Peymacun Recipe (Turkish style pizza)

This dish originally cooked with ground meat and called "lahmacun", this is the version with cheese, in turkish cheese mean "peynir" so we call this "peymacun" :)
The size is normally bigger, i wanted to make it smaller , it s nice appetizer, mine is a bit crispy , the way i liked, if u dont like , u can add a bit water in the cheese mixture or maybe chopped tomato, with tomato juice it d be softer.

Turkish Menemen Recipe

This is today breakfast meal , i love it , easy to cook and delicious. This is the most popular egg dish in Turkey.


Ingredients

4 tomatoes
4 green bell peper
4 green onion
4 eggs
Salt
Black Pepper
Red pepper(optional)
olive oil

Cook chopped onion&bell peppers in a skillet for few min, add peeled&chopped tomatoes in it, cook till wilted. Over low heat , add eggs,salt, black pepper,red pepper and scramble in the skillet until eggs fairly firm.

Serve warm,

Bon appetite..

Patatesli Cig Kofte Recipe

I know i know, again it s been long time that i havent wrote , but the blogspot was restricted in Turkey and i was in a diet, btw i lost 4 kg :)) if i have kept cooking , i wouldnt be able to lose weight, i need to lose still 4 kg more but i cant do long months diet..

Today is sunday i am at home, lazy and i was watching a tv channel which is showing traditional turkish foods, i saw it there and wanted to try , i pressumed it would be amazing , and yes ! ,t is great, easy to do and tasty. Çiğ mean raw, the original çiğ köfte is made by raw meat , it s not cooked, the meat cook with kneading by a lot of hot pepper, long hours it need to be kneaded with hot. This s alternative veggie, more healthy and same tasty recipe from Antakya , a city in Turkey, near Syria border.

Ingredients

1 cup bulghur , small grain (200 gr)

1 medium size onion , finely chopped

4 medium potatos

2 table spoon tomato paste

1 table spoon hot pepper paste

1 table spoon pomegranate molasses

Salt

Black Pepper

Cumin

Red pepper

Basil

Olive oil

Wash the bulghur with cold water and drain well , knead it with all ingredients except potatos while the potatos are boiling on the fire.

We need to knead bulghur finely if not it would be so crusty as we didnt cook the bulghur.

After it get a bit softer , blend boiled potatos, it should be like puree, and add on the bulghur knead well , when i tasted i felt it need more tomato paste so i added a bit more , you can also add whatever you like, it neeed to be knead well and the color should be homogeneous. then shape them with little olive oil as you wish and put some parsley on it , it is ready! Bon apetit..

Potato Ravioli (HINGAL)

I am feeling right now that i am in the heaven , while i am tasting potato , butter.. yummy!!

When i was a kid ,we had a neighboor who used to cook "Hingal" , i always loved it , and i felt like i am kid now, the taste the same like she did, her name is Yasemin who was living next door; i have liked her, life is weird, i havent seen her from years , i dont know where she is or what she does, this hingal just made me remember great memories. I guess i am getting old as i started to talk about past:)

She is Circassian , and this Hingal a Circassian food which is also cooked in Cantral Anatolia area of Turkey.

The difference from the usual turkish ravioli is ; hingal bigger than regular turkish ravioli, there are some different shape variations, you can do whatever you like. I used a form that i like.

Ingredients

For the dough;

1,5 gl of all purpose flour (300 gr)

1 egg

1/2 table sp salt

water

For inside;

2 potato

1 onion

red pepper

black pepper

salt

butter

peel potatos, and cook them till they get soft, other hand with some butter cook sliced onion till they get golden brown. Mash cooked potato and add on the onion, include pepper and salt, cook a few min more and let it cool.

Mix all dough ingredients , knead enough , it shouldnt be soft, open it enough , dont make it so thin, i used my form and cut them circular.

i put the circular dough, add inside some potato mix , and close it. It got nice shape , you can also close yourself but pay attention not them to open.

Wıth the ingredients i used, it is been 16 pieces which is enough for 4 but it is so delicious maybe just 2 may eat all too:)

Boil some water add a bit salt, put the hingals inside , cook for 10 min. Drain it . For the top melt some butter with red pepper and add on the hingals.

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..

Potato&Carrot Crocket

I love potato, i can eat it everyday ,i dont think i am gonna get bored of it. Today morning my mum has made potato salad for breakfast. But it wasnt enough potato for me i guess and i wanted to eat more potato :)) I like potato crocket, i wanted to try something else. I added carrot in it.. The taste was good. I reccomend you to try..

Pilaf/Rice with green bean (Fasulye Dible)

All the areas in Turkey has different kinda food culture. In north east of Turkey which is Black Sea Region ,they cook almost all geens' "Dible". Dible is rice with veg. And Fasulye(green bean) Dible is one of them. Black Sea Regions is the most green areas in Turkey, so they cook a lot with green,vegs and so on..
Rize/Turkey

Normally i dont like to add recipes which i didnt cook in my blog. But after i started blogging thing and my mum saw that i got comments and Top 9 bla bla bla, she started cook better , unusual foods than normal times. I think she thinks that she has been cooking from 30 years and nobody appriciated in proper way:) and now she has a kinda chance with me to show her foods more people and got claps:) She is really great cook, best that i knew. Honestly she didnt want me to go in kitchen too much because she was afraid from the mess after i cooked.. But she couldnt do anything about it:) After she cook , always ask me to add the foods in my blog but i reject, but this time i thought i can make privilege for one time:) i liked the fasulye dible too much (normally she wasnt used to cook it, i think she cooked for you:) ) The taste is so good.. It is fillig,tasty and easy to cook. What you can ask more from a food? :))

Ingredients
250 gr green beans
400 gr rice
1 onion
1 tomato
Salt
oil

After the beans are washed and cleaned , cut into pieces. Into a deep pan, put beans, on it, add tomatos(chopped),onion(chopped),1 table spoon olive oil,and salt. Close the cover ,on the low heat ; cook 15min. Add 2 glass(around 400gr) hot water, and close the cover again, cook 10 min. After you are sure the beans are softened. Wash the rice and add on the beans. Cook till the all water gone. After take it away and rest for 15 min.
Serve 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...

Falafel & Tarator Sauce

Here is another delicious dish that i have tasted in Lubenon. It was soo good, they serve it in the bread with tomato, radish, lettuce and tarator sauce. One of best thing also i have just paid less than 2 usd:) it was so cheap and great taste. It is famous food in Middle East. Good food also for vegeterians.

One of my Egyptian friend told it is called as food for poor people.. but i dont care, i like it:))

maybe i should open a place to sell falafel , i am sure i d make good business:) in Egypt, Mc Donald sell a special called Mc Falafel:)))

I went a place in Beirut which is famous with falafel called BARBAR.. and they are open 24 hours i guess , you cant guess how much it is full. You never find it empty.... always someone wait to get falafel:)

Ingredients For Falafel

1 gl of chick peas (250 gr boiled)

1 onion ,finely chopped

3 cloves garlic

2 table spoon finely chopped parsley

2 table spoon bulghur

1 table spoon flour

1 tea spoon cumin

1 tea spoon coriander

2 tea spoon salt

1 tea spoon red pepper

I used canned chick peas already boiled, but if you are gonna cook yourself, the beans have to be soaked 1 days before , and next day you have to boil it around 1-1,5 hour..

It was easy with canned beans. First i put in blender onion , parsley,garlic, and chop a bit, on them add chich peas. Chopped them together, take them in a bowl, add on them other ingredients. Just before you add bulghur , soak it a few min, after add on the mix. knead them 5 min . Put the dough in the fridge for 15 min.

After you took them out, get small pieces , and roll them like a small ball, repeat it till your dough finish.

Heat oil as much as possible, fry the balls few min. After they get dark ,mean it is fine..

You can serve it with tarator sauce as warm..

Ingredients For Tarator

4 table spoon yoghurt

2 slice stale bread

1/2 table spoon lemon juice

1/2 table spoon vinegar (grape)

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 table spoon tahin (crushed sesame seeds)

6-7 pieces walnut,mashed

Salt

cumin

All ingredients has to be chopped well or mashed, then mix it very well..

Easy and tasty sauce, you can serve this sauce with meat , chicken foods and also i like it to eat with potato chips..

Bon appetit...

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..

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..

Rice with Tomato Recipe (Domatesli pilav)

I think because of Ramadan and i stay long hours hunger , everyday i want different foods badly. And today i came home earlier, after i got some rest , i went market and shopped for my foods.


Oh by the way, i have been staying with one of my friend from 15 days and today i came back home and i have missed them , thats why i wanted to cook something, i thought they may miss my foods:)) hopefully i cooked well..


Tomato with rice is my favourite pilaf, hope you like it too..

Ingredients

3cups rice
3 tomatos
1/2 sp tomato paste
Salt
Black pepper
1 sp butter


Let the rice to wait in warm water for 15 min. Grate the tomatoPour in a medium sized pot along with salt and butter. After 5 min add the tomato paste.When it starts boiling, add the rice, cook few min, after add the enough water. For the rice normally enough water means ,it should cover on the rice and it should be a bit risen on rices.. Cook on low heat with covered.Continue cooking until the rice is done, till all the water has evaporated.





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..

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...

Mercimek Koftesi(Lentil Patties)

Well, it s again really easy and tasty food for you. it is typical turkish apettizer.when you have guests at home you may cook this and serve with tea, easy to cook really, as i told before ; if i can cook everyone can..:)
i really enjoy cooking and writing this blog, but i am not sure if i was married and had to cook after work ,and tired..now it is fun and still have energy and i just realized that i really cook easy and tasty foods:) everybody who can work can cook easily all of my recipes..

Ingredients

* 1 cup fine bulgur
* 1 cup red lentils
* 1 tablespoon chili paste
* 1 onion
* 1 lemon
* 1 handful parsley
* 2 stalks green onions
* Curly
* Olive
* Salt
* Black Pepper
* Cumin

Wash lentils with 3 cups water until cooked porridge. Taken from the oven when cooked lentils 1 cup fine bulgur into the bottle is left to be made. If not at the desired consistency of wheat can be added rigidity.

In the meantime, onion and parsley are chopped. Roasted tomato and onion. Lentils, bulgur mixture with bottled spring onions, parsley, tomato paste is added and mixed. Adjust salt and spices. Be made in the form of meatballs, served with plenty of curls.
when i was preparing it,wrongly i added all pocket black pepper..lol... :) and it s been a bit hot.. but the taste still good;)
Bon appetit....