Celery Root Salad with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Kereviz Salatası)

There are two common lies that Turkish moms tell their non-celery root liking kids. If celery root is cooked, the mom forces the dish as a potato dish. The different smell and taste? Oh, it's just the spice she used! However, if celery root is to be eaten raw, as in celery root salad with yogurt, then the kid is told that it is radish salad. I loved radishes as a kid and tried this so-called radish salad served on a New Year's Eve dinner, which is a big celebration in Turkey that includes lot of drinking, turkey, numerous raki friendly salads and olive oil dishes, bingo, several kilos of fruit, and a belly dancer that appears on every TV channel exactly at midnight.



























1 medium celery root, thinly grated
juice of 1/2 lemon
thick yogurt
mayonnaise
chopped walnuts
salt
dill, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil

-Grate celery root in a bowl.
-Squeeze lemon juice on top and mix well.
-Add enough yogurt+mayo to cover grated celery root. The ideal ratio of mayo to yogurt 1:3, however, you can change it to adopt your taste.
-Add minced garlic, chopped walnuts, dill, salt, and olive oil. Mix well.
-Cover with a clear wrap and store in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.

Cheese Pastries (Peynirli Poğaça)

Although there are tens of different kinds of poğaça (savory pastry), none resembles anything like Italian focaccia, where the term poğaça derives from. There are two main ways of preparing savory pastry dough: with or without yeast. Non-yeast pastries are favored by many for their rich-in-butter-nature; yet, most people make pastries with yeasty dough because it requires less amount of oil. Since I don't bake poğaças very often, I see no harm in indulging myself with feta and butter.

makes ~25 cheese pastries

2 sticks of butter, melted
1 egg, white for the dough, yolk for brushing the tops of pastries
3 cups of flour
~1/2 plain yogurt
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup white cheese or feta crumbles
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
sesame seeds

-Mix cheese and parsley in a small bowl.
-Put flour in a bowl. Pour butter, egg white, and salt. Mix well.
-Start kneading and add yogurt as much as you need to make slightly soft, easy-to-shape dough.
-Roll walnut-size pieces in your hands to make balls. Press the ball between your palms to make a flat round, ~3-3.5 inches in diameter.
-Place a small amount of cheese+parsley filling in the middle of the flat round dough. Make it in to a ball by bringing the edges into the middle and covering the filling.
-Place on a cookie tray. Brush the tops with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes.
-Traditionally poğaças are served with tea, but you can also serve them for dinner as a side. Although there are tens of different kinds of poğaça (savory pastry), none resembles anything like Italian focaccia, where the term poğaça derives from. There are two main ways of preparing savory pastry dough: with or without yeast. Non-yeast pastries are favored by many for their rich-in-butter-nature; yet, most people make pastries with yeasty dough because it requires less amount of oil. Since I don't bake poğaças very often, I see no harm in indulging myself with feta and butter.

Bulgur Kofte (Çılbak Köftesi)

Bulgur Kofte is a different version of another traditionally Turkish recipe, garlicy bulgur buttons, from southeastern Turkey. Koftes are usually made with ground meat but this one requires only bulgur, which explains the name: Çılbak Köfte. "Çılbak" means "naked" and "poor," so we can translate the name for this dish as "The Poor Man's Kofte."

These koftes are easy to make and delicious. You can have them with the garlicy yogurt, as well as with different sauces from the garlicy bulgur buttons recipe.




































for 4 people
makes approximately 45 koftes

for koftes
1 cup fine bulgur
1 cup hot water
1 cup white flour
1 egg
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp red pepper paste
1 tsp salt

for the sauce
2 cups yogurt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 tsp paprika




























-Put bulgur in a big bowl. Add hot water, cover and let it soak for 10 minutes.
-Wet your hands with cold water and knead bulgur for 5 minutes.
-Add egg, salt, tomato and pepper red paste, and mix well with your hands.
-Start adding flour slowly and knead the bulgur dough for 10-15 minutes, until everything is well mixed.
-Take one generous table spoon of the mix and roll between your palms to form a ball, wetting your hands with cold water now and then. Then, squeeze it in one hand to form the fingerprints on an almost oval shape.
-Fill a big pot with water half way through and bring to a boil. Add bulgur koftes, let it boil again, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove koftes with a slotted spoon.
-Beat yogurt with minced garlic with a fork until smooth in a bowl.
-In a small saucepan melt heat butter or olive oil. When it is hot, add paprika and let sizzle for 10-15 seconds. paprika easily burns, so watch out.
-Serve koftes in a deep plate. First pour garlicy yogurt and then sizzling paprika on top.
Simply delicious!

The recipe is from Lezzet Dergisi January 2008 pg 40.

Sultan's Delight (Hünkar Beğendi)

I have heard two different stories surrounding the name of this dish, Hünkar Beğendi, which literately translates as "the Sultan liked it." The first one is that the dish was created for Sultan Murad IV (1612-1640) and obviously he liked it. Where the dish was created--in the palace kitchens or in the kitchen of a moderate house that Murad IV spent a night on his way back from a hunting trip--is not clear. The second rumor is that the same dish was served for Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, in Sultan Abdülaziz's Beylerbeyi Palace in 1869, and she liked it so much that Abdülaziz promised her to ask his chef to give Eugenie's cook the recipe. And the rumor goes that Abdülaziz's chef was reluctant to share his recipe. I salute whoever shared the recipe later on.

Hünkar Beğendi is lamb stew served on a bed of creamy roasted eggplant puree. However, "begendi," in time, started to be used for eggplant puree. Now you can also find 'chicken beğendi' or 'meatball beğendi.'















for the stew
1 lb stew lamb (preferably from leg)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 green chilies or bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, petite diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
2-3 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1-1 1/2 cup hot water

for the eggplant puree
2 lb eggplant
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup grated Turkish hard mature cheese OR kashkaval cheese OR parmesan
1-1 1/2 cup milk
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

-Heat butter in a pot and sautee the onions for a coupe of minutes. Then add the meat. When browned on all sides, add green pepper. Stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add tomato paste and stir for another couple of minutes.
-Add tomaoes and cook for 5 minutes.
-At this point add the hot water and let simmer until meat is tender, approximately an hour. Add more water if need be.
-Meanwhile, wash and prick the eggplants with a fork on at least two sides.
-Place eggplants oon gas burner or under broiler turning them frequently until eggplant is collapsed and skin is charred. You can also bake them until flesh is soft, but charred tastes better.
-Let cool and then peel eggplants and discard stems.
-Mash eggplant with the back of a fork in a bowl and mix with lemon juice.
-Heat butther in a pot. Add flour and stir constantly to make a roux on low heat.
-Warm the milk and add slowly. Whisk to make the mixture smooth. simmer for 4-5 minutes.
-Add eggplant puree and mix well.
-Add salt and black pepper, and cheese. Mix well. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
-Make a bed on a plate with eggplant puree and place meat on top of eggplant puree. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.