Antalya Bean Salad (Antalya Usulü Piyaz)

Piyaz is what we call bean salads in Turkey, but the term is actually Persian and means "onion." Piyaz is usually prepared with northern beans and kneaded onion; dressed with olive oil and vinegar; spiced up with pepper flakes; and decorated with tomatoes, parsley, and hard-boiled eggs. Depending on the region, piyaz might have green onions or sumac. However, in Antalya, a beautiful city with magnificent beaches and historical places on the Mediterranean coast, piyaz is made differently than the rest of Turkey. The difference is tahini and garlic, which, to my surprise since I'm not a great tahini fan, enriches the taste incredibly. In Tekirdag, my hometown, piyaz is served always with Tekirdag Meatballs. However, with tahini it can be a main dish as well.
2 cups of cooked northern beans
1 onion, cut finely in half-moons
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 or two hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 tomato, diced

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced











-Soak the beans over night. Bring them to a boil and then on medium heat cook them until soft. Or use canned beans.
-In a bowl mix tahini, vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic for the sauce/dressing. It shouldn't be too runny or thick. Since different tahini brands have different density, it's hard to find the perfect mixture. If the dressing you make with the measures above is thick, add some of the water that you used to cook the beans or use the juice in the can. If it's runny than you can thicken it with more tahini.
-Pour the tahini dressing over the beans and mix them well.
-Slice the onion thinly julienne style in half moon shape. In a bowl knead it with 1 tsp salt. Rinse.
-Mix the beans with onion and parsley.
-Decorate the bean salad with tomatoes and slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Vegeterian Eggplant Stew (Etsiz Patlican Güveç)

If there's a hierarchy among vegetables, for me eggplant's place is secured at the top. Given the number of different eggplant dishes in Turkish cuisine, I think I'm not alone in my admiration of eggplant. In Turkish cuisine eggplant is used in various ways; we bake it, fry it, grill it, roast it, stuff it, paste it, puree it, use it as filling for pastries, wrap it around kebaps, and even make jam with it. There are a couple things to be careful about when cooking with eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones. Eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. Even though its skin is thick and sometimes bitter, do not peel it all the way; peel it lengthwise in 1/2 inch stripes. Once peeled eggplants darken fast. To prevent this you can take out the spongy middle part with seeds and keep eggplants in salty water until you cook them.

This is a perfect Mediterranean summer recipe with olive oil, garlic, and eggplant.


























1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 big eggplant or two medium ones, peeled lengthwise in stripes
1 zucchini, diced
1 potato, diced
2 tbsp pepper paste or tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tomatoes, grated or 1 can of diced tomato processed in a blender
1/3 cup water or vegetable stock
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
salt
black pepper
pepper flakes

-Saute onions, garlic, and eggplant with olive oil on medium heat for 15 minutes.
-Add tomato/pepper paste, stir for 1-2 minutes.
-Add the rest of the ingredients except parsley. Cover and cook on low for 40-45 minutes.
-Sprinkle parley on top a minute or two before you turn it off.

Serve with rice and bread.

This summer recipe with garlic and parsley is for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Kate of Thyme for Cooking.

Turkish Poached Eggs with Yogurt (Çılbır)

 Çılbır (pronounced "chilber") is one of my all time favorite comfort dishes. The perfect harmony of eggs, yogurt, and paprika is simply delicious. It offers everything you'd expect from a comfort dish; it's easy to make, very light, and yummy. For those reasons I wasn't surprised when I came across it in Marianna Yerasimos’ 500 Hundred Years of Ottoman Cuisine; if çılbır made it to the palace kitchen, then there's no need for discussion over how great it is. Peotry, military, architecture put aside, Ottomans were infamous for creating comfort for themselves in every possible environment and delicious food, which brings us back to my favorite comfort food: çılbır.

The recipe below is for 1, but you can easily make it for more people by adding more eggs, yogurt, and butter.

2 eggs
2 tbsp vinegar
5 cups of water (or more)
1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tbsp butter
mint flakes
salt
pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)

-Bring to boil water, vinegar, and salt in a medium size pot. When it starts boiling, turn it down to medium heat.
-Break eggs one at a time in a small bowl, and glide them, one by one, in to the very hot but not boiling water. (If the water is boiling vigorously when you pour the eggs, you cannot have a homogeneous cooking or keep the egg together) Do not cook more than 2 eggs at a time. If an egg starts going messy in water, try to pull it together with a spoon.
-Cook them for 3-4 minutes for medium soft yolk. For a hard yolk, you need to cook them at least for 5 minutes .
-Take them with slotted spoon on a plate.
-Pour yogurt on them. (If you want to have your çılbır "a la turque", mix yogurt with 1 clove of minced garlic; you won't beleive how poachhed eggs go well with garlicy yogurt)
-On a skillet heat butter. When it sizzles add paprika. Stir for half a minute or less (just don't let it burn) and pour it on top of eggs and yogurt.
-Sprinkle mint flakes on top.

As I said before it is extremely easy to make çılbır; there are only a couple of points to be careful about: don't put the eggs in boiling water; bring it to a boil and then let it calm down and do not break the eggs directly into the pot; instead break them in little bowl and let them glide.

Red Lentil-Cauliflower Coconut Curry

This is completely an experimental recipe that came out because I wanted to make red lentil coconut milk curry soup. But then I wanted to make use of the cauliflower I had in the fridge for days and the frozen shredded cabbage (I don't know what I was saving for). It turned out to be so good that I think this will be one of my specialty dishes. With all the cauliflower florets and potatoes, it was way thicker than any soup should be so we had it with brown rice.

With all the ingredients below, this is a dish for 6 to 8 people

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
3 bay leaves
1 can coconut milk (13.5 oz - 400 ml)
1 can petite diced tomato or tomato juice
2 cups of red lentil
5 cups of water
3 cups of cauliflower florets
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 cup shredded white cabbage
spicy chili peppers, seeded
1/3 cup chopped parsley (or cilantro)
salt

-Boil lentils with 5 cups of water for 15 minutes, and set aside.
-Heat oil in a big pot and sauté onion and garlic for a couple of minutes.
-Add ginger, curry powder, turmeric, chili powder, cumin, bay leaves, and chili peppers. Stir until onion browns.
-Add coconut milk and tomato sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes.
-Add red lentils with water, cauliflower florets, cabbage, and potatoes. Cook until soft (approximately 30 minutes).
-Sprinkle parsley.

This recipe, with a touch of bay leaves, is for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and is hosted this weekend by Becky of Key Lime & Coconut.

Middle Eastern Lamb Stew (Orta Doğu Usulü Kuzu Güveç)

The only best-results-guaranteed lamb stew recipe I have takes between 2-3 hours of cooking. So it's not a recipe for emergency cravings. Although it's very easy to make, you have to start 3 or 4 hours before the meal. That's why I consulted the recipe book that came along with my precious smart pressure cooker when I was craving lamb stew and was too hungry to wait for 3 hours. I got the pressure cooker and the recipe book almost two years ago, and although I used the cooker almost every other day I didn't check the recipe book for even once. It got dusted on one of the shelves. Although there was actually a lamb stew recipe in the book, my expectations were really low not only because it was one of those thin generic recipe books, but also the recipe was categorized too generally--at least for someone from the Middle East--as "middle eastern": what part of that region the recipe came from was a mystery. Anyways, despite the confusing geographical definition and my low expectations the recipe with a couple of additions and changes turned out to be just perfect.

1 pound boneless lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium onions, choppes
2 medium Chinese eggplants, peeled lengthwise in stripes and diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium tomatoes, diced (or 1 can-14.5 ounces-petite diced tomatoes)
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp crushed hot pepper
salt and pepper

2-3 cups plain yogurt
2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, very finely chopped

-Heat the oil in big pot and brown the meat on all sides.
-Add onion, garlic, and eggplants. Cook until onion is soft.
-Add the remaining ingredients (except for yogurt and mint leaves). Season to taste.
-If you have a pressure cooker, cover and first bring to full pressure over high heat and then reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from burner and release the pressure.
-If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring to a boil. Then turn heat down to low. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes.
-In a bowl mix yogurt and mint leaves.
-Serve the stew with minty yogurt on the side or on the top.
-Get your bread toasted, because the juice of this stew is not to be wasted!


Honestly, at first I didn't get the minty yogurt sauce. Yogurt is always good and refreshing with heavy stews, but why fresh mint? But after I took a bite, everything was clear. That strong and refreshing mint flavor mingled with cinnamoned and cloved lamb is simply rewarding. And for that big change that little bit of fresh mint causes, I decided to post this recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted this weekend by Anna of Morsels & Musings.

Savory Cornmeal Cake (Mısır Ekmeği)

Corn meal or corn flour cake was something my mom used to bake for a lazy weekend breakfast once or twice a year. It was always a special cake not only because it was delicious but also because it wasn't something we had all the time. Corn flour my mom used for the cake came from my dad's hometown, a small town in the Black Sea Region. My aunt would bring it back after visiting her relatives.

I recreated the recipe not with Black Sea Region corn meal, but with Indiana Spring Mill State Park corn meal. I called my mom for the details and since in her explanation she used "coffee mug" instead of "cup" as measurement, measurement for this recipe will be a coffee mug. If you pick the most ordinary coffee mug and measure everything with the same mug, you'll be fine.

2 coffee mugs of corn meal
1 coffee mug flour
3 eggs
1 coffee mug yogurt
3/4 coffee mug oil (corn or sun flower-if you use olive oil it might make the cake bitter)
2 tsp baking powder
salt
1 cup of feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and sliced
1 tsp pepper flakes
1/2 bunch parsley or dill, chopped finely (if you don't have parsley or dill, you can use thyme)










-Beat the eggs in a bowl and add all the ingredients. Mix well.
-If the dough seems too dense, lighten it up by adding a little more yogurt or milk. This shouldn't be a dense cake.
-Grease the owen dish (I used a 2 inch deep 8.5 x 11.5 inch one)
-Put the dough in the owen dish. Sprinkle black seeds on it if you wish.
-Bake approximately for an hour in a preheated owen at 375ºF. After 45 minutes, start checking with a knife every 10 minutes. When the knife comes out clean, the cake is baked.

This recipe is for Meeta's Monthly Mingle.

Mushroom Cookies (Mantar Kurabiye)

This is a long lost recipe for me. Although I used to love these mushroom cookies, I completely forgot about them until the other day when I was thinking about what to make for my friends who'd come over for tea. Now, having a tea party is a very important social activity. You have to serve something with Turkish tea. It might be a cake, some sort of phyllo dough pastry (puff pastry or phyllo dough), cookies, potato salad, some kind of poğaça, or tabbouleh depending on the season and what you have in the pantry. Even if your guest is an unexpected one that catches you totally unprepared, there are vital things one can do: send the youngest kid in the household (if there's none in your house, find one from the neighborhood) to the bakery to fetch simit (sesame seed fastfood bread) or to the closest patisserie for goodies. But if it's a scheduled tea party, then you have all the time to contemplate on what to do. The social etiquette is to serve two different kinds: sweet and savory. I found the recipe at www.kekevi.com

Mushroom cookie, which, bytheway, has nothing to do with fungus other than its shape, is a perfect tea-time cookie.

2 eggs

2 sticks butter
1 cup powder sugar
1 cup corn starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 cup flour

coco or nuts

-Mix well butter and sugar.
-Add eggs and beat well.
-Add in the rest of the ingredients except for coco. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
-Roll a piece of dough into a size of a golf ball (almost).
-Put 1-2 tsp coco on a flat plate. Find a small cap; I used the cap of carton orange juice container. Beer cap would work, too. Wet it a little. Press it first on coco and then on the ball-shape cookie dough. You may need to repeat this with every cookie.
-If you're feeling lazy or you don't want a mushroom-shape cookie, just put a hazelnut, almond, or pistachio on your cookies.
-Bake at preheated 370F for 10-12 minutes or until they have tiny cracks on them. Do not bake them until they turn yellow or brown! Or you'll lose that melt-in-the-mouth texture.

This is the best cookie ever!

Puff Pastry Bundle (Üçgen Milföy Börek)

Börek is a general name for phyllo pastry filled with various things most common of which are feta cheese, ground meat, potato, and spinach. It's usually easy to find phyllo dough in Turkey since there's a yufkacı, phyllo dough store, in every neighborhood. However, if it's a Sunday or a vacation day when yufka places are closed or if it's an emergency (an unexpected guest for tea) or if you're out of Turkey where it's hard to find phyllo dough, then you have puff pastry. They're easy to handle; just follow the instructions on the package to thaw and bake them. You can fold them into squares, rectangles, or triangles. The choice is yours.

I made these puff pastry bundles for tea time and used two different stuffing: black olive and feta cheese.


























2 square sheets of puff pastry
1 egg yolk
black seeds

black olive stuffing
1/3 cup pitted black olives
1 roasted red pepper
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)

-Coarsely blend the olives and roasted red pepper in a food processor.
-Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

feta cheese stuffing
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tbsp fat leaf parsley, chopped finely
1 tbsp dill, chopped finely
1 tsp pepper flakes

-Smash feta with the back of a fork.
-Mix with parsley, dill, and pepper flakes.














For triangles, I divided each puff pastry sheet into 9 equal squares. I filled first 9 squares with olive stuffing and folded them into bundles. Brushed them with beaten egg yolk and put black seeds on top to tell them apart from the feta ones. I filled the other 9 squares with feta stuffing, again folded them into bundles, and brushed the tops with egg yolk.
Bake them at 400F until golden brown.

This recipe with flat leaf parsley and dill is perfect for tea time as well as breakfast, and also for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded and is hosted by Kalyn of famous Kalyn's Kitchen.