Gavurdagi Salad Recipe

A delicious salad which takes the name from a mountain in Turkey.
It is great accompany especially for kebab and meat dishes.


Ingredients

3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup walnut, crushed
2 tb spoon olive oil
1 tb spoon pomegranate paste
2 tb spoon lemon juice
1 tb spoon cayenne pepper, crushed
1 tb sp sumac
salt

Rub onion with salt and sumac, mix with other ingredients exept walnut, place in a plate, sprinkle walnuts all over.

Bon appetite..

Egg Salad Recipe

This is the tradition in my family for Sunday breakfasts, easy and tasty recipe..



Incredients



5 eggs

1 onion

Parsley

Salt

Oil

Lemon juice

Red pepper



Boil eggs, chop eggs and onion , mix all the ingredients.



Bon appetit..

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves (Zeytinyagli Lahana Dolmasi) Recipe

Today i feel so sick , have fever, throat pain and coughing:( dont have too much energy but we had some cabbage at home and cooked it , it was so tasty so i couldnt avoid to share with you.

I cooked it veg but also you can cook it with ground meat as well..

Ingredients

1 medium cabbage (one that is not rock hard, but kind of soft when press on top, they're easier for taking the leaves out)

1 onion, finely chopped

1 gl of rice (200 gr)

salt

currant

mint

cumin

cinnamon

black pepper

sugar

Cook the onion with olive oil till they get golden brown. Add rice (before keep it in water for 5 min and drain) , after put all the other spices and ingredients, it will be a flovur harmoni. I added all of them around 1 tea spoon, just the mint and currant was more, but you can try your own mix as per your taste.. Cook it for few min.

On the other hand boil some water with salt in a big pot. Take out cabbage leaves one by one and add in the water, cook for 5 min . Take them out and place on a tray or a flat plate to cool down.

Once the leaves cool down. Place one on a flat surface. Cut the big vein of the leaf out; If you have a very big leaf, cut it into two.Add some rice filling to one cabbage leaf, closer to the bottom.

Fold sides of cabbage over the filling. Roll it up starting from the stem end.

Place rolled cabbage leaves in the pot lined with cut out veins and leaves in an orderly fashion.Pour lemon juice and hot water to cover the stuffed cabbage.Place a flat-ish plate on top of stuffed grape leaves so that they won't move around.Let it boil first on medium. Then cover and cook on low for 30-35 minutes.

Bon appetit...

Roasted red bell pepper salad

Here is another easy to make,delicious recipe..

I like red bell pepper. And all recipes with it. At home we make this salad quite often . Hope you all like it..



Ingredients

4 roasted bell peppers, sliced (I used canned)

2 table spoon olive oil

1 table spoon mayonnaise

1 table spoon vinegar

4-5 cloves garlic(finely chopped)

Salt



mix all ingredients, add some parsley on it and ready to serve..

bon appetit..

Celeriac with orange juice

As i have told before , i started a kinda diet. Actually i cant tell it is a diet ,it is impossible for me to diet because i really enjoy to eat . But at least i try to eat light foods at least for dinner. I really like celeriac and this recipe is from my mum. I have ate celeriac out ,restaurants and i have hated it and was avoiding to eat it till my mum cook it in this form. I really enjoy with this dish , hope you like it too..





Ingredients

4 middle size celeriacs

2 oranges

1 teaglass boiled peas(around 100gr.can)

1 onion chopped

1 carrot chopped

dill

3 table spoon olive oil

salt

3 cuse sugar



Peel celeriacs, slice it. Into a deep pot ,put celeriac,onion,carrot,olive oil,salt and sugar, close the cover, cook it for 10min onto low heat. Press the oranges and add the orange juice into pot, also add the peas. go on to cook for 20min more.

After you close the heat, add onto some dill and close cover, let it rest till it get cool.

Serve it cool..

Bon appetit...

Cheese Stuffed Zucchini

I have been busy for sometime , no time or energy i had to cook. And even i dont wanna eat anymore,i feel i am getting fat and i dont like it. It is better for me to stay away from my loves;pasta-potato and this kinda tasty and fatty things. Also i will stay away from frying foods for sometime. If you have noticed most of foods i cook and eat a bit fatty, already most of healthy foods arent delicious , what can i do:) But today i cooked and ate as dinner very light, healthy and tasty dish.

Ingredients

2 zucchini

100 gr white cheese

1 clove garlic

dill

1 table spoon tomato paste

1 tea spoon soy sauce

Black pepper

red pepper

It is for 4 portion , peel the zucchinis and cut it to half, cook them in boiling water with little salt, for 10 min or till the zucchinis get softer. while it is boiling; mix the cheese,dill,grated garlic,soy sauce and peppers.

After the zucchinis get soft, get them into a tray , with helping a tea spoon get away some zucchinis inside gently. Fill in with some cheese mix. Melt tomato paste into 2 glass hot water, and pour on the food. In pre heated oven, cook it for 15 min.

Serve it warm.

Bon appetit..

Stuffed Eggplants with Mince (Karniyarik) Recipe

That is the one basic recipe of Turkish&Ottoman Kitchen and this is my favourite dish that can be cooked with Eggplant. I really like it, and i reccomend if you cook it , you should cook rice also, they are very good friends i guess:)

This dish is normally served warm , but for vegetarians we have another version ,it is filled with onion,garlic&parsley. This dish is served cold and we call it "imambayıldı"(imam:prayer leader,bayıldı:to be fainted). I know it is so funny name. There are a lot of rumours about this name; someone tell a lady cooked this dish for her imam husband and he got fainted because of the delisious taste, some others tell imam fainted because of the cost of the dish and so on :)) this kinda funny stories about foods. But i like both ways of eggplant dishes. As you can understand from the stories ,it is very well known , old and important dish for Ottoman&Turkish kitchen..

Enjoy!!

Ingredients

5 small or medium eggplants

2 onions

250 gr mince (you can choose any meat you like)

1/2 table spoon tomato paste

1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped

2 tomatos

Oil

Salt

Black pepper

Peel alternating strips of skin lengthwise as seen in the picture for each eggplant. Most of people fry it but i like it light so i lay some oil in a tray and i put eggplants , add little oil on the eggplants also and cook in oven for 30 min with 180 degree. While it is cooking, chopp the onions well , with some oil and meat , cook it for 20 min with low heat. Add parsley, tomato paste,salt,black pepper, and cook a few min more all together, and it s ready. after the eggplants ready,Cut a slit in each eggplant , and fill the eggplants with the mince ingredients with a tea spoon. Cut tomatos and 2 pieces put on the every eggplant, add 100 gr water(1 tea glass) in the tray , cover the tray with aluminum foil, and cook 20 min in beforeheat oven with 180 degree..

Bon appetit...

Eggplant

Homemade Pickle (Tursu)

I am not sure if the pickle is right word for this, because when i write pickle in internet it just give me the one is cucumber pickle but when we make pickle at home normally it includes a lot like;cucumber,cabbage, tomato, gherkin,red cabbace,green pepper,beet,unripe melon and so on..we call it in Turkey "Tursu". My mum make pickle in big cans , after they been, we eat them with our dinner mostly. I like the salty taste of it. Also the water' s flavor in pickle is amazing, in Turkey there are some stores which sell pickle, and also the water of it.

If you never drunk that water ,at least once give a try if possible.. you will not regret.

Our can was for 5 lt. And the amounts we put in can is for that..

Ingredients

cucumber
cabbage
tomato
gherkin
red cabbace
green pepper
beet
unripe melon
20-25 cloves garlic
200 gr vinegar
1 tea glass mineral salt (around 70 gr
water (fill the can)

Wash your vegetables and fruits , put in can after garlic,vinegar, mineral salt, and the last fill all the can with water, if the water is good, fresh ;it is better. Also one of the important point is salt, it should be mineral salt which is thick ,and amount of it for 5 lt can 70 gr is enough, if you add too much salt ,your "tursu" will be so salty and you may not able to eat and if you add less salt ,the tursu can be spoiled. After you add all ingredients ,close the can cover very well.. It shouldnt touch to air. At least 15 days DONT OPEN it..

Keep it cool and dry place, also keep it away from sunshine. after 15 days open it and serve with your dinner.

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..

Potato in oven with cream recipe

Dear my followers,
after long time i am back to write:) i was a kinda busy ,even if i cooked i couldnt share with you.
Also holy month Ramadan started which muslims fast, it is really holy month which i enjoy, during the Ramadan ,people help eachother, the big tents settled outside that give foods to people, after sunset people can eat and drink. everybody goes to eachother for iftar (meal after sunset), we used to go to friends,relatives,and also invite people.. it is really amazing... i really enjoy with this month...
This recipe from my friend Turkay, recently at 5th of Aug i celebrated my birthday , and woow i m 26:)) she has cooked and i loved it ,easy and tasty food, i dont know if i have wrote before i am fall in love with potato:))
Enjoy with it..


Ingredients
1kg potatos
1 pocket cream
1 gl of grated cheese
1 sp chicken bouillon powder
salt
black pepper

Slice potatos , lay on a tray which u covered with some oil . on the other hand mix chicken bouillon powder with cream, she has used ready cream which is practical.
cover cream on the potatos. add on the potatos, sprinkle salt and black pepper at the top and send it to oven , cook it till the cheese get golden brown and potatos get soft..

Bon appetit..

Semizotu Salatasi (purslane salad) Recipe

Purslane is very healthy and delicious vegetable, i like the cook it also but the salad is amazing , also is more healthy to eat as salad without cooking, it is full of vitamin C and iron. Great choice for the summer days, light ,tasty and easy to prepare just 10 min..

Ingredients
1 bunch of purslane
5 sp yoghurt
3 clove garlic
2 tomato

Clean the purslane stems and leaves by rinsing with fresh water. Cut in pieces,
mix yoghurt and mashed garlics, and add on purslane , mix it together; add grated tomatos on the top of it; and the salad is ready.. You can add parsley on it before serving.
Bon appetit...

Green Beans with Olive Oil (Zeytinyagli Fasulye) Recipe

Today i was planning to cook liver (ciğer sarma) which my friend Dimitris reccomended but i couldnt find the proper ingredients at our butcher so i cooked vegetable which is more suitable for summer..
Green beans healthy, light ,tasty and easy to cook just you need to watch which bean you get, some beans dont cook for hours and hours!!
it should be stringless.

Ingredients

500 gr green beans
olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp sugar
2 tomatoes, chopped
Salt

First, wash the beans, trim both ends and shave along the sides with a knife. In a large pot place the onion and olive oil. Cook them together for about 3-4 minutes. Add the beans, garlic, salt, sugar, tomatoes. Pour in 1 cup of water.cook for 35-40 minutes(some beans can take more time,it should be soft), and add another half cup of water midway through. If needed, you can add more water later.

Let it cool for sometime, and it is ready to serve.
Bon appetit..

Zeytinyagli barbunya(Roman Beans with Olive Oil)

In turkish kitchen ,we have a special dishes with olive oil, we call them "zeytinyağlı", as it is summer and it is season for roman beans, i like this food, tasty.
you can use fresh or there are conserves which was already boiled; i used that.


Ingredients

1 conserve beans (500 gr)
2 onions
1 carrot
1 potato
3 cloves garlic
1 sp tomato paste
salt
2 cuse sugar


cook for few min finely chopped onions and garlics with olive oil , add chooped potato, carrot, and tomato paste , cook 10 min, later add beans and hot water,salt,sugar, cook 30 min. you can serve with parsley and lemon.
the rice is good accompony for the roman beans.

bon appetit..

Vegetables with pomegranate Recipe

While i am writing this blog,the hardest thing for me to put a name to the foods.because i just sometimes cook whatever i like , not bound any recipe..today i wanted to cook something with vegetable, it is very light recipe that you can try especially in summer..


Ingredients

1zucchini
1red bell pepper
1green bell pepper
1/2 carrot
2sp pomegranate
olive oil
fresh basilicum
10-12 pine nut
3 sp parmesan

Cut julien all the vegs, julien means long and thin:)) cut all of them, put in a tray some olive oil, add the vegetables,add some salt and black pepper, cook a few min, add the pomegranate ,cook 10 min more till the vegs get soft , if you cook so much ,the vegs will melt because they are thin.on the other hand, fresh basil,nuts and parmesan will be blendered, by the way the fresh basilicums that i used my mum growed them in our balcony and the taste was realllyy perfect,
after everything ready ,i cut a bit tomato to serve,i put some olive oil and oregano on it, after put our vegetables and the top , the basilicum mix.. and the parmesan ,basil i love them both really..
it is ready!!
Bon appetit..

Vegetable gratin

Yesterday we celebrated to my good friend Turkay's birthday and we had fun with friends, with this regard, happy birthday to her again:))
today came home and was thinking what to cook, the good improvement sign is that i can make up new foods, at least new for me:) maybe someone else make it too but didnt see or notice till now, it just came to my mind and i tried and the result wasnt bad at all, i tried to cook vegetable gratin, it s almost like meatball recipe, just with veg ,it s good and tasty food also for vegetarias, and the dessert that i cooked it my mum's recipe.

Ingredients
1 jar garniture (400 gr)
1 gl bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt
Black Pepper
Cheese

I used garniture for easy but you can also make it fresh vegetable after you cook a bit.Make pure of the garniture with blender in 1 min, add bread crumbs,egg,salt,black pepper,and some grated cheese and mix it ,knead a bit.lay some oil in a small tray , and put your vegetables, add grated cheese on top and put it in oven with 200 degree till the cheese will get gold brown...i added some dry tomato before serving..
Bon appetit..

Mucver (Zucchini Patty)

Today i was thinking what to cook and my manager! yes!i mean it; my manager Mr Semhan asked me to cook something real Turkey food like Mücver:) hmm actually the Zucchini Patty is not the real translation..so please call it "mücver":) anyway, the idea was perfect; the tasty,easy to cook, what can i want more:)
i noticed that i cooked a lot with zucchini..but you know ,actually nobody put the right value of the Zucchini, most of people dont like to eat it, it is actually very good food, and please keep in mind if you wanna lose weight , 100gr zucchini has just 14calori..isnt it awesome? yes!!you should cook it more and please dont say that children dont like to eat it!especially 1-6 year old children cant choose the foods, the parents behaviors give him/her the eating habit.. so if you eat,children will too...

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1 bunch green onions
1 bunch fresh dill
1 bunch fresh mint
cheese(optional)
Oil for frying
Salt and pepper

After digging up,wash the zucchini and grate. squeeze zucchini to drain the water. Mix finely chopped onions,dill,mint and cheese with the zucchin.Add the egg and flour,salt,and pepper,mix well. Heat oil and fry with a tablespoon of the prepared mixture,do it for a double-side. You can serve hot or cold. We serve it with yogurt as well..
Bon appetit...

Burger and Spinach Puree Recipe

Today noon when my sister was leaving home asked for me to cook smth with meat, thats why i cooked burger. i like people to demand for me to cook smth and i love to see and hear their comment about my foods , sure if it is good comment:) luckily till now nobody didnt get poisoned or give bad reaction.. ;)

Ingredients for Spinach Puree
1 kg spinachi
1 onion
1 sp butter
1 sp flour
1 gl milk
2 clove garlic
salt
black pepper
parsley

clean spinach and cook withput adding water just with some salt till it get soft..while it s cooking, put butter and finely chopped onion,and cook a bit, after add flour , burn a bit, and while u re mixing up add the milk slowly and mix it till it get mastic.after add , garlic,salt,black pepper, and finely chopped parsley and mix,cook a bit.
when spinachi is ready , put it in blender and make it puree, after add this spinachi into your ready souce, mix well and cook a few min together and it s ready..

Meatball(köfte)

500 gr ground meat
1 onion
1.5 tea glass bread crumbs
1 egg
black pepper
mint
salt
red pepper
cumin

Put all ingredients in a bowl and knead finely, when it s ready take smaller pieces and shape like hamburger, put them all in a oily tray, and cook 10 min in heated 200 degree owen.
serve it with spinachi..

bon appetit...

Chicken with vegetable Recipe

Today noon my mum asked me what i am gonna cook today...actually i wasnt feeling to cook smth ,but my sister also asked that, i dont know if they really like my foods or they re just lazy to cook and it s good someone else cooking:)) anywya i just needed smth easy to cook so i went market and bought some vegetable and chicken and just put them together and plus spices .. the result was better than i expect , i think i learn this job well.. :))

Ingredients
500 gr chicken(cut in small chucks)
1 marrow
1 carrot
2 pieces garlic
2 red bell pepper
1 sp butter
1 sp tomato paste
salt
black pepper
thyme
curry

I put in a bowl all chikens , put on it all spices and salt and mix and an let chiken to get all of them s smell and taste.. while it is waiting with spices , i cut marrow,carrot,bell peppers,garlic in small pieces. i put butter on fire and added vegetables on it, put salt , and let it cook for 5 min. after i added chicken and cooked for a few min more, i melted tomato paste in 2 glass of hot water and added o my chicken , i cooked it around 30 min.. u cant guess the result, perfect smell into kitchen and perfect taste..
bon appetit..