Meat Wrapped Cheese

I was arranging the photos of this post this morning when I heard a peddler’s voice outside. I couldn’t undesrtand what he was selling at first. In fact, street peddlers are famous for their special style of calling out. Each of them has his own style and people don’t understand what they are saying or selling just by listening to them. The only way to understand what they are selling is looking through the window, so I opened the window and saw that it was the voice of a second hand dealer. He was like a person passing by my childhood. With all the dust on his clothes, he was ready to take me to those old days. There used to be more peddlers like him 20 years ago, you could hear at least three different voices in a day, I remember that one of them used to visit our neighborhood every morning, one used to visit at noons and one in the afternoons. And I was always so curious about the things they bought. Although their number is not as many as it was, it’s still possible today to hear or see second hand dealers.

What do these second hand dealers do? Eventhough the things they deal with may change, they simply exchange old things with a very small amount of money or with something housewives need. As a child, I found them more interesting and special than other peddlers selling vegetables and fruits. They’ve become even more interesting and valuable for me today.I’m not sure how much they are aware of their value  in history with their role of reintroducing the old things to modern life. They are like messengers between the past and the present. (I took the photo of these second hand dealers below a few years ago).

In big cities, they generally buy old stamps, old medals, old postcards, old discs, gramophones, radios, oil lamps and pay little money in return. Most people don’t care the amount of money much as they just want to get clear of these dusty old things. So interestingly, while these people see these things as rubbish, there are some people waiting for buying these rubbish from antique shops with a god deal of money. After buying them from their owners, second hand dealers sell these to such antique shops.

In smaller cities and towns, second hand dealers buy things just made of iron or metal, they weigh it with scales and pay its money to the owner. So it is sometimes so funny to see an old oven or a stove on the scales. And I guess they take these scraps to a recycling place and sell them there.

In some regions, in small villages, these peddlers buy anything old from dishes to shoes and they give some plastic bowls or clothes pins in return.

This morning, when I heard the the peddler’s voice, I realized the value of second hand dealers once more. If there weren’t any people buying and selling old things, we wouldn’t know what kind of things our grand grandparents used, so we owe the second hand dealers a lot.

I finished arranging the photos of the dish with these thoughts in my mind. This is one of the special dishes my husband knows. He said that he learnt it from one of his friends when he was single. And whenever he sees that I can’t decide what to cook, he sets up to the plate and cooks this tasty dish. I think my hesitation suits him more as he is a big fan of meat. Otherwise, I may cook something with spinach, leek, okra, zucchini, etc. If you’re looking for an easy and tasty meat dish, here is the recipe.

Kasarli Sarma Kofte
Ingredients
-500g minced meat
-1 cup bread crumbs
-3 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
- dried thyme
- 2 tbsp water
- 150g yellow cheese (kasar peyniri)*
- 2 red bell peppers
- 2 green peppers
- 2 potatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil

*Yellow cheese is a kind of sheep milk. It is light yellow in color and has a hard texture. This is the cheese generally used in toasted sandwich or in such dishes as it melts when cooked. If you don’t have kasar peyniri, use a cheese which melts in the dishes.

Combine minced meat, bread crumbs, water, oil, salt and spices. Knead it well until the right consistency. It must be like a dough so that you can shape it. Add more bread crumbs if necessary.

Preheat the oven at 200C.

Oil an oven tray and spread the kneaded minced meat in it. The thickness must be about one inch. It doesn’t have to cover all its bottom.
Cut the yellow cheese in strips. And place them on one side of the meat.

Chop one of the red peppers and one of the green peppers in small cubes. Put some of them on the cheese.

Then fold the right and left ends of the meat to prevent any cheese leakage.

Then wrap the cheese with meat gently. Do not hurry while doing this. Do it as if you’re shaping clay. If any distortion happens, correct it with your hands.

Slice the potatoes and the rest of the peppers and place them around the meat. Sprinkle salt on potatoes and drizzle 2tbsp oil on them.

Cook it for about 50 minutes and serve it hot. You can serve rice pilaf and tomato salad near it.

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Sauteed Meat Ramadan 6

We’ve started to count down for the end of the Ramadan month. There is a very sweet festival waiting for all muslims at the end of this fasting month. And I want to share still another Ramadan tradition before it ends. This is a month when rich people think more of the poor. People understand the importance of foods more as a result of their fast and they realize that not everybody can afford even the basic foods. You know iftar tents open for the poor, but there is still another good way of helping these poor people if you want to help individually.

In the past, people used to buy some packaged foods, put them in a bag, and take it to the poor people’s homes. Today, these packages are prepared by big markets and they are sold there. These packages are called Ramadan Package (Ramazan Paketi). So what does a ramadan package contain? A usual ramadan package generally has dry foods such as rice, bulgur, chickpeas, lentils, beans, black tea, pasta, sugar, salt, flour, vermicelli 1 or half kilo packages from each. In addition, there is a 1-kilo-bottle oil. So it becomes easier for people. People go buy ramadan packages from the market and take it to the ones in need. Markets prepare different versions of ramadan packages according to the quality and price of the foods. Then you can buy the package suitable for your budget, and help others. Also, you pay less for these foods when you buy them in these packages, so this is another reason for people to prefer buying these prepared ones from markets. You can also make some additions to these packages with some meat, chicken, cheese, etc. if you’re an indivual supporter. Besides the people helping individually, the municipality of the city buys ramadan packages in big numbers and distribute them to the neighborhoods they’ve assigned in advance. These packages can also be given to the workers of big companies as a gift. In short, ramadan packages are great gifts if you want to support one’s budget at least in this month.

Today, our dinner was a simple sauteed meat (veal) served with our usual rice pilaf.

Et sote
Ingredients
-    500g meat (veal or lamb), diced
-    3 tbsp olive oil
-    2 green peppers, chopped
-    1 medium sized onion, chopped in half moon (I used purple onion)
-    A few scallions, chopped
-    2 medium sized tomatoes, grated
-    1 bay leaf
-    Salt to taste
-    A pinch of black pepper
-    A pinch of thyme

Put the meat in a flat pan, cover it and cook it over low heat until it releases its water and then absorbs it back.
Add olive oil now and stir. Sprinkle salt and other spices.
Put peppers first and stir it until they get tender, then add onions and scallions and keep stirring.
After they all get tender, pour grated tomatoes and stir once. Cover it and cook for about 10 minutes more.

Finally, take it from fire and put the bay leaf on the top, cover it again. Let it rest for some minutes. The flavor of the bay leaf will spread into the dish during this time. As I don’t love a very dense flavor of bay in my dish, I use this method, but if you love it, you may put it into the pan with the spices.

Support The Poor

Mrs Duck is shopping for dinner and she decides to buy some meat to cook a tasty dish for her family. However, she will buy more than she needs this time. Her husband is at the market buying a ramadan package for a poor family, and she wants to add some meat to this package. She knows how expensive meat is for some families and this will be a perfect package if they add the meat. When the butcher learns why she’s buying more, he generously adds a little more meat for free to contribute this ramadan package. And they both wish all people do the same more often without waiting for this holy month. (drawing by mom)

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Eggplant Kebab

Patlıcan Kebap

Summer is the season of many vegetables here, and one of the most outstanding vegetables in Summer is eggplant. We can see eggplants at markets in the Winter as well, but they don’t have the same taste as the ones at bazaars. The difference of these two shopping centers is so obvious at this point. I don’t know if this is the same in other countries, but although they are lower at price, the vegetables and fruits at bazaars are always much fresher. That’s why I always prefer shopping there. At bazaars, you are not allowed to pick the vegetables yourselves and fill your bag, sellers do it for you. You just tell him how many kilos you want. Some people may find it unfair and prefer markets as they are more free there to pick what they want. But what does it mean when they are not that fresh?

I think I must talk on the meanings of market and bazaar in our culture. Market is the same in Turkish, just its pronounciation is different, but its meaning may also have some difference from its English meaning. Market is a closed area (I mean which has a roof) with many things like canned/packaged foods, vegetables and fruits, detergents, kitchen utensils, garden tools, so many various things. Here we buy things, put it in the shopping basket and pay it to cashiers in cash or with credit cards. As for bazaar, we call it ‘pazar’ in Turkish and they are always at open areas. (I think they are also called open markets in English, I don’t know if they have difference.) They are open in certain neighborhoods on certain days, so you have to wait for that day for shopping and people generally buy their needs weekly. Unlike markets, these bazaars are generally based on vegetables, fruits, homemade breads, cheese, yogurt, no detergent or other things not related to food, but some bigger ones may have clothes stands. And we must pay in cash at bazaars, no credit cards.

Besides the fresh foods, the thing I love the most at bazaars is the conversations I have with the sellers and other people who are shopping there. I think markets add to modern indivual’s alienation, no social relationships there, just fill your shopping basket and pay. Of course the role of the music playing at markets can not be ignored here. It prevents you from feeling lonely and also it makes you feel yourself as an important person. I know many people ‘visiting’ markets to spend time, not for shopping, they just watch the aisles, compare products and leave. On the contrary, you feel the life energy and interactions between people by the time you approach to a bazaar. You start to hear sellers’ voices trying to attract customers. You can ask sellers where that product is grown and talk for a while. You can even get a recipe from a seller or an old lady while shopping. Sellers at our bazaars are always so funny and creative, they find different descriptions or slogans for their products and they continually repeat them in a high tone. They may suddenly break a cucumber in half just as you’re passing along to show how fresh it is and say it is like fresh green almond.

The seller which sold me these eggplants was repeating this; ‘perfect for kebab, perfect for kebab, perfect for kebab, come on look at this’. As you can guess, I went and buy as I was intrigued by the word ‘kebab’ (kebap in Turkish). Kebab is the general name of meat dishes grilled on skewers on wood fire. It has many varieties and it can be made from lamb(the best for me) or beef, diced or minced. There are also some meat dishes cooked in pots on stove but called kebab though.

This eggplant kebab is traditionally grilled on wood fire and eggplants and meatballs are strung on skewers, but I cooked it in oven, so I didn’t use skewers. Homemade version is made with this method.

Ingredients (serving 4)
- 4 eggplants
- 2 tomatoes
- 4 green peppers
- 250gr (9oz) ground meat
- 1 big onion, grated
- A handful of bread crumb
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 4 tbsp olive oil

Slice the eggplants in circular shape, they shouldn’t be too thin as eggplant is an easily cooked vegetable. Wait them in salted water for 15 min. To remove its bitterness.

Meanwhile, you can prepare the meatballs. Combine ground meat, grated onion, bread crumb and spices. Knead it to combine these well. Take a piece in your hand, if it doesn’t spread, it’s done. You can add a little more bread crumb if needed. Then take pieces as big as a walnut and first roll it in your hands then gently press on it to give it a flat shape. Repeat this until all ground meat finishes.

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Drain the eggplant slices. Oil an oven tray and lay the eggplant slices and meatballs as you see in the picture. If you still have some eggplant slices at the end, you can place them in the empty places of the tray.

Cut the tomatoes in half and place them in the tray with peppers, you can use them help the eggplant slices to stand still. Pour 4 tbsp olive oil on them and cook in the oven for 45 minutes. After this time, check if the eggplants are soft enough by inserting a fork on one of them. Cook 5 or 10 minutes more if needed. Put each eggplant-meatball combination on a service plate with a tomato and pepper and serve it hot.

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Stuffed Bulgur Kofte Video

Stuffed Bulgur Kofte from zerrin gunaydin on Vimeo.

NOTE: Do not forget to turn on the volume to hear two Turkish folk songs which I love a lot.

icli kofte
icli kofte is one of the most special dishes of Turkish cuisine as it’s not so easy to make it. One should really want it and believe in herself to be successful. To reach the best result, you should try making it more than once. But when you taste it once, you will absoultely see that it is worth.

icli kofte is especially made in the Southern part of Turkey. It has some varieties according to the area it is made. Some people stuff it with just ground meat while in some places it can’t be called icli kofte without walnuts in its filling. In some places, people put ground meat even in its dough but in some areas this one is thought to be heavy, so it’s not prefered. Some people also use meat with its grease for its filling, but again others think that it makes the dish too heavy and fattening. Some people fry these koftes whereas others boil them in hot water. In this recipe you will read the icli kofte made in city of Tarsus, with a mixture of walnuts and ground meat for filling, no grease in it, no meat in its dough and boiled koftes.

As it is a very special dish, when people have important guests for dinner, they make icli kofte for their guests to show how they are important for the house owner. This important guests may be the parents of their daughter-in-law or son-in-law. It is very important in our culture to host such guests with dishes which are difficult to make. You can not just serve a delicious spaghetti to these guests. It means you don’t give enough importance to them. It is the same for a newly wed couple. If they invite especially the husband’s parents, the daughter-in-law must show how important they are by making difficult dishes. Also, if we have guests from a far away city, we generally make icli kofte. As you understand, this is not an ordinary dish, so it is always eaten with more than two people. Noone prefers eating it alone or with just wife and husband. When families get together, they make it together and eat together.

In Turkey, women love to help each other in making such difficult dishes. You may call your friend or neighbor to make it together, she will gladly accept. You make it together for your guests and when your helpful neighbor is leaving, you give her a bowl of what you prepeared together as a thanking.

In the past, there was a funny tradition about this difficult but tasty dish. Women would put a piece of gold in one of these stuffed bulgur koftes, but tell noone. Even they themselves wouldn’t know which kofte had the gold. And while eating, everyone would wonder the lucky person who would have the gold in his or her kofte. We still have this tradition in some areas. Similar to this one, but less dangerous for our teeth, people now put a chickpea to surprise their guests. As you see, eating icli kofte becomes a funny activity entertaining everyone.

Today most restaurants serve icli kofte as an appetizer, but they don’t taste as good as homemade ones. They are served cold and dry, but it must be warm enough to feel its perfect taste.

Ingredients

For its filling:
-    1 kg (2 lb) ground meat (beef), lean
-    1 kg (2 lb) onion, finely chopped
-    125 gr (4 oz) margarine or butter
-    4 tbsp olive oil
-    1 cup crumbled walnuts
-    2 tsp cumin
-    2 tsp black pepper
-    2 tsp paprika powder
-    2 tsp thyme
-    3 tsp salt
-    1/2 tbsp pepper paste
-    ½ cup parsley, finely chopped
-    2 green hot pepper, finely chopped

For its dough:
-    2 cups ground bulgur
-    1 cup semolina
-    1 cup flour
-    2  cups water
-    2 eggs
-    ½ tbsp pepper paste
-    2 tsp cumin
-    2 tsp salt
-    2 tsp black pepper
-    2 tsp paprika powder

For boiling:
-    1 lemon
-    1 tsp salt
-    A pot of water

First, we prepare its filling mixture so that we have enough time to let it cool. This is so important as we can’t stuff the dough balls with the mixture if it’s still warm. It must get thicker while waiting, that’s why we use margarine or butter. If you use any kind of oil, you have difficulty in stuffing.

Put ground meat in a pot and cook it over medium heat until it absorbs the water it releases. Then add chopped onion and stir occasionally. Add margarine or butter into it and stir. When the margarine melts and is absorbed, add salt and 4 tbsp olive oil. Put pepper paste and stir. When it is completely combined, add chopped parsley and green hot pepper. Season it with cumin, black pepper, paprika powder, thyme. Then add a cup of walnut and stir. Take it from the heat, do not let parsley and green pepper cook well. Now stir it to combine all well. Let it cool. The wait may be longer than 2 hours as the mixture must be cold and thick enough. If you like, you can prepare this filling mixture overnight.

Now it’s time for the dough. Put bulgur in a tray and soak it with cold water. Then put semolina in the same tray seperately and soak it as well. 2 cups of water is enough for both of them. Cover the tray and wait for about 15 minutes. After this time, season it with the spices. Then break the eggs. Combine them. And finally, put flour and knead it well.

Take a piece of dough, bigger than a walnut. Shape it in your hand. Start pressing your thumb into this piece of dough and turn it around itself to shape. This shell should be as thin as you can make. Then put 1 tbsp of the filling mixture into this shape and close the shape again with your hands. (See the video.) Your hands must be wet to shape the dough, so put a bowl of cold water near you to wet your hands occasionally while shaping it.

After you finish all the dough, heat water in a pot and bring it to boil. Pour lemon juice and add 1 tsp salt into the water. This will protect the koftes to lose their shapes. Boil them about 10 minutes. when they are cooked, all of them starts to float in the boiling water. You can also check if it is cooked with a special method. Take one of them on a plate, press the slotted spoon on the kofte gently (See the video.)If you hear the kofte is whispering when you press, it is done. If you don’t hear this sound, let it boil a few minutes more.

As the process of making icli kofte is difficult and long, I wanted to show you the steps of it in this video. Luckily mom and dad visited us and we had the reason for making icli kofte to celebrate their visit. I learnt how to make icli kofte from mom, the greatest cook I’ve seen. So in this video she is making icli kofte and I helped her. It would be so hard for me without her. When we were making it, dad was around us waiting for the time he would eat one. At last, we finished and we served it to dad. You see how he enjoyed his lunch. We of course use fork and knife in everyday life, but traditionally people eat icli kofte with hands. You can also squeeze lemon on each kofte while eating.

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Lamb with Tomato

Fırında Domatesli Kuzu Eti

There are mainly two kinds of red meat in Turkish cuisine, lamb and veal. Many Turkish people love lamb more than veal. That may be the reason for its high price.

Nomadic people at Central Asia tamed sheep to use its meat, milk and wool about ten thousand years ago from now. And shepherding became common as a life style all around Middle East. Although there was a changeable climate in this region of the world, the number of flocks of sheep increased a lot. This may be the reason why sheep is the animal, which is mentioned the most in several holy books.

Before the process of taming, there were wild sheep on the mountains of Middle East and there was a tradition in that region of people, who were mostly Turks. They wouldn’t name their sons until he went to the forest alone and hunted an animal, mostly a wild ram. After this achievement, they would give a special name to their sons representing his heroic action. And the most common lamb cooking style of Turks was roasting it on wood fire as a whole.

A 2,5meter strong stick is needed for roasting the lamb on fire. The stick is inserted into the cleaned sheep. But cleaning process requires utmost attention. While flaying the animal, not damaging the underneath of its skin is so important. Any damages here prevents cooking it well. After discarding the innards and flaying, it’s ready to be placed over wood fire. After inserting the stick through the animal, you need to take care of the fire. It shouldn’t be just under the animal, but it should give its heat from corners and its heat should be low to cook the lamb very slowly. And if the woods are from a pine tree, it’s better. Then it is roasted by turning it over gradually.

This cooking style is not so common any longer as people are living in large buildings, but there are still some restaurants serving lamb roasted in this way.

Our favorite red meat is lamb as many Turkish people, but as we don’t have the chance of roasting it over wood fire, we cook it in oven.

Ingredients
-    4 lamb arm chops
-    5tbsp olive oil
-    4 cloves garlic
-    2 tomatoes
-    Rosemary
-    Salt

Wash and clean the lamb chops well. Wait them in 3 tbsp olive oil for about an hour.

Then put them (with the olive oil) in a pot and cook over low heat for about 40 minutes. The pot should be covered during this time. When it reaches 20 minutes, sprinkle some salt on it and cover the pot again. Then check it if it softens enough. If it’s done, take it from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).

Peel and chop the tomatoes and garlic cloves. Saute them in 2 tbsp olive oil until tender.

Brush an oven proof tray with little oil. Place the lamb chops in it. Top them with the tomato sauce you prepare. And cook it in oven about 30 minutes. then garnish it with fresh or dried rosemary (I used dried).

I thought that it would be great to serve these with some roasted vegetables. I had been planning to try Jenn’s recipe of  Baked Zucchini Sticks& Coins for some time, so I decided to serve this scrumptious roasted lamb with baked zucchini sticks. I loved Jenn’s idea to bake them in oven as it requires no frying. I made some changes in her recipe and it was still fine. You can see the original recipe here. Mine is as follows:

Zucchini Sticks

(Kabak Çubukları)

Ingredients
-    1 large zucchini
-    ½ cup crumbled bread
-    3 tbsp sesame
-    1 egg
-    ½ cup crumbled feta

Peel the zucchini (Ileft some rind on it). Cut it in sticks.

Mix sesame and crumbled bread in a bowl.

In another bowl, beat the egg and add feta in it, mix well.

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).

Lay a greased baking sheet in an oven tray.

Grab a stick, steep it into egg-feta mixture. Then coat it with sesame-crumbled bread mixture and place on the baking sheet. Repeat this until all sticks finish.

And cook them in oven 30 minutes.

As an alternative for Jenn’s Marinara Sauce, I prepared a yogurt sauce simply mixing a cup of yogurt with mashed garlic.  To serve the food, I put two roasted lamb chops, baked zucchini sticks and fresh dill on a plate.  Dipping these baked zucchini sticks into yogurt while having our roasted lamb made us feel as if we were in heaven.

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Liver Saute

Ciğer Sote

I know that many people hate eating offal, but there are still some people who really enjoy eating it like me. I love them as long as they are cooked well. Liver is my favorite and we cook it in different styles. However, we shouldn’t buy liver at any butcher, experts say that we should buy liver from a butcher we know. There may be butchers who try to sell a liver of an unhealthy lamb or veal. You know, liver is a very vulnerable organ, and it’s easily effected by a disease the animal has. So if we’re not sure about the healthiness of the animal, we shouldn’t buy. Or if the liver is officially approved as healthy, there is no reason for not buying and cooking.  Luckily enough, our butcher here always work with a vet.

In the eastern part of Tukey (in cities of Diyarbakır, Van, Şanlıurfa, etc). Believe it or not, they serve sish kebab or liver saute and they have a plenty of customers.This is associated with people living there. Having liver for breakfast is something very odd for us, but I have some friends living there and it’s so ordinary for them. To tell the truth, I’m open to different eating cultures and habits, so I can try it one day if I visit one of those cities.

Not for breakfast but as a main dish of dinner or lunch, we sometimes fry it and call it “Albanian Liver”, sometimes we saute it, sometimes we grill liver like sish kebab. I love all of these versions. I wrote about Albanian Liver a few weeks ago, this time it is Liver Saute’s turn.

Ingredients
-    200g liver
-    1 big onion, chopped
-    2 green pepper, chopped
-    2 middle sized tomatoes, diced
-    2 tsp salt
-    1 tsp cumin
-    1 tsp thyme
-    1 tsp rosemary
-    1 tsp red pepper flakes
-    2 tbsp olive oil

Wash the liver and chop it in cubes. Heat the oil in a pan and toss the chopped live in it. Stir it for about five minutes.

Then add tomatoes first, cover the pan and cook it over medium heat for another five minutes.

Finally add onion and peppers, and season it with spices. Cover the pan again and cook it over the lowest heat for 10 minutes.

You cangarnish it with greens like watercress, serve it with rice pilaf and season salad.

Having Dinner Together

It is so important for the duck family to have dinner together. The meaning behind it is more than eating. They miss each other during day time and they look forward to having dinner together. They sit around the table and share their feelings and experiences of the day while eating. Therefore, they never prefer having dinner alone. They always wait for the other to sit for the dinner. Especially mom and dad love this time of the day as they have the chance of talking and listening to their child. If he has a problem, they look for a solution together. The child duck is aware of the importance of this special time, so he always prefers to ask permission for anything when they all sit for dinner and start to eat scrumptious dishes of the day. He is so clever that he knows they can’t say ‘no’ with the effect of tasty dishes on his mom and dad. (drawing by mom)

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Stuffed Zucchini

Kabak Dolması

This zucchini stuffed with ground meat and rice is in our top ten list of our kitchen. As I wrote before, zucchini is not our favorite vegetable and we always look for some different recipes for it. However, this stuffed one is an exception. This is one of the most common traditional Turkish dishes and we adore it so much that I often make it. I should have put it here before, but we were so impatient to wait for taking a photo when I made it. I made it at night this time not to eat it before the photos as we take photos during day.

Ingredients (servings: 2)

-    4 middle sized zucchinis
-    1 tomato
-    2 onions, diced
-    ¼ cup rice
-    150g ground meat
-    2 tbsp tomato paste (1 for filling, 1 for sauce)
-    1 lemon, squeezed
-    A few leaves of dill, minced
-    A few leaves of fresh mint, minced
-    5 tbsp olive oil
-    Salt
-    Black pepper

Wash the zucchinis and cut them into two. Then grab a small spoon and scoop out their pulp. The walls of zucchinis shouldn’t be too thick or too thin (about ¼ inch). Sprinkle a pinch of salt inside each of them.

For the filling; Mix diced onions, rice, ground meat, 1 tbsp tomato paste, lemon juice, minced dill and fresh mint, 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp salt and black pepper in a bowl.

Stuff the zucchinis with this mixture, but be careful, it shouldn’t be too tight because when rice and ground meat cook, they’ll get bigger. You can gently press on the filling while stuffing the zucchinis. Place each stuffed zucchini upright in a large pot.

Slice the tomato and put a slice on each stuffed zucchini to cover the filling mixture.

Dilute 1 tbsp tomato paste with water and pour it into the pot. Then pour some water (shouldn’t cover the zucchini, leave it when the water reaches the middle of zucchinis). Cover the lid on the pot, put it over the lowest heat and cook it for about 1 and a half hour.

You can serve it with some yogurt and garnish with dill leaves.

Spring Flower

We went to Turgutreis/Bodrum last weekend and we had great time there as Spring had already come there. Here, we still have cold weather, so we can’t feel that we’re in spring months. One day we wake up and we feel the warmth of Spring, the other day we wake up to a very cold day. We’ve been witnessing a very changeable climate these days, which is a bit fearsome. So when we went to there, we inhaled the Spring hapiness. There were so many lovely flowers that I spent a lot of time watching and taking photos of them. I wish I had the ability of drawing and painting these beauties. I believe that these fantastic flowers will be propitious for this blog. I want to share them with you. This one is an example.

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Beans with Meat

Etli Kuru Fasulye

While I was reading the lovely comments written on my post, dad called me and asked if I added his favorite dish to my blog. I told him that I added a similar version of it, but he insisted on his favorite one, which is white beans with meat. A few months ago, I wrote a post about haricot beans with pastirma, which is my hubby’s favorite. As you see they both love beans, but dad is crazy about the one with meat while hubby adores the one with pastirma. Whenever my dad visits us, I cook both versions in different pots to prevent possible fights! After this phone call from dad, I understood that it became a must to cook and write about my dad’s favorite dish. Otherwise, he would ask it again in his next call.

This is a traditional Turkish dish and it’s associated with Turks around the world just like sish kebab. We generally serve it with rice or bulgur pilaf and pickles are indispensable appetizers to be eaten with this traditional dish. (By the way, I adore spicy pickle stock which are sold in pickle shops here). We also love eating onion with it, which is another tradition of Turks. We just slice an onion into four and we shred it while eating. You may find it funny, but there is also a traditional way of slicing onion. You put the onion on table and hit just on top of it with your fist, you’ll see how it’s shredded without using a knife. That is called “breaking onion”.  Do you find it barbaric? In fact, it’s a habit of our ancestors to show that we should know how to manage in hard conditions. And today, of course not everyone does the same, but we remember this whenever we eat white beans with meat and we sometimes ‘break’ an onion to eat with this dish and to remember this custom.

Ingredients
-    2 cups white beans
-    250g lamb meat, pieces from lamb arm
-    1 ½ tbsp pepper or tomato paste
-    1 onion, diced
-    3 tbsp olive oil
-    1 tsp cumin
-    1 ½ tsp salt
-    1 tsp black peppr
-    1 tsp red pepper flakes

Wash the white beans and soak them overnight. This will help them cook easier.

Put them in a pot the following day, add 1lt water in it. Boil the beans until tender.

Meanwhile put the lamb meat in a pot and cook it until tender (about 50 minutes). You don’t need to add water in it at the beginning, meat releases its water. Check if it gets tender enough when it absorbs all of its water. If it’s not soft enough, add a little water and boil it for about 15 minutes more.

Put olive oil ina pot and saute the diced onion until golden. Add pepper or tomato paste in it and mix them. Then add the boiled meat in it. If there is any water left in the pot you boil meat, add it too and stir. Now it’s time to add the boiled beans, pour it with its water in the pot and stir. It must be thicker than soup, so balance its water yourself. Season it with salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes and cumin. Let it boil for 20 minutes.

Pilaf is the favorite side dish for white beans with meat.

Ataturk’s Favorite Dish

White beans with meat was also the favorite dish of the founder of Turkish Republic, our leader of all time, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He adored this dish so much that he used to eat it even for days. He didn’t love eating much, but when he felt hungry, he just wanted this dish from his cooks. So the cooks in his home would cook it everyday and keep it prepared in the refrigerator. Even at some nights, when he got hungry, he would go to the kitchen and eat some beans without waiting his servants’ service.

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Keskek

Keşkek is a special name of a traditional wedding dish. It is mostly made in Central Anatolia and Agean region of Turkey. Weddings in these places last a few days and during this time,  various dishes are served in front of bride’s or groom’s home. The wedding traditions may differ in regions but food serving is a fixed part of the tradition. As the word “tradition” points out, these are mostly forgotten in big cities, but people in towns or villages still live with them. Moreover, some young couples in big cities also want to continue their wedding traditions and they prefer holding wedding ceremonies in their hometowns or their villages.

There are a lot of different and interesting wedding traditions in Turkey, but I’ll write about one of them in this post. However, I should give a piece of background information about wedding traditions.

Before the ceremony, it is typical in Turkish culture that groom’s parents or the elderly members of his family visit  bride’s parents to know each other (of course after making an appointment). The first visitors always must be groom’s parents, not the bride’s. And it is a must to take something sweet with them such as chocolate, Turkish delight or a kind of Turkish dessert. After welcoming them, the girl makes Turkish coffee and serves it to the guests. Parents introduce themselves and then the boy’s parents state “the reason for their visit”. They say that their son wants to marry the daughter of the family and ask if they give permission to this marriage or not. The girl’s family wants some time to think about it and  boy’s family leave. In some regions, this event repeats a few times. No matter girl and boy already have a relationship, this is a permanent tradition before marriage, a Turkish girl should have the permission of her parents.

After everything is arranged and when the wedding day comes, both parents decide on where to organize the ceremony. In such cases, generally thy do what the girl’s family wants. If it is a traditional ceremony, then some cooks are held and they start to prepare some wedding dishes to be served in the wedding area. As I said, the main dish may differ in regions. The picture above was taken at the wedding of my friend’s cousine. You can see the cauldrons on wooden fire here and men and women work together.

In Central Anatolia and Agean region, Keşkek is generally the main dish. Besides it, chickpea stew, rice pilaf, a kind of meat dish, salad and ayran are also served. These dishes are all cooked in large cauldrons over wooden fire, so they are always more delicious than the dishes you make at home.

And in this picture which is from the same wedding, you see the big amount of keşkek and two men are continually stirring it to mash them as a small blender doesn’t work for such a big amount. Generally it’s men’s job to mash them  in this way because it really requires physical strength.  Even one man is never enough for this.

I’m not from Central Anatolia or Agean region, so I hadn’t known how to cook Keşkek until last weekend. Last weekend my husband’s mom suggested to make this unique dish together. She is from Central Anatolia and her mom, when young, was the best cook in their town, everyone would want help from her mom about wedding dishes. So my second mom learnt this dish from her own mom. No need to say that elderly women are always the best cooks!

Ingredients (serving:6)
-2 cups wheat (you see it in the picture above)
-8 cups hot water for wheat
-6 cups water for lamb chops
-6 lamb arm chops
-1 tbsp pepper paste or red pepper flakes
-2 tbp butter
-2 tsp salt
-2 tsp black pepper

Soak the wheat overnight. Wash it by rubbing the following day a few times until the water seems clean.

First boil the lamb chops in 6 cups water for about 40 minutes until tender.

Put it in a pressure cooker and pour  the hot water into it. When it releases its steam, bring the heat to the lowest and cook it for 50 minutes.

When it’s cooked, take the pressure cooker from the heat and when it gets cool enough, open it. Stir it with a big spoon and add 4 cups of meat broth (the water in which you boil the lamb chops) into the boiled wheat. Then add salt and stir it again. Taste it and if you think the salt is not enough, add some more. Lastly, mix it with a blender until it gets chewy.

For its sauce, heat the butter and add ½ cup meat broth (the water in which you boil the lamb chops) and pepper paste or pepper flakes.

For its serving, take some keşkek ( the mashed wheat) in a bowl and pour the sauce on it, sprinkle some black pepper and put one piece of lamb chop on it. You can serve it with ayran.

As it includes energizing ingredients, keşkek is mostly prefered in Winter when it is made at homes. But if it’s a wedding day, season doesn’t matter.

Turkish Wedding

In traditional wedding ceremonies, all relatives are ready to help. Bur the boys of that family have the big responsibility. They serve dishes in a tray you see in the picture. They work like waiters on that day. Also, they are responsible for organizing the place of the ceremony by carrying chairs and tables here and there depending on the number of the guests. And the number of the guests is never less than 100 hundred people.

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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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