Bulgur is cheaper than rice, so it is good to our budget too!Benefits of bulgur absolutely outweigh those of white rice, so try to eat it more.

Here is a great bulgur pilaf with fresh fava beans and herbs addition.

Heat olive oil and saute onion until golden. Add fava beans and cook them until tender. You can add a few drops of water if necessary.

Add bulgur and homemade pasta, stir. Cook them for a few minutes.  Add salt and black pepper, stir.

Pour 1 cup hot water and cook it over high heat until it boils. Bring it to the lowest heat after it boils and cook until it absorbs all water. Put it aside.

Toss in chopped herbs just before serving.

I woke up with an itch in my palm this morning, which reminded me of a Turkish superstition. There are thousands of superstitions in our culture and this one is about itching palms. Personally,  don’t believe in superstitions, but many people do. I find them funny though and I think these are a part of culture. So what does itchy palm mean? It depends on which of your palm itches. If your right palm itches, you are lucky beacuse it means you will unexpectedly get money from somewhere in a short time. In some regions, people also believe that if you rub your hair with that palm, the amount of money increases as much as your hair. However, itchy left palm is a sign that means you will lose or spend money on an unexpected expense in a short time. You should no way touch your left palm on your hair then!

It was luckily my right palm which was itchy this morning, but I haven’t received any unexpected money yet!

Today’s recipe to share with you is a great pilaf with bulgur and broccoli. We haven’t been eating white rice for months, so I’m trying new flavors either with bulgur or wheat pilaf. I boiled broccoli florets yesterday to make some salad, but it was more than enough, so I saved some of them to use in today’s pilaf. Believe or not, broccoli made a great twist on our regular bulgur pilaf. We paired it with sauteed chicken and in this way we had protein, vegetable and carbohydrate on the same plate. And  a small bowl of homemade yogurt completed this lunch with calcium. So healthy, isn’t it?

Wash bulgur with hot water and drain. Melt butter in a pan. Add olive oil and heat.

Saute chopped onion until golden. Add bulgur and saute it stirring for about 5 minutes.

Toss in broccoli florets. Pour hot water and chicken stock. Add salt and other spices. Stir once. Bring it to boil, cover the pan and bring it to the lowest heat. Cook it until it absorbs all water.

When it is done, lay paper towel on its surface and cover. This will remove the excessive steam in it and let it rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

If you are looking for a new and tasty side dish to pair with meat or chicken, try this!

We used to visit my grandma living in the country every summer. As a child one of the things I loved there most was to wake up with a rythmic sound coming from outside. No not from an alarm clock or a tape recorder!

There was a big stone mortar (called dibek in Turkish) in the front yard, which is used for grinding wheat to remove their peel. It was something like a ritual. I would love to listen and watch the villagers working with this big stone.

Image taken from here.

How to grind wheat in a big stone mortar?

There must be two people standing opposite each other, the stone mortar between them. They have huge wooden mallets (is that the true word?), which are special for this work. There are nails on the end of mallets that make it easy to grind. Some wheat is washed and put into mortar. One of the villagers stroke on wheat with his mallet and the other one does the same just when the former one lifts it back. And they make a sound just like tennis players each time they hit their mallets. So they continue doing this until wheat is completely peeled. It is better if there is another person to dry the others’ sweat with a towel. Then this wheat is laid on a large cloth under sun and dried.

Stone mortars were located just in certain places in the village and my grandma’s yard was one of these places, so it was one of the wheat grinding centers for villagers. and I would love to wake up with their noise, which was the sound of labour. Dad wouldn’t like to hear it though as he was tired and wanted to sleep.

Today these mortars have become out of date and they are replaced by mills, which don’t need human labour and is faster. But I always remember the villagers grinding wheat in mortars whenever I have this pilaf.

There is another reason why this pilaf takes me to my childhood. I used to attend a lot of country weddings with my parents, which were more intimate than the weddings today. And they would always serve wheat pilaf (with lamb or chicken topping) and thimble soup together. These were the main wedding dishes in my village. All neighbors of the wedding host would come together and prepare the wedding dishes together overnight. I definitely miss those days!

So if you would like to cook wedding dishes at home, here is how. Don’t forget to check thimble soup out!

Bugday/Dovme Pilavı
Ingredients
-    1 cup wheat
-    1 tbsp butter
-    3 tbsp olive oil
-    ½ cup hot water
-    2 cups hot water(extra)
-    ¼ cup boiled chickpeas
-    salt to taste

Wash wheat. Melt the butter in a large pot. Add olive oil and when it is heated add wheat into it. You will hear it is sizzling. Roast them stirring occasinally about 5 minutes.

Add ½ cup hot water, stir it and cover. After a few minutes, open it and pour extra 2 cups hot water, add boiled chickpeas and salt. When it boils, bring it to the lowest heat and cover. Cook it until tender about 30 minutes.

You can also improve it by adding melted butter onto it after cooked.

Serve it warm with thimble soup, vegetable stew or any meat dish.

The raisin in the picture is one of the most common ingredients that we use in various dishes. We call it kuş üzümü in Turkish. Kuş is for bird, üzüm is for grape. I think it has this name as they are small enough for birds. However, I wasn’t sure how to call them in English. Turkish-English dictionaries say ‘currant’ for it, but when I searched on the net for the visuals of currants, they were totally different from this raisin. Finally Tracey from Tangled Noodle saved me from my confusions and clarified its English translation for me. Thank you Tracey! She says small variety of grapes called ‘champagne grapes‘ are referred to as ‘currants’ when dried. And with the link she suggested, I learnt that “Although it may be confused with common black, red or white currants that grow on bushes, it is similar only in shape and size, but is not the same type of fruit. The dried grape that becomes a currant is often used like raisins as an ingredient when baking cookies and sweets.” So I’ll call them currants from now on.

There are small grapes in a bunch of black grapes and they don’t have seeds as they are not matured enough. These small grapes are picked seperately and dried, then they become currants (kuş üzümü). They give a bit sweet taste to dishes. We use it in cakes, cookies and compotes, but in Turkish cuisine, they are much liked in stuffed vegetables and rice pilaf.

Tip: To clean currants from their straws, coat them with a little flour, put them in a strainer with big holes. When you shake it, the straws will drop with flour.

Kuş Üzümlü Pilav

Ingredients

- 1 cup rice
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
- 1 ¾ cup water
- 2 tbsp currants, straws removed and washed
-  2 tsp salt
-1 tsp lemon juice

Before washing, put the rice in a bowl, pour 2 cups hot water into it and add 1 tsp salt. Wait this for about 15 minutes. You’ll see how it turns out whiter within this time. Then wash it well.

Melt the butter in a pan. Add olive oil. When it is heated, add rice and salt to saute. Add 1 tsp juice of lemon. Lemon juice helps rice not to stick each other, which is so important for Turkish pilaf. Stir it continually for about 5 or 7 minutes on medium heat. Sauting the rice in oil is so important in making pilaf. Otherwise, rice will just be boiled and won’t give the desired taste. Then pour 1 ¾ cup water and currants, stir once and cover it. when it starts to boil after about 3 minutes, bring the heat to the lowest and do not open its cover for about 10 minutes until it absorbs all water. When there isn’t any water left in the pan, take it from fire. Put a big piece of paper towel just on top of pilaf and cover it again. Wait it for about 15 minutes so that the paper towel absorbs all the moist in it. Then uncover it and throw the paper towel away. It’s ready to serve.

You see how currants swell in pilaf although they are crinkle before being cooked.  They look so cute that I can put them in any dish.

To serve it in the shape you see here, wet a small bowl. Fill it with rice and turn it upside down carefully on a plate.

Craving For Blue

Here is another cartoon by mom. I think she was inspired by the fascinating sea in front of her house. She loves to have a cup of coffee on her balcony watching and listening that blueness. I missed chatting with her there, I wish we can visit her soon. More words are unnecessary for this cartoon. Just close your eyes, imagine that bluness and feel the gentle breeze licking your face.

Mercimekli Bulgur Pilavi

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.

Ingredients
•    1 kg (2.3 lbs) red rice (or any if you can’t find it)
•    1 kg (2.3 lbs) meat – lamb, beef or chicken
•    1 ½ kg (3 1/3 lbs, 5 large carrots) carrots – yellow is the best
•    3 pieces, average sized onion – any type
•    1 cup vegetable oil – sunflower (you can use lamb fat also)
•    1 tbsp cumin seeds
•    About 3 L (3 quarts) water or lamb broth
•    2-3 whole head of garlic

Saute chopped onions in oil until it gets red, then the meat (chopped into many medium pieces) is added. Meat is fried until a tender reddish crust appears.

Add the carrots (shredded) and fry it for about 10 minutes. Pour water and stew it for 20 minutes. Add rice, put heat on high. Bring to a boil and tuck a bunch of unpeeled garlic cloves down into the rice. I use a whole head. Reduce heat a little to prevent burning, add cumin seeds, stir and watch it until the water has evaporated.

Push the rice towards the center. Then poke holes in several places with the handle of a wooden spoon. Cover and simmer until meat, garlic and carrots are tender for 25 minutes and all the water has evaporated. Do not allow the plov to burn.

Serve rice on a plate and put the meat, garlic on top. Pop the garlic out of its skin to enjoy it. Salads with fresh or pickled vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers are good additions for enjoying plov.

Unlike Chinese people, who eat rice with sticks, Turkish people eat it with spoon. Now you can understand how we love it much, we can’t wait for long to eat a bowl of rice like the Chinese.

However, in Turkey the price of rice is higher than bulgur. As a result of global warming we’ve water problem, that is our water resources are decreasing day by day, so is the growth of rice in regions of Turkey. The government prefers importing it from other countries. In parallel with this, its price is rising, too. Today, many people can still afford it, but in the future it seems it will be more expensive.

As we can still afford it, let me give a delicious rice pilaf recipe. I learnt his from my friend’s mom and since the day I learnt it, I mostly prefer this one to cook. In fact, there are several kinds of rice pilaf. I’ll add those recipes later. Now you can enjoy this one.

Havuclu Pilav

Ingredients

•    1 cup rice
•    1 ¾ cup water (some put 2 cups, but I think that’s too much)
•    2 tbsp butter
•    1 carrot, chopped
•    1 onion, chopped
•    1 tsp salt, a pinch of dried mint and black pepper

Wash the rice and wait it in salty hot water for some minutes (15 minutes is enough) and drain. There should be no water.

Melt the butter in a non stick pan. Put chopped onion and carrot and saute them together until tender. Now add drained rice and stir until the rice is little crackly. Sprinkle salt, dried mint and black pepper. Then add 1 ¾ cup water and stir it once. Put the lid on and cook on the lowest heat until all the water’s gone.

Do not serve this immediately, but after 15 or 20 minutes, it will be ok. Serve it with any dish you want.

This pilaf is mainly served in Turkish drinking houses with raki, which is the traditional Turkish alcoholic drink. That’s why its name is drinking house pilaf (meyhane pilavı). However, it is also a very common pilaf cooked in any Turkish home. This pilaf is eaten as a side dish, generally with kidney peas or chickpeas.

Meyhane Pilavi

Ingredients
•    1 cup pounded wheat (bulgur)
•    1 big onion, chopped
•    2 garlic cloves, sliced
•    1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, chopped
•    2 tomatoes, chopped
•    3 tbsp olive oil
•    ½ tbsp tomato or pepper paste
•    1 1/2 cup water
•    Pepper flakes
•    Salt

Saute chopped onion in olive oil until it gets brown.
Add tomato/pepper paste in it. Then put chopped peppers, tomatoes, salt and pepper flakes in it. Stir it for 5 minutes until they get soft.
Then it’s time to add bulgur (pounded wheat). Saute it for 5 minutes. When you start to feel the smell of bulgur, pour water and stir just once. Put the pot’s lid on. And reduce the heat to the lowest.
It will be ready after about 20 minutes.
Now you can pour raki and water in a glass and enjoy your meal.