Turkish Omelette (Kaygana)

The first time I tried kaygana was 15 years ago when I was traveling in the Black Sea region with my family. There was a small authentic restaurant that served only Black Sea region food on the way to Sumela Monastery, in Trabzon province, and they served us kaygana along with other numerous delicious local food. Since I've always had a love-hate relationship with eggs, I was reluctant to taste it at first. But then it became my favorite egg dish. After our trip I couldn't find kaygana anywhere else, and that's why I believed it was a Black Sea dish; however, from Marianna Yerasimos' 500 Hundred Years of Ottoman Cuisine I learned that kaygana is an old Ottoman dish.

It seems that there are numerous ways of making kaygana. Yerasimos says that you can make "bread kaygana," "anchovy kaygana," or "eggplant kaygana" (mmmm). So it's a really flexible recipe with which you can go creative. You can make a sweet kaygana (by adding sugar, honey, or jam) as well as a savory one; it's all up to you. You can add peppers, green onions, feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, mushroom, bacon, pepperoni, honey, etc. in the eggy mixture or you can make a plain kaygana and roll all those things with it just like you'd do with a crepe. I tried adding feta and parsley and it turned out great!

One last point: The recipe in Yerasimos' book is not the same as the one I tried in Trabzon, in that little restaurant. The reason is that they use corn flour in Black Sea region, whereas the recipe I used required white flour. But next time I'll try corn flour.

serves 1
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp water or milk
salt

1 tbsp butter or olive oil

2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup crumbled feta (you can use more or less than this)
black pepper
red pepper flakes

-Put flour in a bowl and break eggs into the bowl. Mix well. Add water or milk, whichever you want, and mix again. [So far is the basic recipe. You may go ahead and cook it on frying pan with butter or oil, and then roll it with feta and parsley.]
-Add parsley, feta, black pepper, and pepper flakes to this mix and mix them all. (Since feta was already very salty, I didn't add salt).
-Heat oil in a frying pan. Add either one scoop at a time for small rounds or the whole mix for a big one. When one side is cooked, flip it over.

This recipe with my favorite herb flat leaf parsley, which is great for a lazy weekend breakfast, is for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted by Ed of Tomato this weekend.

Yogurt Soup (Yayla Çorbası)

Yogurt soup is a popular comfort dish both in Turkey and Central Asia. To me, it shows how we, Turks, are obsessed with yogurt; we even cook it! It's also a very common sick soup; even inhaling the strong smell of mint or tarragon makes you feel better. Although Turks love this soup, I can see why many people, especially those who are not in good terms with yogurt, may not like this. So, the decision is up to you: to try or not to try...

1/4 cup rice
5 cups of water (if you wish you can use half chicken stock, half water)
2 cups of plain yogurt
1 egg
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp dried mint or tarragon
1 tsp salt

-Boil rice in 5 cups of water with salt until (very) soft.
-In a bowl, beat the egg and flour well, and then add yogurt and mix. With 1-2 tbsp water lighten up this mixture.
-Put the yogurt mix in a pot and start cooking on very low. It's important that you start with low heat, otherwise yogurt would curdle. Give yogurt some time to get used to heat. Cook on low heat for approximately 15 minutes and keep stirring.
-Slowly pour in rice along with water into the soup. Keep stirring. First let it boil on medium and then turn it down and cook for another 10 minutes.
-Heat butter in a pan. Once it sizzles, add mint flakes and stir for 20-30 seconds (don't let it burn). Then, pour it into soup.

Herby Black-eyed Pea (Zeytinyağlı Börülce)

I've been looking for pomegranate molasses/syrup for a long time to make tabbouleh (kısır). Finally I found a Lebanese one in an international market. Pomegranate syrup is an essential ingredient in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking. It's delicious as a salad dressing ingredient as well as a base for marinade. Now that I found it I'll use it more, but first I used it on black-eyed pea which both as a dish and as a salad is very common in the Aegean coast of Turkey.

2 cups fresh black-eyed peas
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
1 tbsp sumac
1 tbsp dried mint flakes
1 tsp sugar
1 cup water

1 tsp pomegranate molasses/syrup or lemon juice

-Wash fresh black-eyed peas and boil them in 4-5 cups of water for 5 minutes. Drain and wash well.
-Mix all the ingredients except for pomegranate molasses in a broad pot. Bring to a boil and then on low cover and cook until peas soak water (approximately 30 minutes)
-Dress to your taste with pomegranate syrup before serving. It will give it a really nice sweet and sour flavor. If you cannot find pomegranate syrup, you use lemon juice.

If you want to have your black-eyed peas as a salad, all you need to do is to cook the peas until soft and wash them well. Skip sugar and onion from ingredients, instead add 1 bunch chopped green onions. Mix everything well in a bowl and dress with either pomegranate syrup or lemon juice.

This recipe with parsley and dill (my favorites) is perfect for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted by Scott of Real Epicurean this weekend.

Bhutanese Red Rice (Kırmızı Pirinçli Butan Pilavı)

Rice, whether it's white, brown, long, short,
forbidden (black), or red, is one of my favorite dishes. Red rice with its nutty flavor has secured a good place in my heart, and as a result in my kitchen, in the last year. I usually cook it alaturka; however, this time I wanted to try a Bhutanese recipe since red rice is from Bhutan. I found the recipe online here. I only made small changes, and the Bhutanese rice turned out to be great. I served it with Turkish meatballs and they got along pretty well. From now on I'll absolutely cook red rice with this recipe.

1 cup red rice
2 tbsp butter
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped finely
1/2 cup petite diced carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped shitakee mushroom
1/2 tsp thyme
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 - 2 cups vegetable stock (the stock I used was salty, so I didn't use extra salt)

-Wash the rice with cold water and let it sit in warm water for an hour before you cook.
-Heat the butter in a pot, stir in onions, and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add carrots, mushroom, and rice. Stir for another 5 minutes.
-Add vegetable stock (you can also use chicken stock or water), thyme, and bay leaves. First bring to a boil, then put it in an oven dish, cover, and cook in a preheated oven at 450F for 20-30 minutes, until rice soaks the water.
-Let it sit for at least ten minutes before serving.

This recipe is for a Turkish food blogging event called "Pirinç Ye" (Eat Rice) which is hosted by Sonia of Our Beautiful House and Garden.

Turkish Rice Pudding-Baked (Fırın Sütlaç)

Sütlaç is a light dessert originated in Ottoman cuisine. The rumor goes that it was flavored with rose water in palace kitchens, but in my kitchen I skipped that ingredient. If you want to try the original taste, add 2-3 tsp rose water to milk.

1 lt (32 oz.) milk
1/2 cup white rice
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup corn flour or corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract

-Wash the rice and boil it with 2 cups of water until water is soaked
-Put rice, milk, sugar, and vanilla extract in a pot and stir on low. Keep stirring for 20-30 minutes more after it starts boiling.
-Mix corn starch with a little bit of water until the mixture is smooth. Then, add this mixture to the pot. Stir for 4-5 minutes.
-Now you need to decide whether you want to have regular sütlaç or baked one. If you want regular rice pudding, pour the pudding into bowls and serve cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top. However, if you want baked rice pudding, pick oven safe bowls, put put pudding in them, and then broil them until the top is brown, dark brown. Chill and serve.
-Another way to make baked rice pudding is to mix 2 tbsp of pudding (after you turn off the heat stove) with one egg yolk, and spread this mix lightly and evenly on the pudding after pouring them in bowls. If you broil sütlaç with the eggy mixture on top, you'll have a more flavorsome pudding.

See also Rice Pudding with Gum Mastic