Acuka the Walnut Sauce

The first time I ate this sauce was  when I was studying at university. I was staying at a dormitory sharing the room with four people, all of whom were from a different city. I learnt several new foods special to their hometowns and their moms. Once a week, our moms would alternately send a package full of foods that we missed and couldn’t easily find there. We would look forward to getting the package on that day with a great excitement. Those packages would turn our dinners into great feasts for a few days. And it was then when all of us realized how talented our moms were at fitting so many things in a box.  We would get together and unpack the package together with a great excitement.

Acuka was in one of these packages sent by a roommate’s mom. It was in a glass jar and I thought that it was a kind of tomato or pepper paste. It was more than this. When I opened the jar and smelled, I was fascinated by the scent of the flavors. My friend said that they eat this sauce at breakfast by spreading it on bread slices or on toast. I  also love to place a cheese cube on it. We ate it not only at breakfast but also at nights when we got hungry while studying.  When you want to snack, acuka is a great solution for you. Also, this sauce might be served as an appetizer or savory food with Turkish raki. You can keep this sauce in jars for a long time, so when you have unexpected guests, you can spread acuka on bread slices and serve it with tea. I’m sure they will all love it  and ask for its recipe.

I’m so lucky to have homemade pepper and tomato paste and would like to thank to mom for this. She makes them every summer and brings some for us. As they are already salty, I don’t add any salt in this sauce. I’m planning to write about pepper paste soon as it has a very important role in Turkish cuisine.

Acuka
Ingredients
-    3 tbsp pepper paste
-    1 tbsp tomato paste
-    ½ cup olive oil
-    1 cup walnut, crumbled
-    4 cloves garlic, mashed
-    2 tsp cumin
-    1 tsp black pepper
-    A pinch of dried thyme

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Taste it after they are mixed and if you think any of these ingredients is not enough, add some more of it.
You can increase the amounts and keep it in glass jars.

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Open Sandwich with Tomato

Domatesli Kanepe

I was working on this Sunday, so unfortunately we couldn’t have a big breakfast. You know it’s so important for me to have breakfast with a lot of items, it’s like a feast for me at weekends. I got up early yesterday morning with no desire of going out. But I had to!

When I went out, all these feeling disappeared as I saw that it was a lively Spring day. And I really enjoyed walking to work. But this is not the thing I want to share with you today. I’m planning to add some Spring pictures soon, but not today. Today’s surprise is from my husband. He called me before lunch break and wanted me to return home for a late breakfast in the break. Normally I wouldn’t go for such a short time, it was just one-hour-break. However, he persuaded me by telling that there was a surprise waiting for me. I understood the advantage of living close to my work and went home at lunch break.

By the time he opened the door, I understood what his surprise was. These open sandwiches with tomato! One of my favorites. And he had already brewed the tea. So this late breakfast with these small, crispy, hot sandwiches (not lunch) made me feel better. It also helped me feel Sunday although I worked.

Here is the recipe of these yummy open sandwiches by my husband.

Ingredients
-1 loaf bread
- 2 tbsp butter
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 green peppers
- ½ tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup cheese (any kind you like), crumbled
- dried thyme

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

Slice the bread in small and thin shapes. Lay an oven proof paper on a tray. Array the bread slices on it. Top each slice with 1tsp butter. 2 tbsp will be enough for all slices, so try to put it equally.

Peel tomatoes and squeeze its water, you may leave a little water inside, but not much. If you don’t squeeze it, the sandwiches may be lumpy. Chop tomatoes and peppers in a bowl. Mix tomato paste with them. Sprinkle a pinch of dried thyme. And put this mixture equally on the slices.

Crumble the cheese (he used white cheese and it was little salty, so he didn’t add any salt to this tomato mixture. If your cheese is not salty, add a pinch of salt to it). Then put cheese on the slices with tomato-pepper mixture.

Cook them for half an hour and serve hot with a cup of tea for breakfast. It also makes a perfect snack. Enjoy!

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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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Red Bell Pepper Loaf

This is another dish from my childhood. This is not well known around the country, it is baked generally in the Southern part of Turkey. And I haven’t met a better cook than mom baking this snack. I remember that we would always have biberli in the kitchen and whenever we feel hungry, we had a few slices.

None of my friends here knows this tasty pastry and when I make it, I always hear this “Mmmm” sound. They say that the ingredients are so simple and ordinary, but the taste of it is certainly extraordinary. Most of my friends think that it’s very similar to pizza, but I think it’s definitely more delicious. Then they take the recipe from me and it becomes a traditional snack in their kitchen too. And here is the famous recipe of mom.

Ingredients
•    4 red bell peppers, chopped
•    1 green pepper, chopped
•    4 onions, chopped
•    4 tbsp sesame
•    1 tbsp pepper paste
•    ½ cup olive oil
•    salt

For its dough:
•    2 cups flour
•    1 cup yogurt
•    1 tbsp yeast powder
•    Salt
•    ½ cup warm water

Sift the flour in a large bowl. In a small cup mix yeast powder, salt and warm water, and pour this mixture in the flour. Combine them well. To have a softer dough, add yogurt and knead the dough by adding some warm water little by little. Knead it very well until it doesn’t stick to your hand. Then make a big ball from this dough and cover it with a wet piece of cloth. Put it in a warm place and wait at least one hour so that it rises well.

Meanwhile you can prepare the mixture you’ll spread on the dough. Combine all peppers and onions in a bowl. Add sesame, olive oil, pepper paste and salt in it. Mix them well.

After the dough rises enough (after at least one hour), preheat the oven to 180 C (350F). Oil the oven tray and take the dough on this tray. Now it’s time for your hands to work more. Lay the dough on the tray equally. The dough should be still as a whole, do not pick any pieces from it. When you finish laying it, spread the pepper mixture on the dough with your hands.

Before putting it into the oven, cut it as squares. If you do so, it will be easier to remove them from the tray after it’s cooked.

Now you can place it into the oven and cook it for 40 minutes. And be cautious, neighbors might start to ring the doorbell because they start to crave for biberli when they feel its scrumptious smell.

You can serve it at any time of day as a kind of snack or in the morning as a part of breakfast.

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