Tutmac Soup

While shopping in our local bazaar last week, I saw a woman selling some traditional soup ingredients on a very small stand in front of her. You may wonder what I mean with soup ingredients. Hee, women prepare some soup ingredients and keep them for Winter. They are like the healthy and delicious version of industrially-made soups. Some of these ingredients were varieties of noodle like dough pieces; some of them are in strips, some are in tiny squares. In addition, there were also the varieties of tarhana, which is a sun dried soup ingredient mainly containing several grounded vegetables and yogurt. All these were in plastic bags of 1 kg. You know I love talking to such ladies in bazaar, I assume that they know a lot of things about cooking, so I never miss the chance of talking to them in bazaar. That lady didn’t look like a usual bazaar seller, she was different as she wasn’t calling customers, she was just sitting behind her small stand and waiting for foodies interested in traditional soups. She said that she herself made all these soup ingredients, which means a plus for me. These ingredients are all unique as ou can’t find them at supermarkets. They don’t have a company product version, so such ladies are like great treasures if you don’t have time to prepare the ingredients yourself. Among all the ingredients on her stand, these teeny weeny squares took my attention. They were just like the ones mom used to make. It was surprising for me to see it in the bazaar miles away from my hometown. The lady’s recipe for this soup was different from mom’s, but I prefered to make it in mom’s style as I was sure it would take me to my childhood.

When she was younger, mom used to make our own bread like phyllo sheets and they would meet our monthly bread need. We wouldn’t buy bread loaves then. And whenever there was some piece of dough left, she would make these tiny squares from it. I mean she wouldn’t prepare the dough just for making the squares, but made these just after finishing rolling the phyllo sheets. The soup made of these squares are called Tutmac Soup or Kesme Soup.

The procedure to make these tumac squares is almost the same with Thimble Soup(Yüksük Corbasi), so you can check the recipe for the dough here. The only difference is that you will cut the squares even smaller and you will not stuff them with anything. After cutting them, dry them in a preheated oven over 170C for about 15-20 minutes. Then put them in jars and you can keep them for months. Whenever you want to make a traditional soup for your guests, you can make tutmac soup with these squares.

Tutmac Corbasi
Ingredients
- 1 cup green lentil
- ½ cup tutmac squares
- 5 or 6 cups water
- ½ lemon, squeezed
- 1 tbsp pepper paste (or 2 tbsp tomato paste)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, sliced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- Salt to taste

Boil the green lentils until tender and drain to get rid of its black water. Pour 5 cups of water in a pot, add lentils and bring it to boil. When it boils, add the squares and boil until they get soft (about 10-15 minutes). Pour the lemon juice. Take it from fire.

Melt the butter in a pan, saute the onions and garlic in it. Put pepper paste and dried mint, mix until combined. Pour this mixture in the pot, sprinkle some salt, stir and bring it to boil.

If you like, you can drizzle some yogurt on it.

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Zucchini Soup

I woke up with a terrible sore throat this morning. I mean it was that pain waking me up and it was so hard to gulp. It is not a kind of feeling I’m familiar with as I rarely fall sick even in the coldest weather. I have such a strong body that I don’t need to wear so thick clothes during Winter while everyone tries to cover their whole body, even their foreheads. My friends are always surprised how I can bear such freezing degrees. When they ask me how, my constant answer is related to what I eat. And I recommend them to do the same. For one thing, we always have a jar of nuts ( a mixture of walnut, hazelnut and almonds) on our table in the kitchen, so it’s easier to remember to eat these as they have lots of benefits for health. Even if I don’t have time for breakfast in the mornings before leaving for work, I grab a handful of nuts and eat them on the way. I have the necessary energy thanks to these nuts during the day as they prevent my body to get weak. Another thing that we always have in our pantry in Winter is grape molasses, which I told about in another post. We either eat it mixing with tahini (sesame seed paste) at breakfast or have a spoonful of it like cough syrup at nights. We try to have grape molasses at least three times a week in this way. These are two important parts of our eating habits during Winter. We absolutely owe them a lot. But how come I had that unbearable throat pain this morning? I have no idea! Maybe because of hectic weeks at school I’ve had recently or the crowded classes I’ve been teaching. To prevent the illness from going further, I took some vitamins and drank herbal tea during the day.

Although I felt better at the end of school time, I didn’t want to prepare a complete meal for dinner as I was off my food. The only dish I could eat was a warm soup. When I opened the refrigerator, I saw we had almost nothing left except a few zucchinis. I didn’t know a soup with zucchini, not so common here. Remembering that a close friend mentioned a zucchini soup she cooked before, I took a deep breath of relief. I called her without wasting any more time and got the recipe from her. The result was incredibly tasty and I had two bowls. This was my total dinner, but it was enough for me, at least today. (drawing by mom)

Ingredients
-    2 zucchinis, thinly chopped
-    1 onion, diced
-    2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
-    4 tbsp yogurt
-    2 tbsp flour
-    5 cups hot water
-    1 tbsp olive oil
-    Salt to taste
-    Fresh dill and red pepper flakes to garnish

Heat the oil in a pot and saute onion and garlic. Add chopped zucchini and saute them for about 5 minutes. Pour hot water into it and bring it to boil.

Mix yogurt and flour in a bowl. Do not pour it directly into the pot. Take some hot water with a ladle from the pot and add it little by little to yogurt and flour mixture. This helps yogurt to ‘adapt’ to the heat of the soup. Otherwise, it goes bad. If it’s still cold, add some more hot water into it and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the pot, but don’t hurry while doing this. Stir well and mix it with a blender until smooth. Boil it a few minutes more. Add salt and serve it hot.

You can garnish it with fresh dill and red pepper flakes.

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Red Lentil Soup Ramadan 5

I want to share another Ramadan tradition that is still alive especially in small cities. As it’s hard for traditions to survive in big cities, they are mostly seen in towns or small cities where people have more intimate relationships. On the other hand, people in big cities are always complaining that they don’t have these old traditions any more. One of theRamadan traditions I love is that neighbors send dishes to each other. And this is mostly the responsibility of the youngest family member. It was mine when I was a child. I remember that mom used to prepare a bowl of the dish of the day for one of our neighbors and tell me to take it to the neighbor. I must admit that I always wonder what our neighbor cooked on that day as she used to empty my bowl and fill it with the dish she cooked and give it in return, which is the second part of this tradition. That’s why I love it, it’s a very good way of sharing. In this way, you have a richer dinner table. And I think the significance of giving this responsibility to children is to teach them sharing. Mom used to decide on another neighbor next day and I used to take the dish to them. I used to walk so fast going and coming back form our neighbor as I didn’t want to miss the time of iftar. And when I heard imam’s voice on the way home, calling for the prayer (which means we can break our fast), I used to start to run! Everything was more exciting those times. But if there is no child in a house, you yourself take the dish to your neighbor. When I talk to mom on the phone these days, she says they still have this tradition in Tarsus, my hometown.

After breaking their fast, peole generally start their meal with a soup to warm their empty stomach. It also has a control on your appetite. When you start with a soup, as it removes the feeling of hunger, you eat enough from the other dishes. You always want to eat more if you don’t have a warm soup at the beginning. Among the soups I learnt from mom, red lentil soup is my favorite. Our negihbors used to love it, too. One bowl was never enough for them, so mom used to send them a small pot full of this soup. This is a traditional Turkish soup and you may find it at every Turkish restaurant at any time. Its cooking style may change although the ingredients are mostly the same. Here is mom’s style red lentil soup.

Mercimek Corbasi
Ingredients (servings 6)
-    1 medium sized onion, diced
-    1 medium sized carrot, finely chopped
-    1 medium potato, finely chopped
-    1 cup red lentil
-   6 cups water
-    1 tsp red pepper flakes
-    1 tsp cumin
-    1 tsp black pepper
-    1 tbsp dried mint
-    Salt to taste
-    2 tbsp olive oil
-    1 tbsp flour
-     1 ½ tbsp butter

Heat olive oil in a pot. Saute onion,  then add carrot and potatoes. Stir occasionally.

Wash red lentil, drain and add it to the pot. Saute it for 3 minutes. Keep stirring. Pour 6 cups water, add the spices and salt and boil it until the vegetables and lentils get soft enough. If they can easily be mashed when you press with a spoon, it’s done. It takes about 30 minutes over medium heat. Do not cover the pot during this time as it can rise and overflow.

In a small pan, melt the butter. Add flour and mix it continually. When it becomes creamy, pour it into the pot with lentils.

To have a smooth soup, mash everything in the pot using a blender. Then put the pot back on the fire and boil it for 5 minutes. It’s ready to warm your stomach now.

Traditionally, this soup is always served with lemon wedges. When you squeeze it on your soup, its taste is completed. To have the utmost pleasure, I always sprinkle extra red pepper flakes and dried mint on my soup.

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Thimble Soup Video

Thimber Soup from zerrin gunaydin on Vimeo.

NOTE: Do not forget to turn on the volume to hear the music of a Turkish band, Bandista.

Yüksük Çorbası

This is another popular wedding dish in Turkey, but this time its region is different. It is called yüksük çorbası (thimble for yüksük, soup for çorba) as its shape is like a small thimble. This is a traditional wedding dish of  Southern region of Turkey, especially of Çukurova area. It is mostly made in villages there. Everyone knows that yüksük çorbası will be served whenever there is a wedding in these villages as it is the main dish of the ceremony. Weddings are generally held in large squares of the village where all guests gather. And during the wedding, this traditional soup keeps boiling in big cauldrons on wood fire. Making this soup is not easy, so not only the families of bride and groom, but also their neighbors gather before the wedding day and make it altogether. As you can see in the video, the step which requires the most time is the filling the squares step. That’s why this step is done by all the women there while the final cooking/boiling step is done by one or two talented old ladies.

As it’s a wedding ceremony, the number of guests is more than two hundred. Both people of that village and the people living in villages nearby are invited to this ceremony, and this number increases.  The number of guests increases a lot more if the host of the ceremony is well known around the area. The higher the number of people joining the ceremony, the more reputable the host is.

Yuksuk corbasi is served to these guests on a tray by young men of the village. A handkerchief is tied on their arms to show that these young people are voluntary waiters of the ceremony. If people have something to  ask for something, they call one of these voluntary young people.

Meanwhile, there are two men playing drum and horn (image source is here) and if people want, they dance. Generally the first people who start the dance are the groom and his friends. While they are dancing, generally the groom’s family members throw banknotes towards the dancing people. This is like a show of reputation and power. A little boy who is appointed by the drummer picks these banknotes and gives them to the drummer. They share the money at the end of the ceremony.

After having a bowl of yuksuk corbasi, the guests congratulate bride and groom or their parents and leave.

Besides its fame on wedding ceremonies, this dish is also made in cities in daily life as the city people have no chance of joining wedding ceremonies at villages. It is very similar to manti (another traditional Turkish dish which is famous in Central Anatolia), but their cooking styles are different.

Ingredients

Its dough
-    4 cups flour
-    3 eggs
-    2 cups water, increase if needed
-    2 tsp salt

Knead the dough well by mixing all the necessary ingredients. While kneading,, wet your hands occasionally and you can add more water if it doesn’t reach the right consistency. Knead it until it doesn’t stick to your hands. Divide this dough into big equal pieces. The dough we knead makes 4 equal balls and a small ball. Sprinkle some flour on them and cover them.

Its filling mixture
-    3 small onions, chopped
-    1lb ground beef
-    Half bunch of parsley, chopped
-    1 dessert spoon salt
-    1 dessert spoon paprika powder
-    1 dessert spoon ground blak pepper
-    1 dessert spoon pepper paste

Mix all these ingredients for the filling mixture.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter. the one you take on it and sprinkle flour on it, too. Then press on this dough and flatten it. Then roll it out in a circular way. (See the video above). While rolling, sprinkle little flour on it occasionally so that it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. When it gets as thin as we want, sprinkle flour on it and fold it as you see n the video. And cut this first into stripes, then into squares. Take one square, put little filling mixture into it and combine its four corners to give it a thimble shape. If you like, you can combine its two corners to give it a triangular shape. Put the ones you finish on a large tray, do not overfill the tray, otherwise they all stick to each other.

Its final cooking
-    2 cups meat broth
-    2 cups chickpeas, boiled
-    1 lemon

Put water (about 4 cups) in a pot. Add meat broth and chickpeas, bring it to boil. when it boils pour lemon juice and add salt. Then put the dumplings in the boling water little by little. After about 10 minutes, they’ll start to float, which means it’s done. Take it from heat and pour 1 cup of cold water into the pot. This will help the dumplings not to stick to each other.

We generally put about 3 cups of dumplings to make this dish and we leave the rest to put into freezer to cook later. If you want to do the same, just cook the rest of the dumplings in oven until they are light brown. Let them cool and then put them in freezer in freezer bags.
Now we can prepare its sauce.

Its sauce
-    2 tbsp olive oil
-    1 dessert spoon pepper paste
-    1 dessert spoon dried mint
-    Paprika powder and ground black pepper for your taste
-    2 tomatoes, grated

Note: If you don’t have pepper paste for the sauce, you can substitute it with red pepper flakes or paprika powder.

Heat the oil, put the pepper paste in it and mix. Add grated tomato and spices. It’s ready after 3 minutes. Pour the sauce into the soup and stir. It is ready to serve.

You can also prepare a bowl of yogurt sauce to serve with it.

Yogurt sauce
-    1 cup yogurt
-    3 cloves garlic, mashed

Mix these together until smooth and serve in a seperate bowl. If you want, you can also drizzle some yogurt sauce on this soup and enjoy it more. Personally, I love both versions, so I have half of my soup plain and then I put some yogurt sauce on it and double my joy for the other half. I don’t exclude none of the versions in this way.

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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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Broccoli Soup Recipe

As you can guess now, I’m a great lover of vegetables. Especially in Winter, when I eat vegetable, I feel I’m getting more and more healthy. Broccoli is just one of them. This green vegetable is gaining more fame in Turkey day by day. It has at most a-10- year history here. Before that, it wasn’t known enough. For some years, we read and hear that broccoli has many vitamins and elements fighting with many diseases, especially cancer.

Today, almost all women in Turkey, are struggling with their husbands or children to make them eat this magical green. As we don’t have a child, my victim is my husband. I won the fight with this broccoli soup. As he is a real meat lover, he didn’t want to have such vegetables until this soup. You can’t believe; he wanted the second bowl.

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

•    Half bunch of broccoli
•    1 small carrot
•    1 celery stalk
•    1 cup milk
•    1 tbsp flour
•    1 tbsp butter
•    2 cups hot water
•    2 cups meat(or chicken, your choice) broth
•    2 tsp salt
•    1 tsp balck pepper
•    2 tbsp cream

Wash and clean broccoli, carrot and celery stalk. Chop into big pieces.

Melt the butter in a pot and add flour in it. Saute it until golden. Pour milk in it and stir. Now put the chopped vegetables and stir for 5 minutes.

Now pour  2 cups meat broth and hot water. Add salt and bring it to boil.

After 20 minutes, when the vegetables are tender, take the pot from the flame. Puree the vegetables using a blender until smooth.

Then put the pot (if you like, change the pot with a clean one) on the flame back. Add black pepper and simmer it for 10 minutes. At this point, everyone at home should have the magical smell and come to the kitchen.

Before serving, garnish it with a tbsp cream.

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Tomato Soup Recipe

Turkish people use tomato or pepper paste often in their recipes. You will see how tomato paste goes well with this soup.

Ingredients:
•    1 tablespoon butter
•    1 tablespoon olive oil
•    2 tablespoon all purpose flour
•    2 tablespoon tomato paste
•    4 tomatoes, grated
•    4 glasses water
•    1 glass milk
•    Salt
•    4 tablespoon cream
•    Optional: yellow cheese, grated (kaşar), or croutons
Melt butter in a pot and add flour. Saute it until it changes color.
Add tomato paste and grated tomato. (use blender if it gets lumpy)
Then add milk and water. Boil it until it gets smooth over medium heat.
Finally add cream and boil for 3 minutes.
Put grated yellow cheese or croutons on top of each bowl (not in the pot!).
Enjoy it.

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Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
•    200gr mushroom
•    3 tbsp olive oil
•    3 tbsp all purpose flour
•    2 glasses milk
•    4 tbsp cream
•    Salt
•    Black pepper

Wash the mushrooms and slice them thin. Put them in a pot, add 3 glasses of water and salt. Cook these mushrooms until it boils for 10 minutes. Then remove the mushrooms into a bowl with a sieve.
In another pot, put olive oil and flour. Saute it until it changes color.
Then pour milk and 2 glasses of water in which you boil mushrooms. Stir it.
After that add the mushrooms and pepper. Bring it to boil. Stir occasionaly.
After it boils for 5 minutes, add cream and let it boil for 3 minutes.
Enjoy it!

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Green Lentil Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 small cup green lentil (put them in water and wait 10 hours. You can do this part at night.)
• 1 small cup pounded wheat (bulgur)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 green pepper
• 2 tomatoes, grated
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 onion
• ½ small cup pea
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• ½ cup of lemon juice
• 4 glass hot water
• Salt
• Dried mint

Saute the onion with olive oil in a pot. After it gets brown, add tomato paste and grated tomato. Sprinkle some dried mint on it and stir for 3 minutes.

Then pour the hot water in it. Keep stirring.

Just after it, put lentil (sieving them from water), wheat(bulgur), pea and salt. Cook them until the lentil, wheat and pea become soft (at least half an hour, over medium heat). Stir occasionally.

Finally add smashed garlic and lemon juice.

Enjoy it!

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Cream of Potato Soup Recipe

Turkish people are so creative that they use the names of some vegetables to make someone angry. Potato is one of them. If the person we want to make angry is fat and short, we call him “fat potato” (ÅŸiÅŸko patates). However, potato is the main vegetable of most Turkish families. Let’s see how  we use it to cook a delicious patato soup.

Ingredients:

• 3 middle size potato
• 1 glass milk
• 5 glasses water
• 1,5 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Peel the potatoes and chop them. Boil them in water until they get very soft.

Mash the potatoes by adding 3 glasses water (the water you boiled them) with blender.

Put butter in a pot. After it melts, add flour and saute until its color changes.

Add milk in the pot and stir. (the flaour shouldn’t get lumpy, so you should be very quick in this step)

Pour the mashed potatoes mixture in the pot and keep stirring. Add 2 glasses hot water, salt and black pepper. And boil over medium heat.

After it boils, add cream and boil it for another 3 minutes.

Season with fresh mint and/or pepper flakes.

Enjoy it.

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