pan over the lowest heat of the oven. Today the special item for our big Sunday breakfast was this bazlama. We ate it dipping in olive oil.

Ingredients
•    3 cups flour
•    ½ cup yogurt
•    1 cup warm water
•    1 dessert spoon instant yeast
•    ¼ olive oil
•    2 tsp sugar
•    2 tsp salt

Put the flour in a bowl. Add yogurt and mix it. Then add olive oil, sugar and salt. Mix the warm water and instant yeast in a cup very well and pour it in the mixture. Then knead all of them. You see my measurement cup here.

The dough should still be sticky, don’t worry. Cover the bowl and wait it in a warm place at least 5 hours to rise well. Waiting it for a day is better.

When the dough is OK, you can bake it and eat hot. Sprinkle some flour on the counter, take a piece of dough, a bit bigger than orange. Round it in your palms, then put it on the counter. Widen it by pressing your hands on it. You don’t need to use a rolling pin as the dough is so soft.

Heat a non stick pan, and put the shaped dough on it. Cook it turning it out continually over the lowest heat. It will be done in about 10 minutes. I make five bazlamas from these ingredients.

You can serve it with olive oil near it. We also sprinkle some dry thyme in our natural olive oil.

Note: I made this before reading the article, 10 pre-polluted Americans by OysterCulture, which is about food safety including the harms of teflon. And now, I’m definitely confused about using non stick pans. There should be a substitute.

Sabiha Gökçen

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Borek with Potato

Patatesli Börek

Borek is one of my favorite Turkish pastries and it’s one of the most common pastries served to guests. I generally make borek at the weekend as a preperation for week days. As I leave for work early in the morning, borek becomes my best breakfast. You know how much I love breakfast, but during weekdays, I don’t have enough time for a big one, so if we have prepared borek, I just heat them in oven and have a quick breakfast with two squares of borek and a cup of tea.

Moreover, if I have something different for breakfast, I put a few borek squares in my lunch bag and take it to work. It becomes a perfect lunch accompanied by a glass of ayran as borek is also eaten cold. When I take some for lunch, I always take more than I eat because I love sharing lunch with my collegues. Borek has a lot of varieties, you can use different filling mixtures for it. Generally, it is filled with cheese, minced meat, potato, spinach, etc.

Ingredients
•    5 phyllo sheets

To stick these phyllo sheets
•    1 cup yogurt
•    ¼ cup olive oil
•    1 egg

For its filling
•    5 middle potatoes
•    1 big onion
•    1tbsp pepper or tomato paste
•    1tsp cumin
•    1tbsp black pepper
•    1tbsp salt
•    ½ grated yellow cheese

For garnish
•    nigella sativa

First we’ll prepare its filling. Boil the potatoes in a pot full of water until they get very soft. You can check them with a fork, insert it in one of the potatoes, if it’s soft enough, that’s ok. Then peel the potatoes and chop them in small pieces. Put it aside.

Chop the onion and saute it until golden. Add tomato/pepper paste into it and stir. Put the boiled and chopped potatoes into it, sprinkle salt and other spices and saute all of them for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Take it from heat and let it cool.

Now we’ll prepare the mixture to stick the phyllo sheets. Mix yogurt, oil and egg until well combined. This mixture prevents the borek from splitting off.

Preheat the oven to 180C (356F).

Lay one of the phyllo sheets on an oven tray. Then spread the yogurt mixture on it with a brush. If the sheet is too big for the tray, you can tear it into two pieces and then lay it on the tray. It doesn’t need to be perfect in shape. Then lay onether sheet on this one. Spread some yogurt mixture again. Now put some filling mixture (not much as you’ll put the rest soon).

Lay another sheet on potatoes and spread yogurt mixture again. Now put the rest of the pototoes and sprinkle grated yellow cheese on it. Lay the last two sheets on them spreading yogurt mixture between them. Finally spread all the mixture on top of it to have a well cooked borek. Cut it into squares. And sprinkle some nigella sativa on it. Cook it for about 40 minutes.

You can also have these boreks as a snack.

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Bakeries prepare for you

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Sobiyet

We had our dinner with two friends this evening. It was a long time since we had met last, so we decided to invite them for dinner. As we love eating together, they accepted it immediately. We had grilled gilthead seabream in oven with season salad in our menu.

Our dessert was from our guests. It’s a common tradition in Turkey, if you are invited for  dinner, you should take a kind of dessert as a contribution for dinner. And our kind friends brought this scrumptious sobiyet for our dinner.

Sobiyet (rolled baklava with pistachio and cream) is one of the most popular traditional Turkish desserts. The most popular one is baklava. Sobiyet is very similar to baklava, the only difference is that it has cream inside it. The best baklava and its versions are made by Güllüoğlu and as far as I know, they also have an agency in the U.S. However, they don’t have one in Eskisehir, that’s why our friends bought it from the best of Eskisehir, Hacıoğlu.

Dessert before engagement

If you want to try it at home, here is the recipe.

Ingredients (servings:20)
•    1kg flour
•    500g wheat starch
•    4 eggs
•    5tsp salt
•    1 ½ cup water
•    1 cup pistachio
•    800g butter

For its sherbet:
•    8 cups sugar
•    12 cups water

For its cream:
•    ½ lt milk
•    4tbsp semolina

Put flour, salt, eggs, and 1 ½ cup water in a large bowl, knead them well. Divide the dough into pieces in size of walnuts. Then roll out these pieces with a rolling pin in size of a small plate. Wait them 15 minutes. Then put 8 of them on one another by sprinkling starch between each, they should overlap. And roll all of these out at the same time. Thay should be thin phyllo sheets.

Cut each phyllo sheet into small suares of 10cm.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cook the semolina and milk together in a pot by mixin it continually until it gets thicker than pudding.

Put pounded pistachio and a spoonful semolina mixture on each squares. Fold the edges of the square in shape of an envelope. Do the same for all of the squares and place them in a tray.

Melt the butter and pour it in the tray. And cook the in oven for half an hour.

Meanwhile, you can prepare its sherbet. Boil 12 cups water and 8 cups sugar in a pot. When the sugar melts totally, take it from heat and let it cool. When you take the sobiyet from oven, pour this sherbet on them. Don’t forget, sherbet should be cold, sobiyets should be hot. Then let it cool and serve it cold.

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Meatballs Classic

Köfte

As Turkish people, we love matballs (we call it “köfte” in Turkish) so much that we eat it very often. It is the second popular Turkish fast food after simit. There are a lot of restaurants serving meatballs in each city of Turkey. Also, you can come across with vendors grilling and selling meatballs on streets. You may start to feel hungry with its so appetizing smell while walking on a street and you may find yourself ordering the second.

There are several versions of meatballs. All of them are equally tasty, but our favorite one is this classic version. I learnt how to make such scrumptious meatballs from a small meatball restaurant (Small ones are always better than the big ones at making meatballs). We often go there and one day I couldn’t wait any longer to ask for the recipe. The chef was so kind that he didn’t make me beg for it. He said “I’ll give my recipe provided that you won’t tell it to other chefs.” You’re not planning to open a meatball restaurant here, do you?

You can try this recipe and have the pleasure of it at your homes.

Ingredients
•    500gr ground beef
•    ½ cup breadcrumbs
•    ¼ cup water
•    1 onion, grated
•    2 cloves garlic, minced
•    1tsp baking soda
•    1tsp fresh lemon juice
•    2tsp salt
•    2tsp cumin
•    2tsp thyme
•    2 tbsp olive oil

For serving:
•    Green pepper
•    Bread slices

The key point of this meatball is the time of its process. If you’re planning to grill/fry meatballs, you should start it one night before.

Put the ground beef, breadcrumbs, water and salt in a large bowl. Knead it very well with your hands. And put it in the refrigerator to wait it at least 10 hours. That’s why, you should start to make it a night before.

In the morning, mix the baking soda and lemon juice in a tablespoon. Add it to the mixture. Put the grated onion, minced garlic and spices in it. Knead all of them very well. Grab pieces as big as a walnut and shape it in your palms.  Wait these meatballs in the refrigerator until the evening. If they are too many for you, you can keep some of them in deep-freezer to cook them later.

When it comes to cook these meatballs, put the oil in a pan. Heat it over maximum level. Place the meatballs in the pan and bring the heat to medium level. Fry the meatballs by turning over them continually. Do not wait to cook first one side, then the other. It’s important to cook both sides at the same time. That’s why, you should continually turn them over. It will be cooked within 10 – 12 minutes. Do not overcook them. You can check one of them with a fork, if its inside turns from pink to brown, it’s cooked.

While cooking meatballs, in a non stick pan, grill some green peppers and bread slices without any oil. Then you can serve meatballs on these bread slices with green peppers. And piyaz is an indispensable salad near meatballs.

And I’d like to thank to Sophie at Sophies foodie files for passing her award on me. She’s so generously sharing her experiences and recipes with us in her blog. I’d like to share it with all of you. If you haven’t discovered her blog yet, go visit it or you miss a lot.

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Quince Dessert

There is a folk song in Turkish culture. It starts with “Quince trees bloom, is Summer close?” In fact, this is a love song and it has no direct relation with quince, but I always remember that song whenever this fruit starts to take its place on the stands at markets. As you can understand from that folk song, a quince tree blooms towards Summer and it bears fruit in Autumn. It is also possible to find this fruit in Winter here. It is a very popular fruit in Turkey. Moreover, Turkey is the top country growing quince around the world with a 35% portion.

We use quince in several ways, making quince jam, quince compote, quince dessert even dried quince in cakes or compotes again. We benefit not only from the fruit but also from its leaves, blooms and seeds as a cure for several illnesses. The fruit is very rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C, so it becomes a perfect protective fruit against cold and cough when you eat it fresh. Also, you can boil its seeds or blooms with milk or water to protect from cold and cough. And if you’re looking for a cure for your stomach ache, boil its leaves in water and drink it.

I can’t think of a person who don’t love this extremely beneficial fruit. When it’s the quince season, we often make its dessert. It’s so easy and scrumptious. If you love light desserts, here is the recipe.

Ingredients
•    2 quinces
•    4 tbsp sugar
•    1 ½ cup water
•    A few cloves
•    Cream for garnish

Peel the quinces and cut them into two. Discard the seeds, but don’t throw them away. We’ll use them beacuse they give the red color to the dessert. If it’s an Autumn quince the red color is more vivid. Some people use food dye for this color, but I don’t prefer it. Its own seeds give enough color and of course I’m always in favor of natural things.

Pour the water in a pot. Put the quinces in it and place 1 tbsp sugar on each half as you see in the picture. Add the seeds for color and a few cloves for a nice aroma. Put the lid on the pot and bring it to boil.

When it starts to boil, lower the heat to minimum and boil it for one and a half hour. Do not try to stir it with a spoon, just shake the pot a few times.

To serve it, take one half of quince on a plate and garnish it with some cream. You may also garnish it with some walnut or pistachio, or you may prefer it plain.

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