Beetroot Sauce

(drawing by mom)

Are you those kind of people who love to snack while watching a movie or while working on your PC? If you are, what kind of things do you eat or drink? We sometimes have dried fruits with Turkish tea or cheese and red wine or beer and pistachio, crackers or chips. And we love to try new sauces with chips and crackers and our favorite ingredients in these sauces is strained yogurt, which might be called greek yogurt abroad.

I have heard many times that beetroot is on top of healthy foods. It is said that beetroot protects our body from diabetes and tuberculosis, helps liver work regularly and overcomes anaemia. Some doctors even claim that beetroot juice can be a remedy for cancer. So I’ve decided to have it more often in my kitchen. I’ve been trying to discover some new dishes with beetroot. Some fast food restaurants here have a pink sauce that is taking my attention and I love to have it in sandwiches or on baked potatoes. I’ve learnt that they make it by mixing yogurt and beetroot.

I had been planning to make this sauce for some time until last Friday. We made this pink appetizing dip on Friday and have it with crackers while watching a movie called Soul Kitchen by a famous Turkish director, Fatih Akın. It is an amusing movie about an unlucky man trying to save his restaurant. We enjoyed it a lot and it was also great to have something to eat while watching as there were always people eating and drinking something in that restaurant.

Pancar Sos
Ingredients
-    2 beetroots
-    2 cloves garlic, mashed
-    Fresh dill, chopped
-    ½ cup strained yogurt
-    1 tbsp mayonnaise
-    Salt

Boil the beetroots without peeling. When they are soft enough, take them from fire, wash and peel. You can drink the remaing water in the pot. I squeeze some lemon in it and I loveto drink it when it gets cold enough.

Grate or puree the peeled beetroots.

Mix strained yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and mashed garlic until combined very well. Then add the beetroot and chopped fresh dill. Put it ina bowl and serve it with crackers or chips.

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Purslane with Yogurt

Yogurtlu Semizotu

This is one of my favorite savory foods served in almost every drinking house with Turkish raki. I know I’ve mentioned this drink several times. I’m just waiting for the right time to write about it. That “right time” means when we meet friends and drink raki together. But I promise I’ll do it soon. There must be several savory foods/appetizers on table while drinking raki and this one is one of the most commons. In fact, anything with yogurt goes perfect with raki. However, we often make this food as an appetizer near our lunch or dinner as soon as purslane starts to be shown on stands at open markets. And in Turkey, we’re having just the season of this herb these days. So we don’t want to miss any chance of making something from it. I remember that I wrote about a green salad of purslane a few weeks ago, and this will be the second dish of purslane I’m going to write. Maybe I should create a new category for purslane here as I’m planning to add several dishes from it. As you understand I adore it and I wish I could grow it myself in a pot in my balcony or I wish I had a herb garden. For those who haven’t met purslane yet, I must say that it’s a bit savory, especially its stems, which we’ll not use its stems in this savory dish. But if you want to try the stems, you should use them in any kinds of soup, and you’ll see how it enhances your soup.

We had black beans for dinner yesterday and purslane with yogurt was our appetizer near it. It’s a part of our culture to have something with the main dish; either a kind of salad or a kind of savory dishes like this one. And here is the easy recipe.

Ingredients
-    A bunch of purslane
-    3 cloves garlic
-    1 cup plain yogurt
-    1 tsp salt
-    1 tbsp olive oil
-    1 tsp red pepper flakes

Wash the purslane well, and pick just its leaves and put them in a bowl.

Mash garlic in a bowl, add salt and mix them with yogurt. Put the purslane leaves and mix again. Then take this mixture on a plate, drizzle olive oil on it. Finally sprinkle red pepper flakes right on olive oil and serve. If you like, you can garnish the plate with a few leaves of dill. This dish is definitely an appetizer as you want to eat more main dish when you eat it. That is, it triggers you to eat anything with it.

From Spinach To Purslane

Mrs Spinach is a successful businesswoman and she always does right things at right times. As winter is leaving little by little, she knows that it’s time for her to leave, too. As she is sure that people are always in search for herbs and greens at open markets, she decides to call her best friend, Mrs Purslane as the substitute. She is the only one to run the herb company as successfully as Mrs. Spinach. As she believes in the emotion of sending snail mail, she is writing a letter to Mrs. Purslane now. Hope she’ll come soon. (drawing by mom)

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Albanian Liver

Arnavut Cigeri

We decided to have raki for dinner tonight and one of our favorite appetizers (savory foods) to eat with raki is Albanian liver. It certainly goes perfect with raki. We used to buy it prepared until today. I don’t know why we didn’t try to make it at home before.
How did I decide to try it at home? I came accross with this so appetizing dish in three different restaurants in this week when we went those places during lunch break with friends. The one who ordered it wasn’t me, but some friends. As I had got the flu, I prefered some healing soups. (I’m still trying to recover with some herbal tea and honey mixture, the worst is the headache!) And while watching them eating Albanian liver, I thought that I should share this incredible taste with you. And as usual, I asked its recipe to the chef of one of those restaurants. And we made it to have with our raki for dinner today.

According to the chef, the most important point of this appetizer is the freshness of liver. As it is difficult to find fresh meat in supermarkets, he sugessted buying liver from a butcher.

Besides being an appetizer for raki, it can also be eaten as a main dish with rice pilaf near it. It is served with fried cube potatoes in some restaurants while fried onions accompany in others. But in both cases, there should be a salad or piyaz near it. If you prefer eating it with your raki, then optionally you can pour little yogurt on it.

Ingredients
-    500g veal or lamb liver
-    ½ cup flour
-    1 tsp salt
-    2 tsp red pepper flakes
-    1 cup vegetable oil
-    1 onion

Peel the membrane of the liver and remove the nerves from it. Then dice it. If your butcher does it for you, then skip this part.

Put he flour in a bowl and toss the diced liver pieces in this flour, they should be coated well with flour. Sprinkle salt and mix again.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the liver pieces for 2 minutes, not more.While frying, turn over continually. If you overcook, it will be too dry and hard to eat. Another important point to make it is that you should fry just a handful of liver pieces together. You shouldn’t try to fry all of them at once. The outer of them should be crispy and the inside should be soft. When they are fried, take them with a colander on a plate.

Slice the onion in rings and after all liver pieces are cooked, fry these onion rings in the same frying oil and put them near the liver as a kind of garnishing.

Take 2 tbsp of that frying oil in a small pan and fry the red pepper flakes. Then pour it on the liver.

Finally, you can garnish it with any kind of greens like dill, parsley, scallion, garden cress, etc.

I know it doesn’t sound so healthy, but I think we can give this reward once or twice a month.

Hospitable Turkish People

Turkish people are famous with their hospitality. When they have a guest for dinner, they try to serve various dishes and expect their guests to eat all they have on their plates. Finishing what you have on your table means you are satisfied with the dishes and if you ask for more, it’s even better. This makes the hostess happier, she takes it as a compliment.

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Leek With Olive Oil

Zeytinyagli Pirasa

Leek is one of the vegetables that many children hate eating. In Turkey, moms struggle a lot to have their children eat it. There becomes an invisible fight between moms and children and the winner of the fight depends on moms’ different kinds of methods. Some moms threaten them to tell their father that they don’t eat leek. Some remind their children of poor people who can not find any food. Some make leeks talk to their children, leeks say that they feel so sorry when they are refused and they ask crying why children don’t love them. You decide which method is more effective.

You may ask the method of my mom. I think she was luckier as we had some vegetables in our garden including leeks and she used to take me with her to pick some leeks. She used to love the vegetables she grew with dad so much that she used to pick all vegetables by flattering and talking to them. As a child I thought that these vegetables were like members of our family, so never refused eating it. And I understood how delicious it is when I grew older, it’s one of my favorite dishes now. Most children feels the same when they grow, but of course there may be some stubborn ones.

Olive oil is the key point of this dish. If you have the chance of finding natural olive oil, it becomes more tasty. It is served  cold or warm (but not hot) as a main dish or a side dish/appetizer.

Ingredients
-4 leeks
-1 carrot
-1 lemon, squeezed
-1tsp salt
-1tsp sugar (or one cube sugar)
-1/4 cup rice, washed
-1/4 cup water
-1/3 cup olive oil

Some people also add onion, but as leek itself is coming from onion family, I think making it without onion is better.

Cut the tops of the leek and wash them well. Cut them into diagonal slices. Set them aside.

Peel the carrot and cut it vertically into four pieces, then slice them as big as a half finger.

Put half of the olive oil in a pot and saute the carrot slices first. Add sugar and then the leeks. Stir them well and add the lemon juice and cover the pan. Cook it over medium heat for 15 minutes and then add rice, water and salt in it. Bring the heat to the lowest and cook it until the rice cooks. After it is cooked, let it cool in the pan. And finally drizzle the rest of the olive oil on it before serving. This is another important tip; when you add some raw olive oil before serving, all the dishes with olive oil tastes even better.

Mom And Child Leeks

The child leek comes home with a big disappointment and tells her mom that she doesn’t want to go out any more. It is her first day at school and she’s learnt that children don’t like leeks. It is a shocking reality for her as she’s always dreamed of meeting some human friends and presenting its taste to them.

When the mom leek sees her daughter at the garden gate with a down face, she decides to ask some help from her. She wants her daughter to forget her sadness for a while. While they are hanging the washed clothes together, she tells her daughter that all children will love them if they are cooked right. (drawing by mom)

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Cigarette Borek

Sigara Boregi

Our national football team had a match with Spain yesterday. We love watching matches with friends, so we called some friends and invited them to watch the match together. They already knew that we’d prepare some food for the night, but this time they  had a request from us: Cigarette boreks!  Of course we accepted.

They came just before the match began and they all went crazy with the smell of cigarette boreks. They brought several bottles of beer, so we understood that it was a part of their plan. We all agree on cigarette boreks go perfect with cold beer. Although Spanish team defeated with a 2-1 score, we had great time because both teams played well. By the way, I should admit we grabed a cigarette borek each time our players missed a goal. It’s better than cigarette itself at all.

The name of this borek is cigarette just because of its shape. You put some very healthy ingredients in it like cheese and parsley instead of tobacco.

Ingredients

- 3 phyllo sheets

- 1 cup white cheese, crumbled

- Half bunch parsley, chopped

- A very small cup water, just to stick the ends

- ½ cup vegetable oil

Lay the sheets on the counter and cut them into pieces of triangle. You see it in the picture, if you like you can cut them bigger, but originally they are small.

Mix chopped parsley and cheese together. If you like you can add spices you like. We love it plain.

Grab a triangle and put some cheese mixture on the wide side of it. First fold the left and right edges and then roll it up. To stick its end, dip your finger into the water in small cup and rub it on the end of the triangle.

Heat oil in a pan and fry these cigarette boreks until golden brown.

You can serve these crunchy cigarettes as a kind of snack with beer or tea. You can even surprise your family or friends by serving it at breakfast. The sound it makes while eating is as enjoyable as eating it.

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Lentil Balls

This special appetizer is another popular dish among Turkish women. Just like Kisir, it is an  indispensable taste of their gatherings in the afternoon. Of course it doesn’t mean that men doesn’t love lentil balls. Thay also love it as a snack. But maybe because generally women meet at a friend’s house in the afternoons, and make it together, lentil balls are more popular among them.

As Kisir and Lentil Balls are both made of bulgur (pounded wheat), they are alternatives for each other. And it is both a tradition and a must to serve tea with or after them. Bulgur easily makes you full and if you can not dominate your appetite and eat much, you may feel bad, have some trouble with your stomach. In this case, tea is your life saver. It definitely relaxes your stomach.

Unlike Kisir, lentil balls have lentils in its ingredients besides bulgur. You’ll taste the perfect combination of bulgur and red lentil with these lentil balls. There are two types of bulgur; small grain and big grain. Bulgur with big grain is for pilaf. We need bulgur with small grain here just like kisir.

Ingredients (servings: 4)
•    1 cup red lentil
•    2 cups bulgur
•    3 cups water
•    3 tsp salt
•    3 tsp cumin
•    1 tsp red pepper flaes
•    1 tbsp tomato or red pepper paste
•    1 tea cup olive oil
•    1 big onion, diced
•    3 scallions, chopped thin
•    Half bunch of parsley, minced
•    Lettuce and lemon for serving

Clean the lentil, wash it and drain. Pour 3 cups water in a pot, add 1 tsp salt and the lentil in it. Boil it over medium heat until  tender (about 20 or 30 minutes). Lentils should be easily mashed after boiled. Take the pot from fire.

Add 2 cups bulgur into the same pot, while it is still hot. Combine it with bulgur and put the lid on. Wait it for 15 minutes until bulgur absorbs all the water in the pot. Then transfer this mixture in a large tray.

Saute the finely chopped onion in olive oil until golden brown. Add pepper paste, 3 tsp cumin and red pepper flakes into it. Saute it for a few minutes more.

Pour the sauted onion into the lentil – bulgur mixture. Add 2 tsp salt and start to knead it. They should be combined very well. But be careful, if it’s too hot to knead with hands, just start mixing it with a spoon and then when it reaches the heat enough to touch, knead it with hands for about ten minutes. Then add finely chopped scallion and parsley into it, knead it just to combine these greens into it, do not work on it much.

To serve it, take a piece from the mixture and shape it in your palm (one hand is enough) in two or three movements. You’ll see a nice shape with your finger marks on them. Put some leaves of fresh lettuce and place these lentil balls on it. Serve it with lemon slices.

Note: There is a special style of eating these balls. Put one of it in a lettuce leaf, squeeze lemon on it and roll. Now you can have a bite and want more.

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Hummus

I have been far away from my hometown (Tarsus/Mersin) for ages and you can easily guess  what I miss the most (my parents are of course on the top of the list, so let’s say the second thing I miss). Right, special dishes of Tarsus, especially the ones made by mom, the best cook.

Whenever I start to think such things, I become a bit melancholic. Hopefully, I’ve found a way to lessen it. The flavors! You may ask how…  When I have the feeling of missing, I try to concentrate on the foods I had in my childhood, decide on one and cook. When I just have the first bite, I’m taken to my childhood home or a part of my hometown. Don’t ask how much I eat to stay there longer… Do you have such feelings? And what solutions did you find?

Today Hummus came out with this feeling. It has even a more special place in my memories. I used to ask mom to make Hummus very often and each time, she tried not to refuse it. But it wasn’t enough for me, so every weekend after my English course, I used to go to one of those restaurants which had just Hummus in their menu. And when I returned home, I had to eat what my mom cooked. I still wonder how I didn’t get fat those days.

Hummus is mostly made by the people living in the South part of Turkey. In fact, it is a common appetizer in the whole country, it’s very usual to see it near a glass of raki. But it’s more common in the South as a main dish or appetizer. If you want to learn this appetizing dish, go on reading.

Ingredients

•    2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
•    ½ cup tahini (sesame paste)
•    ½ cup water
•    2 lemons
•    4 cloves garlic, mashed
•    2 tsp cumin
•    2 tsp salt
•    2 tbsp olive oil
•    2 tsp red pepper or pepper paste
•    1 tsp sumac
•    A few leaves of parsley

Boil the chickpeas in a pot until they get soft. Put them in a food processor with ½ cup of that boiling water. Mix them until smooth. Then add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and cumin. Mix again until they combine well. Then put some in a dish.

Now you’ll prepare its sauce. Put olive oil in a pan and when it heats, add red pepper or pepper paste and fry it for just one or two minutes.

Spread this sauce on Hummus with a spoon. Sprinkle sumac on it, put some parsley leaves and serve it with a piece of lemon. Any kind of pickles go very well with Hummus.

After dinner today I had to drink a bottle of mineral water to relax my stomach. Just imagine how much I ate!

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Grilled Eggplants

I can eat everything made from eggplant/aubergine. This vegetable attracts me first with its purple color, then with its so special taste. This attractive vegetable is low in calories and it has a lot of benefits for our health. It relaxes nerves, decreases blood pressure and the level of cholesterol in blood.

Maybe that’s why Turkish cooks make over 100 types of eggplant dishes. Some people like it in different types of salad, some in stew, some like it with meat, some like it fried, some like its pickles… You see we can count a lot of different types of dishes made from eggplant. I love all of them. In this post, you will see eggplants in appetizer form. It is like a salad of grilled vegetables, but we call it eggplant salad or grilled eggplants or babagannus in some regions. Eggplant is the main ingredient here, you may omit any vegetables for this salad, but not eggplant. This appetizer is best when vegetables are grilled on a wood fire. So if you have a chance, try it and see how its taste changes.

Ingredients

•    4 chubby eggplants
•    2 green peppers
•    1 red pepper
•    2 tomatoes
•    4 cloves garlic
•    A few leaves of parsley, minced
•    ½ lemon
•    3 tbsp pomegranate sour sauce
•    Salt
•    3 tbsp olive oil

Grill eggplants, tomatoes, green and red pepper in oven, in a pan or on grill. Chop all of them in the shapes you like.  Mash the garlic and combine it with this mixture. Then add the minced parsley in it.

Now it’s time for its sauce. Mix pomegranate sour sauce, lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a small cup. Then pour it on grilled and sliced vegetables. Combine them well. And it’s ready!

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Lets Gather (for Kisir)

If a few Turkish women meet at a friend’s house, it’s unavoidable for them to make this delicious pounded wheat (bulgur) dish. It’s called KISIR.

I don’t know why or what makes this dish so popular, so precious, but I haven’t met a Turkish woman who refuses kisir. Even the idea of making kisir is enough to excite them. Of course, it’s not a woman’s dish (if there is such a classification…), there are a lot of men who are big fans of it, as well. But still, it has a different role in women’s life in Turkey. It’s the reason for meeting, a tasty way of saying “welcome” to new neighbors, and so on. Each may create their own reason. The main ingredient of kisir is bulgur (pounded wheat) and the amount of it depends on the number of people there. If there are 3 people, 3 cups bulgur is enough. However, women always add one more cup as they think that an unexpected guest may come just when they start to eat.

In fact, it’s one of those easy to prepare dishes. It is ready to eat in just 15 or 20 minutes. Kisir is not a main dish, but not a side dish either. It can be considered as a kind of appetizer which can be eaten at any time. So here are the ingredients.

Ingredients (serving: 2)
•    2 cups bulgur ( take your unexpected guests in consideration)
•    1 onion
•    3 cloves garlic
•    Half bunch of parsley
•    Half bunch of scallion
•    1 tomato
•    1 cucumber
•    ½ cup lemon juice
•    1 tbsp pepper (or tomato) paste
•    Olive oil
•    Salt
•    Cumin
•    Dried mint
•    Red pepper flakes
•    Hot water
•    ½ cup olive oil
•    2 tbsp sour pomegranate souce

Put bulgur in a large bowl. Put salt, cumin, dried mint and pepper flakes (1 tsp of each) on it. Then pour hot water in the bowl until the surface of bulgur. Cover it with a piece of cloth or with a lid and let it to be brewed until bulgur is softened. About 10 minutes will be ok.

Meanwhile, you can prepare the other ingredients. Chop garlic, parsley, scallion, tomato, cucumber In a large bowl and add lemon juice in it. Put it aside.

Dice the onion and saute it in olive oil until golden, add tomato/pepper paste in it and stir just one minute.

Now you will combine everything. First, check your soaked bulgur if it’s softened enough. If it’s ok, add sauted onion in it and mix them together with a spoon. Add sour pomegranate sauce in it and mix it (if you don’t have this souce, increase the amount of lemon juice). Then add all chopped vegeables with lemon juice. Mix it for the last time and that’s it! You can serve it with some leaves of lettuce and pepper pickles.

Enjoy it with your friends. Never alone!

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