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.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

Keskek

Keşkek is a special name of a traditional wedding dish. It is mostly made in Central Anatolia and Agean region of Turkey. Weddings in these places last a few days and during this time,  various dishes are served in front of bride’s or groom’s home. The wedding traditions may differ in regions but food serving is a fixed part of the tradition. As the word “tradition” points out, these are mostly forgotten in big cities, but people in towns or villages still live with them. Moreover, some young couples in big cities also want to continue their wedding traditions and they prefer holding wedding ceremonies in their hometowns or their villages.

There are a lot of different and interesting wedding traditions in Turkey, but I’ll write about one of them in this post. However, I should give a piece of background information about wedding traditions.

Before the ceremony, it is typical in Turkish culture that groom’s parents or the elderly members of his family visit  bride’s parents to know each other (of course after making an appointment). The first visitors always must be groom’s parents, not the bride’s. And it is a must to take something sweet with them such as chocolate, Turkish delight or a kind of Turkish dessert. After welcoming them, the girl makes Turkish coffee and serves it to the guests. Parents introduce themselves and then the boy’s parents state “the reason for their visit”. They say that their son wants to marry the daughter of the family and ask if they give permission to this marriage or not. The girl’s family wants some time to think about it and  boy’s family leave. In some regions, this event repeats a few times. No matter girl and boy already have a relationship, this is a permanent tradition before marriage, a Turkish girl should have the permission of her parents.

After everything is arranged and when the wedding day comes, both parents decide on where to organize the ceremony. In such cases, generally thy do what the girl’s family wants. If it is a traditional ceremony, then some cooks are held and they start to prepare some wedding dishes to be served in the wedding area. As I said, the main dish may differ in regions. The picture above was taken at the wedding of my friend’s cousine. You can see the cauldrons on wooden fire here and men and women work together.

In Central Anatolia and Agean region, Keşkek is generally the main dish. Besides it, chickpea stew, rice pilaf, a kind of meat dish, salad and ayran are also served. These dishes are all cooked in large cauldrons over wooden fire, so they are always more delicious than the dishes you make at home.

And in this picture which is from the same wedding, you see the big amount of keşkek and two men are continually stirring it to mash them as a small blender doesn’t work for such a big amount. Generally it’s men’s job to mash them  in this way because it really requires physical strength.  Even one man is never enough for this.

I’m not from Central Anatolia or Agean region, so I hadn’t known how to cook Keşkek until last weekend. Last weekend my husband’s mom suggested to make this unique dish together. She is from Central Anatolia and her mom, when young, was the best cook in their town, everyone would want help from her mom about wedding dishes. So my second mom learnt this dish from her own mom. No need to say that elderly women are always the best cooks!

Ingredients (serving:6)
-2 cups wheat (you see it in the picture above)
-8 cups hot water for wheat
-6 cups water for lamb chops
-6 lamb arm chops
-1 tbsp pepper paste or red pepper flakes
-2 tbp butter
-2 tsp salt
-2 tsp black pepper

Soak the wheat overnight. Wash it by rubbing the following day a few times until the water seems clean.

First boil the lamb chops in 6 cups water for about 40 minutes until tender.

Put it in a pressure cooker and pour  the hot water into it. When it releases its steam, bring the heat to the lowest and cook it for 50 minutes.

When it’s cooked, take the pressure cooker from the heat and when it gets cool enough, open it. Stir it with a big spoon and add 4 cups of meat broth (the water in which you boil the lamb chops) into the boiled wheat. Then add salt and stir it again. Taste it and if you think the salt is not enough, add some more. Lastly, mix it with a blender until it gets chewy.

For its sauce, heat the butter and add ½ cup meat broth (the water in which you boil the lamb chops) and pepper paste or pepper flakes.

For its serving, take some keşkek ( the mashed wheat) in a bowl and pour the sauce on it, sprinkle some black pepper and put one piece of lamb chop on it. You can serve it with ayran.

As it includes energizing ingredients, keşkek is mostly prefered in Winter when it is made at homes. But if it’s a wedding day, season doesn’t matter.

Turkish Wedding

In traditional wedding ceremonies, all relatives are ready to help. Bur the boys of that family have the big responsibility. They serve dishes in a tray you see in the picture. They work like waiters on that day. Also, they are responsible for organizing the place of the ceremony by carrying chairs and tables here and there depending on the number of the guests. And the number of the guests is never less than 100 hundred people.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

A Wedding Dish

In Turkish culture, it is a common custom to cook and serve some dishes in the concept of a traditional wedding ceremony. This old tradition still exists in especially our villages. The wedding hosts prepare some special dishes and serve them to their guests on the wedding day. As Turkish people love helping each other, they prepare these dishes together on that day. They cook in large boilers since there are hundreds of guests. The guests first have their meals and then dance accompanied by a very small band. Chickpeas stew is one of the most famous dishes served on a wedding day. The Picture you see here is from one of my friend’s wedding, that’s why the boiler is so big. But in this recipe I will give small amount of ingredients, just for 4 people, not for hundreds.

Ingredients
2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
½ cup meat, diced
3 onions, chopped big
1 green pepper, chopped (optional)
1 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
3 cups hot water

Put the meat in a pot and cook it until tender (for about 30 minutes), pour little water if neccessary.

After the meat is soft enough, add olive oil, peppers and onions. Saute them until golden.

Dilute tomato or pepper paste with little water in a small bowl and pour it into the pot. Then add chickpeas and 3 cups hot water. Season with salt and cumin. Cumin is the spice which gives the taste of the dish, so do not skip it. Then put the lid on and cook it until the chickpeas soften.

You can serve this main dish with pilaf and cacik.

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite