Garbanzo Beans and Soft Wheat Berries Soup (Nohut ve Buğdaylı Çorba)

A hearty delicious soup for the last cold days of winter from Lezzet's February 2007 issue.

1 cup dry garbanzo beans
1/2 cup soft wheat berries
1/2 cup red lentils
1 small celery root/celeria, grated
1 carrot, petite diced
5-6 parsley stems, chopped
2-3 celery root stems, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cups vegetable or beef stock
2 tsp oregano leaves
1 cup plain yogurt (non-fat, 1%, 2%, or whole milk)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper


























-Put garbanzo beans and soft wheat berries in a pot. Cover with water ~3 inches above garbanzo and soft wheat berries. Bring to a boil. Then turn it off, cover and soak overnight. Wash and rinse them well the next day.
-Heat butter in a big pot. Add onions and cook until soft.
-Add in red lentils and tomato paste. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Then, add soaked garbanzo beans and soft wheat berries. Stir for another 2-3 minutes.
-Add grated celery root, diced carrot, chopped parsley and celery root stems, oregano leaves, black pepper, salt, and stock (vegetable or beef).
-Let it boil on medium heat for approximately an hour.
-In a small bowl, mix yogurt and olive oil.
-Slowly stir yogurt into the soup. Mix once and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Then turn it off. The soup is ready.

Purslane Salad with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Semizotu Salatası)

When I was 7 or 8 years old, purslane was introduced to me as one of the cousins of spinach, namely its aunt's daughter. Since I loved spinach very much, my parents introduced every other green leaf to me as a member of extended spinach family. Purslane grew on me in time, and ascended to the throne of spinach. During my dad's futile trials of having a lawn, one batch of grass seeds came mixed with purslane seeds! We never had a lawn, but we had delicious purslane for many summers. In Turkish cuisine we use purslane raw in salads or cook them just like spinach. It has a sweet and sour delicious taste.

You can find purslane--it's also called verdolaga--at Mexican or Latin American markets here in the States or in your yard.


























purslane, washed and leaves picked
yogurt, enough to cover purlane leaves
as much garlic as you want, minced
salt

optional
crushed red pepper flakes
olive oil, a couple of drops

-Mix yogurt, salt, and garlic in a bowl.
-Add purslane to this mixture.

Pear Marmalade (Armut Marmelatı)

The other day my mom sounded highly enthusiastic on the phone about a new quince marmalade recipe. she insisted I tried it. I didn't want to say that I cannot find quince, one of my favorite winter fruits, here and crush her passion. I said sure, of course I'll try. After I hung up, I decided to apply the recipe to pears that were sitting on the counter for a long time. The result was a light fragrant marmalade perfect with cream cheesed bagels.

I had 5 pears and used all. You can use as many as you want. 5 pears made 24oz/1.5lb/~700gr marmalade.

5 grated pears made ~5 cups. For 5 cups of grated pears I used 2 1/2 cups of sugar. So, the ratio of sugar to pear is 1 to 2.


























5 d'anjou pears, grated (use the bigger hole), seeds taken out, not
peeled
2 1/2 - 3 cups of sugar
juice of 1 orange
juice of half lemon
3-4 cloves

-Put grated pear, juice of orange, and cloves in a pot on medium heat. Pear will first release juice. Cook off juice. (~1 hour)
-Stir in sugar and lemon juice and cook until it thickens.
-Pour in dry jars and let cool. Wait until it cools down to put the lid.

Oven Baked Fish Pilaki (Fırında Balık Pilâki)

Pilaki is originally a Greek word. I am not sure what it means in Greek, 'plate'?, but in Turkish pilaki refers to a group of dishes that are cooked with onion, garlic, carrot, potato, and parsley in olive oil. We usually cook beans in this style, like "fasülye pilaki" or "barbunya pilaki", yet fish pilaki is another favorite. In my family this dish is usually made with bonito (palamut), yet any fish can be cooked this way. What you see above is talapia.


























3-4 tbsp olive oil
4-6 fish fillets
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
3-4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 potato, petite diced
2-3 tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
salt&pepper

optional
mushroom
celery root, petite diced

-Heat olive oil. Add onion. Cook until soft.
-Add carrot. Cook for a couple of minutes. (if you are using mushroom, add now)
-Add potato. (if you are using celery root, add now). Cook until vegetables are soft.
-Add tomato, garlic, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of water. Cook until the cooking liquid is almost absorbed. Add half the parsley.
-Spread half of the vegetables on a oven dish. Place the fish on top.
-Cover with the rest of the vegetables.
-Season with black pepper. Pour lemon juice and place lemon slices on top.
-Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 350-370F for 30 minutes or until the fish is tender.
-Sprinkle remaining parsley and serve.