Borek with Vegetables

Sebzeli Börek

We saw an extraordinary vivacity in our neighborhood this evening. Some people were setting up a music system in front of our building, some were placing plastic chairs in the shape of a circle. These are signs of a ceremony, so we thought that there would be an engagement ceremony or a party for a bride and her friends (called “kına” in Turkish), which is a common tradition held in the evening followed by the wedding ceremony on the next day. However, we were wrong.

While were trying to guess what was happening, the door bell rang. It was our neighbor from the first floor. She invited us to the ceremony they were holding for their son, who would join the army to carry out his military service. ıt is compulsory in Turkey for all males at the age of 20 to complete this military service. It may last from 5 months to 15 months according to the education level of soldiers and some other reasons. If they are studying or working at this age, they can delay it until a certain age.

In Turkey, people hold a ceremony, generally outside their houses for their sons just before he leaves his home and goes to the city where he gets the training. There is a music system or a timpanist is hired. Neighbors, relatives, the boy’s friends all gather here and they dance. The boy’s family serve some drinks. People dance, especially the boy’s friends and family members. Older relatives give some pocket money to the young as a gift. Then his family takes him to the bus station to send him off. His friends and some nighbors accompany them and they go on singing songs and dancing until he gets on the bus.

I prepared a quick borek with what I had in my pantry and took it to my neighbor and she served it to their guests. She also served pilaf with chicken and cold ayran. It was a great party for their son before his military service.

Ingredients
-    1 stalk leek, chopped thin
-    1 potato, grated
-    2 carrots, grated
-    1 big onion,diced
-    1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
-    2 tbsp olive oil for sauting
-    3tbsp olive oil for spreading between sheets
-    1 egg
-    ½ cup yogurt
-    5 phyllo sheets

Saute all the vegetables in olive oil for about 10-15 minutes. add some salt.

Mix egg, 3 tbsp olive oil and yogurt.

Preheat the oven to 180C (400F)

Lay one of the phyllo sheets and spread the yogurt mixture on it. Lay the other sheet and spread the half of the sauted vegetables on it, then sprinkle the half of parmesan and lay another phyllo sheet on it. Brush it with the same egg and yogurt mixture. Lay the other sheet and spread the rest of sauted vegs and parmesan. Cover this with the last phyllo sheet and spread the rest yogurt mixture on it. Cut it with a knife as squares or triangles before putting it in oven so that its inner part also cooks. Cook this in oven for about 50 minutes.

By the way, I’ll be away for a few days as I’m traveling to Istanbul today for a work. Besides this work, I hope I can visit some good restaurants. I’m looking forward to sharing my experiences.

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Green Beans

Taze Fasulye

This is one of the most common summer dishes in our culture and we adore it so much that many people put some green beans in deep freezer to cook in Winter. As we think that frozen vegetables lose their vitamin and taste, we don’t prefer it. To tell the truth, we tried it last summer in little amount, but we didn’t like its taste, and learnt that they don’t keep vitamins when frozen, so we decided not to freeze vegetables again.

Summer is back these days, so we are lucky enough to find green beans at our open market. Monday was the day of open market in our neighborhood, but as I had a lot of work at school, my husband had to do shopping alone. He hates shopping at open market alone, so I was wondering what he would buy. He is not a big fan of vegetables unlike me. I’m sure if he had to go to a butcher, he would be happier. Anyway, when I came home from work, I saw a very funny scene. He was stringing some green beans with a confused expression on his face. He said that he asked her mom how to cook green beans and he learnt that stringing is the first step. However, the beans were so fresh that he couldn’t find any string on beans. He didn’t know that this was perfect for beans. I must admit that he made me so happy by buying green beans. No need to mention how I felt when I saw him dealing with a cup of beans. I thought it was time for me to put my hands in the plough, and cooked a delicious dish.

Ingredients
-    500g green beans, cleaned
-    1 onion, diced
-    2 tomatoes, diced
-    2 tsp salt
-    ½ tsp sugar (or ½ sugar cube)
-    3 tbsp olive oil while cooking
-    1 tbsp olive oil to drizzle on the dish when cooked

If the beans are too long, cut them in two or more pieces. Lay one line of beans in a pan ( I used a flat pan).
Add some of the diced onion on it and some tomatoes on onion.
Then lay the rest of the beans as another layer and the rest of onion and tomatoes on it. Sprinkle salt and sugar.
Then pour 3tbsp olive oil over them.
Cook it on medium heat for about 30 or 40  minutes.
When it is cooked drizzle 1tbsp olive on it. You’ll see adding olive oil as raw definitely enhances your dish.
You can serve it with pilaf and yogurt.

Dandelion

This is a photo taken by my friend Özlem last weekend. I didn’t think that a photo of dandelion could be so impressive before seeing this. She took this photo at a park of our city. The weather in this city is so changeable that it may turn dark and rainy suddenly on a beautiful sunny day. You can see the dark clouds on the sky here. Dandelions always remind me of my childhood. We would pick a dandelion, make a wish and blow on this flower. If we could blow all of its hair at once, it meant our wish would turn real.

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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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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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Spinach Heads

I wrote a recipe of spinach with eggs two days ago. And in that post I told you to put the heads of spinach aside for another dish on another day. That another day is today. Let me clarify what I mean with spinach heads. The end or the root of spinach stem which is in pinkish color. You see it in the picture. I love its shape and color; it’s like a shy girl/actress greeting her spectators. I used these raw ones both for decoration and to show you what I mean.

I learnt this dish from mom, and I rarely meet another woman cooking spinach heads dish. When I was a child, I used to watch mom with a great admiration as she used to make several kinds of spinach dishes and some days later totally different dish with the heads of spinach used to come out. She doesn’t like wasting anything. This is not a very common dish in Turkish cuisine, but a minority of Turkish women make this pantry friendly dish, which I love much.

Ingredients
•    1 cup green lentil
•    2 cups water
•    1 cup spinach heads (of 1kg spinach)
•    1 onion,diced
•    1 middle size tomato, chopped
•    1 lemon (if you don’t want it to be too sour, ½ lemon is enough)
•    1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste
•    1 tsp salt
•    2 tbsp olive oil

Boil the green lentil in water until tender. If the lentil you use doesn’t soften easily, soak it overnight and then boil the following day.

In another pot, saute the diced onion in olive oil until golden, pepper or tomato paste in it and stir. Then add tomato and let it cook for a few minutes.

Meanwhile wash the spinach heads very well and then cut them into two. Then add these into the pot, stir it. When they lose their color, pour the lentil with its water into this pot. Squeeze the lemon, add salt and put its lid on. I love this dish sour, so I squeeze 1 lemon. Cook it on the lowest heat for 20 or 30 minutes. If you think its water is not enough, add some more.

You can serve it with bulgur pilaf (drinking house pilaf) or rice. And yogurt is also a great companion for spinach heads.

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