THAI SALAD WITH RICE STICKS

This is basically exactly the same recipe with the glass noodle salad that I posted earlier here. I think rice noodles or rice sticks are more common (or at least cheaper in price) than the glass noodles; so you might want to try this delicious Thai salad with the rice sticks instead! 

BROWNIE WITH PUMPKIN PARFAIT

This recipe I saw in the December edition of one of the food magazines here in Turkey.

The recipe seems not to be so difficult. 

I found the end result somehow too sweet so you may consider adding less sugar to the brownie (like 2 glasses instead of 3.5!) 

Ingredients (serves 8):

For the brownie:

2 eggs

1 glass of sugar

Half a glass of yoghurt

Half a glass of oil

One glass of flour

4 spoons of cacao powder

1 bag of baking powder

50 grams of walnuts, chopped fine

walnuts chopped fine

For the pumpkin parfait:

800 grams of pumpkin, cleaned and cubed

pumpkin, cleaned and in the process of being cubed

3.5 glasses of sugar

1 glass of water

8 leaves of gelatin

For decoration: powder sugar

Method

A)   For the brownie

1. Heat the oven at 200 degrees.
2. Blend the eggs and the sugar with the mixer.
3. Add the yoghurt and the oil and continue mixing.
4. Add the flour, cacao and baking powder and continue mixing
5. Add the walnuts and continue mixing.
6. Spread the mixture into a square cake mould that you have oiled.
7. Bake the brownie in the oven for about 20 – 25 degrees.

step A2

Step A4

step A6

B)      For the pumpkin parfait

1. Take the pumpkin to a pot. Add the water and the sugar and close the lid.
2. Cook on medium fire until the pumpkin gets soft.
3. When the pumpkin is soft, make a puree from it by using the blender
4. Melt the gelatin in small amount of cold water. Add to the pumpkin mixture.

Step B1

Step B3

C)      Brownie with pumpkin parfait

1. Cut the brownie into two layers horizontally.
2. Put one of the layers into the square cake mould.
3. Spread the lukewarm pumpkin parfait on the brownie layer.
4. Put the other layer of the brownie on the parfait.
5. Let it rest in the refrigerator for an hour.

Step C1

GREEN PEAS STEW WITH MEAT AND POTATOES

(English text is below. Türkçe tarif için burayi tiklayin)

In the summer, I have bought some 6 kilos of peas when they were at their best: big and sweet! And after having shelling the pods, I made half kilo bags of peas and put them in the deep freezer. Now, we have peas in the winter from time to time. They are so sweet and yummy!

The recipe I will share here is the typical stew that they make with the peas here in Turkey – it is grandma’s style yet so tasty.

Ingredients (serves 4 – 6)

Half a kilo of green peas

half a kilo green peas

150 – 200 grams of meat, cubed

2 medium onions, cubed

1 carrot, ringed

2 medium sized potatoes, cubed

1 spoon of tomato paste

2 sugar cubes

Salt to your liking

3 spoons of olive oil

Warm water (I cannot give any indication here because it will depend on how much water your peas will soak during cooking) 

Method

1. Sauté the onions in the olive oil for one minute
2. Add the carrots and continue sautéing for a minute
3. Add the meat and continue sautéing until the meat releases its water and soaks it again.
4. Add the peas, the potatoes and the tomato paste and mix.
5. Add warm water just to cover the peas.
6. Cook until the peas are soft. That might take longer than 30 minutes. Check if the peas are soft while cooking, if they are not yet soft and they soaked the water you added, add some more warm water just above the peas. Make sure that you always add warm water; never cold!

green peas stew with meat and potatoes

SPINACH BEET WITH KIDNEY BEANS

(English text is below. Türkçe tarif için burayi tiklayin)

I think this is a great winter dish; something between soup and watery main dish. I didn’t make anything else with it, and it is good filler! 

You can replace the spinach beet with other vegetables you like as well; like cabbage would also be good with it, I think.

In this recipe I also used the lemon salt; it looks like coarse salt but it is not. It is not salty at all; it is just used to replace the lemon juice. If you don’t like sour much, you can omit this one, but it is really tasty with lemon juice!!!

Ingredients (serves 3 – 4)

1 bundle of spinach beet, washed, drained and chopped (keep the leaves and the stalks apart)

2 medium size onions, chopped

1 glass of kidney beans, cooked till they are soft (you gotta soak them in water the day before!)

1 carrot, chopped fine

3 spoons of bulgur

1 desert spoon of red pepper paste (this is optional; or you can replace it with tomato paste as well)

Salt

Red pepper flakes

1 spoon of butter and a drop of olive oil

5 glasses of hot water

Lemon juice to your liking or a pinch of lemon salt (if you don’t like sour much, you can omit this one, but it is really tasty with lemon juice!!!)

Method:

1.  Sauté the onions in the butter and olive oil for one minute
2. Add the carrots and the bulgur; continue sautéing for a minute more.
3. Add the stalks of the spinach beet and continue sautéing for 30 seconds.
4. Add the kidney beans and the leaves.
5. Add the hot water.  Close the lid and let it cook for 20 minutes.
6. Add salt, the lemon salt and the red pepper flakes when the dish is cooked.

spinach beet with kidney beans

spinach beet with kidney beans

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE WITH PUMPKIN AND ALMONDS

(Text in English is below. Türkçe tarif için burayi tiklayin)

A couple of days ago I tried this pumpkin parfait with brownie. With the remaining pumpkin that I have I thought I’d make some pumpkin soup. I had also some Jerusalem artichokes that I got from the open air market a week ago and I needed to do something with it when it was still fresh. Then I thought “hmm, let’s forget about the soup and try to combine these two together”.

Jerusalem artichokes, called also sunchokes, are actually not artichokes. They are like potatoes, however sweeter in taste. They are said to be quite healthy and a must-have on the table at least once a year! 

Normally Jerusalem artichokes are prepared as a vegetable dish cooked with olive oil. In Turkey, these sorts of dishes are called “zeytinyagli” (meaning “with olive oil”) and they are usually served as cold starters, not as main dish. However, there are many people who cook bigger portions of these “zeytinyagli” stuff and have it as main dish. It is quite vegetarian and healthy.  

As for the Jerusalem artichokes are concerned, there is this particular recipe called “Jerusalem artichokes with orange”; I have based my recipe on this one; I added the pumpkins and the almonds and I omitted the extra sugar in the recipe. It was delicious, I am glad I tried it this way. 

 As I said, Jerusalem artichokes are quite sweet just as the pumpkin so it was a mild combination of sweet flavors – that’s why the extra sugar is not necessary. I think it would also make a great combination with red meat.

Here we go:

Ingredients: (serves 3 – 4)

1 kilo of Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and washed, cubed 

jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cubed

3 slices of pumpkin, cubed

1 carrot, ringed

pumpkin cubed and carrots

1 medium sized onion, ringed

1 small to medium potato, cubed (smaller than the cubes of the pumpkin)

1 glass of orange juice

 3 spoons of olive oil

A handful of almonds

Salt

Method:

1. Sauté the onions in the olive oil for one minute.
2. Add the carrot and the almonds and continue sautéing.
3. Add the Jerusalem artichokes, the pumpkin and sauté for a minute more.
4. Add the potatoes and the glass of orange juice. Close the lid and let it simmer. It takes 15 to 20 minutes till it is ready.
5. Add salt to your liking.

step 2

delicious jerusalem artichokes with pumpkin

yummy ending

CAULIFLOWER WITH MINCED MEAT IN MORNAY SAUCE

Perfect winter dish!

Ingredients: (Serves 3 – 4)

Cauliflower, boiled in salty water and drained, the florets incorporated

1 medium onion, cubed

1 – 2 cloves of garlic, sliced

150 – 200 grams of minced meat

2 – 3 tomatoes, peeled and cubed (you can use tomato puree as well)

1 carrot, sliced and boiled

3 spoons of olive oil

Cumin, pepper and salt

For the Mornay sauce:

100 grams of butter

1 glass of milk

2 spoons of flour

Salt and pepper

Half a glass of grated cheese

Method:

1. Sauté the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 2 – 3 minutes.
2. Add the minced meat to the onions and the garlic and simmer for a few minutes more.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more.
4. Lay the cauliflower in an oven dish and spread first the carrots and then the minced meat sauce on top of the cauliflower.
5. For the Mornay sauce, melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat and add the flour and stir briskly for 2 – 3 minutes (until the smell of the flour disappears). Pour in the milk slowly and whisk briskly. The mixture will thicken and by whisking it briskly you will get a creamy sauce. Add the spices and the cheese and continue simmering until the cheese melts.
6. Pour the Mornay sauce on the meat and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes (or until the topping gets a bit of colour)

minced meat sauce

step 4

step 4

step 4

step 6

yummy ending

BLACK-EYED BEANS SALAD

Bean stuff is not my thing however I am aware that I should consume beans as well. Black-eyed beans are not really the most popular type of pulse in Turkey. Borlotti beans and of course cannellini beans are well quite popular. Borlotti beans are consumed as main dish and as well as cold starter on a fish table. Cannellini beans are served as main dish accompanied with pilaf. Many people love cannellini beans and they consume it every week or every two weeks. 

As I don’t like pulses very much, I don’t cook them very often. Black-eyed peas I wanted to try in order to see if I’ll like it or not. Well, they are ok for me. They are pulses after all :D 

After a bit of research on black-eyed beans and how they are often prepared in Turkey, I came across with a few recipes from the west coast region of Turkey. I found a very interesting recipe but however it will have to be for some other time as I didn’t have some of the ingredients at home. Instead, I had to satisfy myself with this light black-eyed beans salad. I think it is very tasty, and it can be consumed as only-salad dinner or just as mezze. 

I think I might post the other very interesting recipe quite soon because I boiled enough black-eyed beans this time in order to stock in the deep freeze to have it ready for some other time soon. 

Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 glass of black-eyed beans, boiled and drained (soak the black-eyed beans overnight in cold water and the next day boil it)

black-eyed peas boiled

1 – 2 spring onions, chopped

1 small red onion, sliced

A handful of walnuts, chopped

1 – 2 spoons of pomegranate molasses, or lemon juice

1 – 2 spoons of olive oil

Half a bundle of parsley (or a bit less - you decide how green you want your salad), chopped

Method:  

Mix all the ingredients. 

black-eyed peas salad