MALLOW WITH SPINACH AND MINCED MEAT

(Recipe in English is below. Kiymali ispanakli ebegümeci tarifi için burayi tiklayin.)

Finally the old guy who sells all sorts of herbs and legumes is back in the bazaar! That means that the season is on! This week I bought some dock, some fennel foliage and something I’ve not tried before: mallow!

a bundle of mallow

mallow

I am hoping to make the fennel foliage with some beans. If I am not too lazy, I am hoping to make filled dock this time.

As it is the first time that I used mallow in my kitchen, I would like to note the following: In my cooking book, the way to clean and process the stalks of the mallow seemed a bit too long for me. If the end parts of the stalks that look like Y are too thick, then they are not desirable and are advised to be peeled off or chopped off. I didn’t peel of anything, to be really honest, and neither did I throw away the too thick Y-looking-like ends of the stems. Instead, I separated the stalks and the leaves and I steam-cooked the stalks in my pressure cooker. But after 10 minutes of steam cooking, I noticed that the stalks are indeed hard, and I continued to steam-cook the stalks some 10 – 15 minutes more.

In my cooking book, the recipe did not include any spinach. However I had some at hand which needed to be consumed as soon as possible. Adding spinach is also a good idea if it is the first time you’ll taste mallow and you don’t know what to expect of the taste! Smooth first-encounter! 

I am very very happy with the result! What I cooked tasted delicious, and I am looking forward to cooking some more mallow soon when it is still the season and when the plant is apparently so healthy! Needless to say, it tastes 1000x more delicious with some yoghurt and garlic sauce!!!

Ingredients (serves 4 – 5)

1 bundle of mallow, washed very well; stalks and leaves separated and chopped roughly

I seperated the leaves and the stalks of the mallow

I seperated the leaves and the stalks of the mallow

mallow leaves

mallow stalks - I chopped them roughly

200 – 300 grams of spinach, washed well, and chopped roughly

1 big onion, cubed

150 – 200 grams of minced meat

2 spoons of bulgur (can substitute with rice, but count in that the rice cooks slower than the bulgur so I suggest you soak the rice in water a few minutes beforehand)

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

1 glass of warm water

Salt 

Method:

1. Steam cook the stalks of the mallow. Because of the reasons I mentioned above, I suggest you start with 15 – 20 minutes of steam-cooking first and steam-cook some more if needed.
2. Sauté the onions in the olive oil for a minute or two.
3. Add the minced meat and sauté until the meat changes colour and it is cooked.
4. Add the spinach leaves and the mallow leaves bit by bit (as it is always too difficult to fit them in the pot at one time). When the leaves sink a bit, add the stalks that you steam-cooked.
5. Sprinkle the bulgur over, add warm water and close the lid. Cook on low heat for about 15 – 20 minutes lid closed. When the dish is cooked, add salt, mix and voila! It is ready to serve! 

Step 1 - I steam-cooked the stalks

Step 3 - Saute the minced meat with onion

mallow with spinach and minced meat - ready to serve!

mallow with spinach and minced meat - with yoghurt and garlic sauce next to it!

SPINACH BEET WITH MEAT AND PULSES

This one is really delicious! 

If you want to make it veggy, you can simply omit the meat from the recipe and I am sure it will be just as delicious! 

If you don’t find spinach beet, you can replace it with spinach. Here's a look at the spinach beet:

spinach beet

 Give it a try! Pulses are healthy stuff!

Ingredients: (serves 6)

1/3 glasses of chickpeas, boiled

chickpeas

1 glass of wheat for noah’s pudding (this is a direct translation! :p), boiled

500 grams of lambs meat, cubed

lambs meat, cubed

2 spoons of butter

1 onion, chopped

onion, cubed

2 spoons of tomato paste (salça)

1 kg of spinach beet, chopped

spinach beet, chopped

1 – 2 glasses of warm water (depends of how thick / dry / watery you like your dish to be)

Salt to your liking

Method:

1. Heat a big pot and take the meat in it until the meat soaks the water it releases during cooking process.
2. Add the butter and the onions and cook two minutes more.
3. Add the tomato paste, chickpeas and the wheat.
4. Add the water and boil some.
5. Add the spinach beet and mix. Let it cook for a minute and then turn the fire off.
6. Add salt to your liking.

step 5

deliciousness!

SOUR AND HOT SPINACH ROOTS WITH GREEN LENTIL AND CHICKPEAS

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

In Belgium, I used to buy spinach in plastic bags of 500 grams and washed. The only thing I needed to do was to open the bag and do whatever I want to do with it. Here in Turkey, the spinach that you bought from the open air market will be with its roots. And you have to clean them yourself. Most of the people that I know throw away the spinach roots that they’ve cut off from the spinach with their organic waste. 

But here’s one yummy and quick recipe with spinach roots that I got to learn from my mother. It is not something that I am used to from my mother’s kitchen though; it’s only recently that my mother got this recipe from a friend of hers. And when she made us try the dish, we could only appreciate the success of the recipe! I noticed only then that in the supermarkets, you have these roots in bags. So, it is not only when I want to use the roots I cut off from the spinach that I make this dish. When I feel like it, there are these bags of 500 grams or so. 

You may say that you don’t want to have spinach and its side products in a row of days, then the roots you can keep a few days in a box. I haven’t tried to freeze them yet; but if one day I try; I’ll also let you know! 

Below is the recipe. I added pepper and carrot too, but the original recipe doesn’t include these two ingredients. You are free to add them or not. This time I forgot to boil lentil but that’s not too bad either. If you say, “oh, my dish won’t be perfect without lentil”, you could still boil and add them to the dish later on. 

One more thing that I’d like to say: we like to make things sour sometimes. A bowl of lentil soup? We add a few drops of lemon juice. We make bulgur salad called “Kısır” and to it we add a few drops of lemon juice. The main salad dressing in Turkey is a mixture of olive oil, salt and of course lemon juice. I observed from my Belgian husband and Belgian family or friends that sour is not very much liked there. With this recipe, you can limit the amount of lemon juice to try if you haven’t yet or totally disregard it. What makes the recipe hot is the red pepper paste that I use. If the dish is a bit hot, it's also very nice!

Ingredients (Serves 2 small plates)

200 grams spinach roots; carefully washed and drained

spinach roots, washed and drained

Half a glass of chickpeas, boiled and drained

2 spoons of lentil, boiled and drained

1 desert spoon tomato and red pepper paste (two types of “salça” as we call them)

1 small onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped (the original recipe does not include pepper, however I added some and it’s still nice with it)

Half a carrot, sliced thin (see comment above for the pepper)

onion, carrot, pepper and salça (tomato paste)

 



2-3 spoons olive oil

Juice of half a lemon
Half a glass of warm water

Salt to your liking

Method:

1. Sauté the chopped onion on medium fire for about 2 minutes.
2. Add the pepper and the carrots and stir for 2 minutes
3. Add the paste and stir for 2 to 3 minutes till the paste lost its smell.
4. Add the lentil and the chickpeas. Bring to low fire, stir a few times.
5. Add the spinach roots.  Add the lemon juice. Add the water. Close the lid. 10 to 15 minutes should be enough.

Ready to cook for 10 to 15 minutes

The dish is ready when you think your spinach roots are ready (depending on how soft you like them)

happy ending!!!

Enjoy!!!