Hummus

Here is the another tasty Lebanese dish.. We have it in Turkey as well with same name "Humus", it is an appetizer, we call this kinda dishes as "Meze".. Hummus mean in arabic "chick peas ". Mostly famous in arab countries but also in Turkey, Greece,Syria serve it as traditional food. While you are preparing it, the taste is detarmined by how to order the ingredients. For example; if you add garlic while you are mashing the chick peas , you will taste garlic more light..

Ingredients

1,5 cups dry chickpeas (around 300gr)

3 cloves of garlic crushed
1/2 cup tahin ( crushed sesame seeds)
1/4 cup lemon juice
Salt & pepper

Saok the chick peas in water and 1/2 tsp. salt overnight.
Drain the chick peas and rinse well, then put in a saucepan with plenty of water and cook over high heat till it starts boiling, then lower the heat and simmer covered for about one and a half hours, or until the chick peas are soft . Drain the cooked chickpeas and put all other ingredients and mash all together and mix it by help of either blender or just with a spoon. Add on it some olive oil and parsley, or chick peas... Ready to serve..

Bon appetit..

Waraq Enab (Yaprak dolma)

This is one of my favourite food.. maybe i can say my favourite!! :) in Turkey we call it yaprak dolma(yaprak: grape leaf, dolma:being filled up) and in Lubenon they call it Waraq Enab, it is one of best mediterianne dish i suppose, you can cook it as olive oil as cold (zeytinyagli) or if you desire, it can be cooked with meat and serve hot..

But i like the cold version more .. in Lebanon they cook it more sour than we do here ,but it is tasty , it is up to you how much lemon you wanna add ..

Ingredients

400 gr grape leaves, washed one by one
1 cup rice (200gr), washed and drained
4 medium onions, chopped
3/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp pine nuts (optional)
1 tbsp currant(optional)
1 tbsp dry mint
Salt
Sugar
Black pepper
Allspice

Dip the vine leaves in boiling water for 1 minute, remove and put aside. If using the ones from the packet remove and wash a few times to get rid of the salt. Put the onion at nonstick pan with 1 tbsp olive oilstire until light brown then add rice, lemon juice and other ingredients. 1 pinch of sugar would be enough. Cook over very low heat until the rice looks almost see-through. Add one cup hot water, cook until all the water evaporates.Put aside and let it cool down.

after everything is ready and enough cold to be rolled;

Open the leaves on a board one at a time. Put 1 tsp of the mixture on each, fold in 2 sides then roll like a small cigar. Repeat till you finish all the leaves or the stuffing.Pour in 1 1/2 cup of water from the side of pot. Line up all the rolls in the pot side by side tightly, without any holes in between. Cook over low heat until most of the water evaporates. Leave a little bit of water at the bottom, it will go away as it's cooling down. Serve cold..

Bon appetit...

Mutabbal (Lebanese Eggplant Salad)

I would never think the tahin (crushed sesame seeds) would suit into eggplant with yoghurt and garlic. But it does.. really.. Mutabbal was also one of my favourite dish in Lebanon. I am thinking , after i started this blog, i cooked a lot of variations of the eggplant! it is really good vegetable that you can cook in different and tasty ways. And mutabbal is one of them..

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 large eggplants, about 1 kg

¼ cup lemon juice (as desired)

¼ cup crushed sesame seeds

3 cloves garlic crushed with ½ tbls salt (as desired)

2 tbls parsley, finely chopped

200 gr yoghurt

50 gr mashed chickpeas

Grill eggplants on high heat for 20 minutes after piercing them by a fork on all sides. Turning frequently. After it cooked, peel off skin.Pound to a purée (use a food processor, if available). Mix it with crushed sesame seeds,lemon juice,chickpeas. When mixture is consistent, add garlic, yoghurt and beat mixture well. If thick, adjust by lemon juice and water.Serve it garnished with parsley, red pepper and olive oil.

Bon appetit..

Tabouleh (Lebanese Salad)

It is the most tasty salad till i ever ate , i really loved it, i liked the sour taste with it, i think the sour make it more tasty, if you like try to add more lemon , Eksi (pomegranate molasses )
Tabouleh is a salad but also one of main dish in Lebanon.
If you like you can add more bulghur and make it "Kısır" as a Turkish variation. but i loved the way i ate in Lebanon..
You can start adding little lemon and eksi , and after you taste decide how much you wanna add..

Lebanon...

Dear friends,
I finished my short Lebanon trip and back to home . Lebanon is a small country full of history, nature, great people and amazing dishes. You can drive in 3 hours the country from north to south. It is a place that you should mark for your holiday destination.

Also i liked the feeling to be a tourist in this lovely country, people are so helpful and nice. Once, one lady wanted to take my photo with her kids, i felt like a superstar:)
Jeitta grotto is amazing ,it is a gift from GOD..
I had chance to visit Beirut, Jbail, Baalbeck, Jounieh.. all of them i loved, met a lot of nice lubenese people..
And sure i tasted a lot of nice lubenese foods:)) Beydan, waraq enab,fettush,mutebbel,tabbuleh,falafel and more.. all were sooo delicious.. in most of restaurants before the food they serve Beydan(almond), pickle etc, and after meal , they serve you a lot of type of fruits or somewhere even desserts and sure arabic coffee.. and all free:)
Will share with you some recipes and more information about Lebanon..


Just follow me;)

Tavuk Guvec (Chicken Casserole)

I got the food taste which made with casserole ,
i have cooked it with lamb so this time i tried with chicken and eggplant. The thing with casserole; it should cook on the low heat ,and long time, like 1-2 hours. I love the smell when it is cooking , reult is amazing , the meat or chicken or the vegs just delectable. And the favourite food to serve with guvec is rice which is cooked with butter and chicken broth; how can i say no these foods:))


Enjoy..




Ingredients
1 kg chicken (boneless) sliced
3 eggplants sliced
3 potatos sliced
1 onion sliced
2 tomatos sliced
7-8 mushrooms sliced
3 cloves garlic
Salt
Black pepper

First put onions at the floor of the pot, after garlics, and chicken, potatos on it, after eggplants,mushrooms and cover the top with tomatos sliced... add oil,salt and black pepper. I covered the pot with aluminum foil and close the cover. fisrt cook 10 min with high fire, after get it on the low hear and cook 1 hours, i just tasted it , all the taste mixture perfect, althought i dont eat mushrooms, it has melted and the taste inside the food yummyyyyyyy:)
if you cant find guvec or tajin, you can cook it in regular pots.

Bon appetit..

iyi bayramlar..

Yesterday Eid ul fitr started, we call it "bayram" ,"Şeker bayrami(Bayram of Sweets)" , it is the celebration day after Ramadan, conclusion of fasting. Honestly i dont like bayrams as before. When i was a kid,it was more meaningful, people were more friendly with eachother, human relations was everything, now everything changed. Nowadays, Bayram means holiday for people, to chance to run away from work,city or people.. When i was a kid, it was rituel. The men of the street where i live were going to mosque for pra. When they came back ,we been made ready the breakfast table, the table was perfect, after we ate, people were greeting to eachother. "iyi bayramlar"-have good bayrams.. visiting relatives, friends.. When we are going to someone s home ,we are getting mostly chocolate or candy as gift.. i am a kinda traditional girl who like to keep alive this kinda good traditions.. Although my family got a bit angry with me , i still woke up early ,went market, prepared breakfast and woke my family up and pushed them to go out. Still had nice bayram day with all relative visits..

İyi bayramlar to all...

Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is more than coffee, it is a culture. I think we are the only nation which charge this much meaning on the coffee:)

We have even songs about coffee , "Coffee comes from Yemen" very old song ; it is true, Istanbul was introduced to coffee in 1543 during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent by Özdemir Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Yemen, who had grown to love the drink while stationed in that country.

It takes two minutes to prepare it. Using the coffee cup as a measuring cup, pour one cup of drinking water in the cezve per cup of Turkish Coffee (the quality of the water affects the quality of the coffee).
Add two teaspoons of coffee (5 g) and two teaspoons of sugar (as desired) per cup.
Blend the coffee and sugar with a spoon over a low flame.
When the coffee boils over a second time, pour the remaining coffee into the coffee cups.
Allow the remaining coffee to brew a while longer before adding it to the cups.
It is customary to serve Turkish Coffee with a glass of water. The water prepares the mouth for the coffee's flavour.When serving a large group, it is best to prepare semi-sweet Turkish Coffee.

After people decide to marry, the guy' s family comes to visit the girl family, and as a tradition ,the girl cook turkish coffee and serve. Sometimes she put salt inspite of sugar in the boy' s cup and he has to drink it to show how much he loves her, the taste is awful with salt:))) it is cruel tradition i guess:))

Also when we drink coffee ,we close our cups and after it get cool, there is always someone to tell your fortune.. You will marry with a great guy, you will be so succesful bla bla bla... i didnt find anyone who is good fortune teller.. if you know someone ,please let me know:))

Bon appetit...