Stuffed Eggplants - Karniyarik

The recipe is from "Almost Turkish Recipes" blog. I include it here for your convenience.

There  are a couple things to be careful about when you're cooking with
eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones;
eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. And for this dish, do  not use
huge American eggplants. Try to find cute little ones or Asian  eggplants.

Ingredients

• 1 lb eggplant, peeled in stripes lengthwise
• 1/2 ground meat
• 2 onions, cubed
• 1/2 bunch parsley, finely choppped
• 1 tomato, petite diced (for the stuffing)
• 1 tomato, sliced in half moons (for the top)
• green banana peppers, as many as eggplants
• ground pepper
• salt
• 2 tbs olive oil
• frying oil
• 1 cup hot water

Preparation

1. Peel  eggplants leaving lengthwise stripes and then put them in  salty water for 10 minutes. Dry them well and fry them as a whole in a deep pot with  canola or corn or vegetable oil, whichever you're comfortable with. (Make sure oil is really hot before you place eggplants, otherwise eggplants will soak tons of oil)
2. Once they're fried, first soak the excessive oil by resting them on a paper
   towel, and then place eggplants on an oven dish.
3. In a deep frying pan, heat olive oil. Add onions and stir for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add ground meat. Cook until ground meat lets all the juice out.
5. Add diced tomato. Stir until cooked. Turn it off.
6. Add chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
7. With the help of two spoons, slit eggplants into two. But leave the tops and
   bottoms attached.
8. Stuff eggplants.
9. Place a slice of half moon shaped tomato and a green pepper on top of each
   split belly eggplant.
10. Pour 1 cup of hot water on top and bake them in preheated oven at 400F until green peppers are nicely baked.

Serve with rice and yogurt.

Yogurt Soup

Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked barley
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 onion - finely diced
• 3 cup yogurt
• 2-3 tbsp flour
• water, black pepper, salt
• cilantro

Preparation

1. In a large saucepan, boil barley in 2 qt of water and set aside to cool. 
2. Meanwhile, make hazelnut sized meatballs out of ground beef, salt and pepper. (More on hazelnut sized meatballs later!) 
3. Sauté onions in some olive oil (or cooking oil of your choice) and add the meatballs and cook them thoroughly. 
4. In a mixing bowl, combine yogurt, flour and salt and pepper. In your good soup pot, combine meatballs, yogurt and barley. Cook over medium heat, frequently`stirring. 
5. Right after it boils, sprinkle with some chopped cilantro.

Gozleme-Turkish Flatbread

Ingredients

• Uncooked tortilla (30 pcs.)
• 1 package feta cheese*
• 1 lb. spinach - fresh
• 2 bunches green onion
• salt and pepper to taste**

* We used Valbreso brand feta which comes in a 1 lb. container.
** Depending on how salty your feta is, you need to be cautious when adding extra salt.

This is a semi-homemade recipe for a typical gozleme as you can see we bought the uncooked tortillas at Cosco. A traditional gozleme dough is made with flour, water and salt. As for a filling, there are quite a few options, but the most common is spinach and feta. Preparation time is minimal between 20-30 minutes and cooking time is at mist 3 minutes per gozleme. You may cut back on prep time if you use crumbled feta.

Preparation

1. First, we prepare the filling. Crumble the feta cheese if not already using the crumbled kind.
   Chop green onions and spinach and combine well with cheese. Add salt and pepper. 
2. Now that the filling is ready, you can assemble your gozleme. Lay one tortilla flat on your working surface, sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of filling on one half of the tortilla, then fold the other half of tortilla over the filling. 
3. Heat a large nonstick pan with 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat.(You need a good nonstick pan to cook the gozleme or you can use a proper sized griddle as well. I do not recommend using a cast iron pan.) 
4. Transfer a gozleme to your pan when the oil is shimmering. Cook for 1-2 minutes, turn the other side and cook for another 1-2 minutes. 
5. Put aside and repeat for every gozleme.

Orange Ricotta Cookies

Filling 


Ingredients

• 4 medium sized Oranges (we'll use the peel only!)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup ricotta cheese

Preparation

1. Wash the oranges thoroughly and peel. Cut orange peels into small pieces. Now you need to boil the peel in water and discard the water. Repeat this process at least 3 times. Yes, you read that right, at least 3 times! Too much work for cookies, I know! This is just like making candied orange peel, you need to boil so that  there's no bitter taste.
2. Add sugar and another cup of water and boil this mixture until there's no more water left in your pan. Just be careful, do not burn your pan, trying to make sure water evaporates. Set your pan aside to cool down completely. 
3. Transfer to a mixing bowl  and combine with ricotta cheese.

Pastry

Ingredients

• 8 oz butter/margarine - room temperature
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 packet baking powder
• 1 packet vanillin
• flour

Preparation

1. Make the cookie dough with the above ingredients. 
2. Get a walnut sized piece of the dough and add a tablespoonful of the filling and shape into a nice ball. Repeat with the rest of the dough. 
3. Preheat your oven to 400 F degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes. The cookies should be pinkish and puffy when done.
4. Generously sprinkle with powdered sugar when they are still hot.

German Peach Tart

Ingredients  

• 200 g  (1 ½ cups minus 1 tablespoon)   wheat flour
• 1 even tsp baking powder
• 125 g  (1/2 cup) sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1 package vanilla sugar)
• 1 egg
• 125 g  (1/2 cup = 1 stick + 1 tbsp) butter or margarine
• 125 g  (1 ½  cups minus 1 tbsp)  ground almond or hazelnut
• a pinch of salt

Preparation

Dough

1. Sift flour and baking powder onto a board. Make a depression in the center and place the egg and sugar in it. 
2. Using a spoon, combine egg, sugar and some of the flour into a thick batter. 
3. Scatter ground almonds and butter or margarine cut into small pieces over batter, cover with the remaining flour. 
4. Then combine all ingredients quickly into a smooth dough using your hands. The idea is to keep the dough as cool as possible so that the butter stays firm. Should the dough be sticky let it rest for a while in a cool place.
5. Take the dough and place it in a 26 cmdiameter spring form pan (ca. 10 inches) and flatten it, pressing down on it and spreading it from the center to the edges of the pan.You need to keep the dough in the bottom of the pan about ¼ inch thick. This will leave enough dough close to the rim so that you can press the dough upwards against the wall of the pan to form a raised edge. 
6. Now take a fork and prick the dough with it all over. This way the dough will stay flat and you will prevent blisters from forming which would make the baked tart very uneven.
7. Preheat oven for 10 minutes and bake the tart for 20 to 25 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Filling

1. Prepare vanilla sauce, using a little bit less than1 cup of milk, 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar and 1 package vanilla sauce powder (from Cost Plus or some Middle Eastern stores carry German products at times) according to package directions. 
2. Cool and spread over bottom of tart shell. You can also use ½ ounce of standard American vanilla pudding, not instant, but the kind you need to boil with the milk.
3. Place sliced peaches (1 jar, Costco, e.g. or canned from grocery store), well drained, slightly overlapping on top of vanilla sauce layer. You can also use cherries, apricots, pears or other fruit like that.
4. If you are able to find the glaze that goes over the fruit layer, prepare it according to the directions and spread over the fruit. It is called Tortenguss (klar) in German or glaze for fresh fruit tarts or cakes, transparent, in English.

Kartoffelkloesse (German Potato Dumplings)

Portion : 3 persons

Ingredients

• 1 box potato dumpling mix
• Milk or water

Preparation

1. Follow instructions on box.
2. Mix with milk or water.
3. Roll into balls (about 1½ inch in diameter)
4. Bring a big pot of water to boil then add salt. 
5. Add the dumplings and continue to boil until the dumplings float. 
6. Turn off heat and remove dumplings from water. 
7. Serve dumplings with beef gravy (prepare from mix).

Sauerkraut (sour cabbage/ fermented cabbage)

Portion : 12 people

Ingredients

• 3 lbs sauerkraut (from Lucky supermarket)
• 2 bay leaf
• 3 apples (cored and cut into large pieces)
• 1 large onion (cut into large pieces)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp caraway

Preparation

1. Rinse the Sauerkraut with cold water, best in a fine colander / strainer
2. Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. 
3. Reduce heat and simmer and cook for 20 minutes until apples and onions are soft and mushy.

Buletten (German-style Hamburgers)

Portion : 12 persons

Ingredients

• 3 lbs ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 large onion (finely diced or grated)
• 2 tbsp salt / pepper (adjust according to taste)
• 2 tsp fresh nutmeg
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1½ cup bread crumbs

Preparation

1. Mix above ingredients together and set aside for an hour to marinate. 
2. Roll ground meat mixture into mini hamburger shapes and pan fry till both sides are brown and the center is cooked. 
3. Remove from pan and serve.

Semolina Halvah with Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter (or ghee)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 tbsp pine nuts
• 2 cups semolina 
• Ice cream as the filling

Syrup

• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups sugar

Preparation

1. In a sauce pan, combine butter, olive oil and pine nuts. Stirring constantly, cook this mixture over medium heat until the pine nuts are fully roasted. You need to roast the pine nuts properly to bring out their delicious flavor. You know they are roasted when they turn toasty brown, watch out for burning as they gradually turn brown and fill your kitchen with a very sweet aroma. 
2. Add the semolina at once and keep stirring until the semolina turns to a light brown color. 
3. Meanwhile, in a separate sauce pan, boil milk and sugar. It doesn't have to come to a full boil as long as all the sugar is dissolved. 
4. Carefully add the milk-sugar mixture to semolina. Be careful at this step as hot splatters do happen and you don't want to burn yourself. 
5. Close the lid and let simmer over low-medium heat for 5 minutes. (You need to watch closely and make sure semolina absorbs all the liquid.) 
6. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool. You've successfully completed the "semolina halvah" part of the recipe. Now you just go get your ice cream from the freezer.
7. While the halvah is still warm, cover a small bowl’s bottom and sides with semolina halvah. Do not pour the halvah or fill up the bowl as that ruins the whole ''filled with ice cream " concept. 
8. Fill with ice cream. 
9. Now cover the ice cream with the rest of the halvah. Immediately turn the bowl upside down over a serving plate. Serve with cinnamon on top.

*My mother doesn't use 2 cups of milk but a cup of milk and a cup of water. She says too much milk changes the texture and the taste.

**Go sparingly on sugar. Sometimes a cup and a half is enough. As a sugar snob, I recommend taste tasting.

Borek with Chicken Filling

Ingredients

• 1 package of borek dough
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• Black seeds (optional) 

Filling

• 2 pounds ground chicken
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 can of peas and carrots
• salt and pepper to taste

Liquid mixture

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 egg

Tomato Sauce

• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 2-3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 cup water

Yogurt Sauce
Simply mix a cup yogurt with 2 cloves of minced garlic. If you're using Greek yogurt (you know, the strained thick kind), you may need to water it down a little bit.

Preparation

1. Cook the ground chicken in cooking oil. Right before the chicken is fully cooked, drain well and add the can of vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes and set aside.
2. In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the liquid mixture and whisk well.
3. On your working surface, lay a sheet of dough. Generously brush the dough with the liquid mixture. Make sure the dough is fully soaked, no dry spots! 
4. On the longer side of the sheet, put the filling mixture along the edge and begin rolling from that edge. When you're done rolling, you'll end up with a log shape. Much like how you'd make a strudel, roll up that log into a rose. Place on a well-greased pan. 
5. Repeat with the rest of the dough. If you have any liquid mixture left - which you should have - pour that over the pan. Sprinkle with sesame or black seeds. Generally, we use a lot of these but, please remember that sesame seed allergies  are not uncommon in the U.S. On the other hand, black seed is believed to act as an antihistamine that helps to reduce the common symptoms of allergies. 
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Cooking times vary a lot since ovens vary in efficiency and power. You should always allow standing time.
7. For the tomato sauce, add cooking oil and tomato paste to a sauce pan and cook. When you smell the pleasant tomato smell raising from the pan, add the water. I know, adding water to a hot pan with a red sauce in it is tricky. The splatter may and will ruin your outfit/stove/counter. Take precaution. Turn off the heat when the water boils.
8. Right before serving the borek, pour the yoghurt sauce over and top with the tomato sauce.

Lahmajun

We love lahmajun so we baked it yet again! You can find the recipe here.

Kunefe (Kanafeh)

Kunefe has been a staple of the cuisines of the Ottoman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean. Traditionally, it is cooked in small copper plates, served hot in syrup with a dollop of clotted cream kaymak and pistachios (or walnuts) all over the top.

Ingredients

• 1 Package Shredded Dough (kataifi) ~ 450 gr
• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cup sweet cheese

Syrup

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 slice lemon

Sweet cheese is sold in specialty stores but if you cannot find it you may also use unsalted Mozzarella cheese instead. I've also heard some people successfully using ricotta cheese but I've never tried it myself. Sweet cheese provides the best texture, though!

In different middle eastern recipes for kunefe, you may come across to rose water or orange blossom water as an ingredient for the syrup. In Turkey, we don't use any of these. I guess it's the strong flavor that takes over the dessert which is not all that appealing to our taste buds. Feel free to experiment, though. Also, lemon juice is not added for a different flavor, but to enhance the consistency of the syrup.

Preparation

This recipe is for 2 "frying pan" size kunefes. Now, we do not bake this dessert, but cook it on the stove. I know, you've seen recipes where you actually do the baking but this version is simpler and the dough doesn't dry as much. (Oven or stove, it all depends how you like it). You need a good non-stick frying pan which is shallow, a wok won't do the job.

1. Put half a package of shredded dough in the food processor and pulse a few times. Then, do the same for the other half. If you'd like you can do that with your hands. In a large bowl combine the dough with the butter, mixing with hands until every strand is evenly coated with the butter. 
2. For the first pan, simply put 1/4 of the dough-butter mixture and firmly press down. 
3. Spread half the cheese, evenly. Then put another 1/4 of the dough-butter mixture and again, firmly press down.
4. Meanwhile prepare the syrup. For the syrup, simply mix sugar and water in a saucepan and boil. After it comes to a boil, let simmer for 5 minutes and add the lemon juice and let boil for another 2-3 minutes. 
5. Pour the hot syrup on the hot kunefe. 
6. Sprinkle with ground pistachios and serve immediately after the kataifi absorbs the syrup. It should still be piping hot and make sure you have a good knife to cut through.

Kale Leaf Dolma

Ingredients

• 2 lb. kale
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 3 medium sized onions - diced
• 2 medium sized tomatoes - diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup rice - uncooked
• 8-9 stems of fresh parsley - finely chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsps butter
• 1 tbsp cooking oil

Before I get into detail with the prep process, I'd like to say a few words on the kale. In general, dolma is regarded as an appetizer. However, the kale leaf dolmas are prepared with ground beef, hence is considered a main dish. Kale is large enough to be a wrapper and tough enough to hold some filling and it has larger and tougher leaves compared to the grape vine. Some nice chard may work instead of kale as well but always remember, it never replaces the taste of kale .

Preparation

1. Kale wrappers
You should start off with properly washing the kale leaves. There is grit hiding between the leaves and you don't want to eat that. Then, get rid of the stems. In a large pot, boil 5 quarts of water and add the leaves in. Boil the leaves for 10-15 minutes. Pull the leaves out and let them cool a little.

2. Rice filling
In a mixing bowl, simply add ground beef, onions, tomatoes, tomato paste, rice, parsley, salt and pepper. Add two tablespoons of water and mix well. At this point you may add a dash of cumin and dried mint. I didn't list these two in the ingredient list as they are not the traditional spices for this dish. I personally like the health benefits come cooking with these.

3. Assembling
Even if the kale leaves are small, de-bone all of the leaves. They'll be easier to work with and more appealing to eye when eating. Lie a leaf on a flat working surface, shiny side down. Place about 2 tablespoons of rice filling near the stem end. Fold in that end and then the sides, while rolling up nice and neat. Repeat until you're done with all the leaves. Line the bottom of the pan with some kale leaves. (That'll prevent the actual dolmas from sticking.) Place the dolmas on the kale leaves. Add dabs of over the dolmas and pour in water or stock. It's better if you put a heat resistant plate on the top to keep the dolmas  pressed down. Cook covered over medium heat.

Dolmas are generally served with a cup of yogurt on the side.

Kuymak (or Kuymack or Mich-lama)

Translating the name of this dish was a toughie even though it's an essentially bland and simple food. Basically, it is polenta with cheese but not as thick as the Italian version. It has a thick pouring sauce consistency.

This dish - you may call it a mush if you'd like - is particular to the northern part of Turkey. It is a very popular breakfast dish mostly in the cities along the Black Sea coastal region. However, you can enjoy it any time of day.

Ingredients

• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 cup cheese
• salt to taste

Before I get to instructions, I have to stop here to talk about the cheese. The cheese for this dish is specially sold in stores in Turkey and not readily available here in the U.S. The original cheese for this is called minzi and it's some sort of dry skim milk cheese. You can substitute shredded mozzarella, cheddar, monterey jack, pepper jack  or feta cheese if you'd like. As I've mentioned, the cheese has to be dry. Don't waste your time experimenting with, let's say, cottage cheese, or the like. I strongly recommend a 50-50 mixture of mozzarella and feta. Feta is rich in flavor but not strong enough to dominate the dish when there is mozzarella. My two cents...

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. After the butter is fully melted - but definitely not browned - add the corn meal. 
2. Keep stirring until corn meal turns a little brownish. Be careful not to burn the corn meal. (Well, in that case you have to start all over again!) 
3. Add hot water to corn meal and stir until it thickens. After that, add the cheese and cook for another 5 minutes. 
4. Add the salt and keep stirring. 
5. Serve immediately. 

It's also worth mentioning that you need to be careful with feta cheese, especially the fat-free kind. It's very salty and you may not need to add any salt at all. It sure depends on how salty you like.

Afyon's Turkish Delight

Ingredients

• 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream  (If you have cool whip in hand, use that instead. You can even play around and use flavored cool whip, strawberry works the best!)
• Fine coconut flakes (not the shredded coconut)*

Custard

• 5 cups milk
• 1 cup sugar1/2 cup flour

Preparation
 In a saucepan, on medium heat, stir constantly mix all the ingredients. You need to stir until it comes to a boil. It should be all bubbly on the surface and have a pudding like consistency. Let it cool down, but not completely.

Assembling

1. Generously line a tray with plastic wrap and make sure the wrap is hanging from the sides. (This will come in handy for the final step. ) Sprinkle with the coconut flakes.
2. Carefully pour the custard on top of the flakes. You may want to use a large spoon so that the flakes are distributed evenly underneath the custard layer. 
3. Put the tray in the fridge and let the custard completely cool down for around an hour. After an hour, take the tray out and spread whipped cream/cool whip on top. 
4. Place in the fridge once again for up to a day if you want to plan ahead for your guests. If you're serving the same day, then take it out after another hour in the fridge. 
5. When you're ready to serve, fold the desert in half by slowly pulling the plastic wrap over. Now your desert will be two-layered like a sandwich, and you'll have coconut flakes at both ends. 
6. If you want to go for a non-empty sandwich, you can sprinkle with the finely crushed nut of your choice, then get to folding. After you're successfully done with folding, slice as you like.

*This can be found at the Turkish store or any other international grocery store.

Kabak Kaliyah (Zucchini Dish)

  
Ingredients

• 1 big or 2 small onions - diced
• 1 clove garlic - crushed
• 2 lb ground beef
• 2 tbsps tomato paste
• 5 medium tomatoes - grated*
• 3 lb zucchini - preferably white
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup Mozzarella cheese (optional)

Bechamel Sauce

• 3 tbsps butter
• 3 tbsps flour 
• 3 cups milk 
• black pepper and salt to taste

*Substitute 2 cans of crushed or very small diced tomatoes. Make sure you strain the cans well.

Preparation

1. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add ground beef and when it's done add salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and the tomato paste and continue to cook for another 10 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, prepare zucchinis. Traditionally, we remove the skin off the zucchini but you don't necessarily need to. Unless your zucchinis are waxed, then definitely go without the skin!
3. Cut zucchinis by half, lengthwise and fry them in your favorite cooking oil.

Prepare the White Sauce (Béchamel Sauce)

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour. Vigorously stirring, slowly pour milk. If you think the sauce is too thick, you may add some more milk.

Assembling

1. Place your fried zucchinis on an oven safe dish. Put a tablespoonful or two from the ground beef mixture. 
2. Once you're done with stuffing your zucchinis, pour the bechamel sauce over to cover. 
3. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top. (We didn't have any cheese when we were making this though!)
4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or so until the cheese is melted.