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Recipes
Stuffed Grape Leaves
(Etli Yaprak Dolmasi):
Ingredients:
 A jar of Grape Leaves,
1 cup long grain rice,
liberal pinch of salt,
1-2 large onions,finely chopped,
2 cloves of garlic,crushed,
2 Tbs finely chopped parsley,
pinch of ground allspice,
pinch of ground black pepper,
3 Tbs of olive oil,
1 pound of ground meat (turkey,beef or lamb),
juice of 1 to 2 lemons,
2 cups chicken stock or water,
butter.
Cut the stems of the grape leaves.Place them in a large bowl,cover with boiling water and soak for 10-15 minutes and rinse with cold water.
Soak the rice in salted hot water for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile saute the chopped onions,garlic,herbs and seasoning in the oil.
Remove from heat, add the drained rice and the meat,mixing everything together very well.
Place a grape leave on a work surface, shiny side down, put about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture near the stem end,then fold in the end and sides and roll up neatly.
Repeat this process untill all the leaves are stuffed.
Line the bottom of a large,heavy based pot with several grape leaves, then arrange the filled rolls in stacks with lemon slices between.
Pour in the stock or the water, add dabs of butter on the top.
Place a heat proof dish on the top to keep the rolls pressed down.
Cover with a lid and simmer slowly for 1 to 2 hours, or untill the leaves are tender.
Serve the "dolma" lukewarm,sprinkled with lemon juice.
Alternatively, you may prefer to serve with a garlic, olive oil and lemon juice dressing.
Garnish with halved lemon slices.
The same stuff is also used for pepper.
Red Lentil Soup
(Kirmizi Mercimek Corbasi):
Ingredients:
1 Cup Red Lentils,
1.5 Cups Chopped Onoins,
4 tablespoons butter,
6 cups chicken or meat stock,
2 tablespoons flour,
1-2 egg yollks,
1 Cup milk,
Salt.
Red lentils do not require soaking, they cook fast.
Wash and drain the lentils and keep them on the side until the other ingredients are ready to be used all together.
Saute the onoins in half of the butter until golden brown. Add the stock and bring it to a boil, add the lentils and simmer on slow heat until they are very soft.
Put the lentils in a strainer and seperate the skin.
Melt the remaining butter in a pan, add the flour and stirring for 3 minutes or less until golden brown.
While stirring constantly pour in the soft strained lentils.
Simmer the soup on very low heat for 3 minutes while whisking the eggyolk with milk and later adding the mixture with salt to the soup.
Keep the heat going, but not boiling the soup.
The soup tickens as it stands, if you like a less thicker soup you could always add water or stock later on.
Tandir Style Turkish Bread
(Tandir Ekmegi):
Starter:
1/4 tsp Active dry yeast,
1 Cup plus 2 tbsp Bread flour or Unbleached all purpose flour, plus additional for dusting,
Dough:
1 tsp Active dry yeast,
1/2 tsp Sugar,
2 tbsp Olive Oil,
1 tbsp Salt,
1/3 cup Whole wheat flour 1/8 tsp Sugar,
1 tbsp Sesame or Nigella seeds,
1/4 cup cornmeal
To make starter:
In a medium sized bowl, dissolve yeast in 3 tbsp warm water.
Let stand 10 minutse. Stir in 5 more tbsp warm water.
Gradually stir in flour. Once the mixture comes together, dust your hands with flour and knead it in the bowl to form a soft, smooth ball, adding more flour if necessary.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until light and bubbly about 8 hours.
(Starter may be kept in the fridgetor up to 1 week, return to room temperature before using.)
To make dough and bake bread
Stir together yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup warm water in a large mixing bowl.
Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy.
Stir in olive oil, salt, the starter and 1 cup warm water until well blended. Gradually stir in the whole wheat flour and 2 1/2 cups of the bread or all purpose flour, add more flour if necessary to form a dough.
Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes or until the dough is soft and elastic.
Clean bowl and lightly coat with olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat it on all sides.
Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until more than doubled, about 2 hours.
Punch down the dough and turn it out onto the work surface, kneading briefly.
Divide dough in half and shape into 2 smooth mounds, flattening slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled about 2 hours.
Prehat oven to 450° F.
Place baking stones or heavy baking sheets in the oven to preheat. Punch down a mound of dough and flatten it with your palms into a 1 inch thick oval.
Drape a mound of dough over the backs of your hands and stretch it to a larger oval by gradually working hands apart and pulling from the center outwards.
(if the dough becomes difficult to work with, let it rest for 5 minutes, covered with plastic wrap.)
Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface.
Wet palms and press the dough in to an 8 by 14 inch oval.
In a small bowl, stir together the 3 tbsp flour , sugarand 2 tbsp water to make glaze.
Dipping your fingertips in the glaze, dimple the dough at 1 inch intervals.
Spronkle the top with sesame or nigella seeds, if desired.
Sprinkle a baker peel or an upside down baking sheet with cornmeal and use it to slide the ovals onto the heated baking surface.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until loaves are golden but not brown.
Serve warm.
Turkish Rice Pudding
(Sutlac):
Ingredients:
6 cups of milk,
1 cup of sugar,
1/2 cup rice,
1 tablespoon of rice flour or corn starch,
3 - 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Wash the rice.Bring 3 cups of water to boil and add rice to water, when rice is cooked, drain it. Place rice and milk on heat when mixture begins to boil add sugar and stir slightly turn the heat down. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Make a paste of the rice flour with a little amount of water and stir into milk mixture and continue stirring.Simmer some more.
Turn off heat and add vanilla extract. Pour pudding in individual bowls and let cool.
Sprinkle with cinamon serve cold.
Turkish style Scrambled Eggs with Veggies
(Menemen):
Ingredients:
6 eggs,
1/2 green bell pepper,
3 small or medium tomatoes,
Salt and black pepper,
2 tbs butter
Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the seeded and cut bell pepper rings and cook them a few minutes. Then add the skinned and chopped tomatoes and cook until the juice is reduced to half. Mix in the lightly beaten eggs and salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook the eggs stirring constantly.
Serves 4. Approximately 1.5 eggs and 1/2 tbs butter per portion. |
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