Baked Eggplants with Veggie Filling (İmambayıldı)

Many Turkish dishes have interesting names. The direct translation of this recipe is "the Imam fainted".

Makes 6 servings

6 medium sized eggplants * 6 tsps sugar * 1 tbsp olive oil * 1 coffee cup olive oil * 6 garlic cloves * 3 medium sized onions * 4 medium sized tomatoes * 50 g parsley * salt * 1-2 red bell pepper (to garnish)

Peel the eggplants. Mix 2 tsps of salt with 2 tsps of sugar and sprinkle the eggplants. Let them wait for 30 minutes. Dry the eggplants very well. Place them on a oven tray and pour over the olive oil. Bake them on a 200º pre-heated oven until they become soft (aprox. 20 minutes). On a frying pan, sauté the garlic and the onion with the olive oil (1 tbsp). Peel the tomatoes, cut them in cubes and add them to the garlic and onion. Add 4 tsps of sugar and some salt. When the tomato juice evaporates, turn off the fire. Mince the parsley and add to the mixture. Place some of the mixture over each one of the eggplants, after having opened the eggplants a little. Garnish each one with a piece of red bell pepper. Cover the oven tray with aluminum folio and bake again for 10 minutes on a 200º preheated oven.

Bulgur Salad with Vegetables (Karışık Kısır)

Makes 6 servings

2 cups thin bulgur * 2 cups hot water * 3 tbsp olive oil * juice of 1 lemon * 1 tbsp pomegranate sauce (nar ekşisi) * 2 tbsp tomato paste * 2 tbsp pepper paste * 2 tomatoes * 2 cucumbers * 4 lettuce leaves * 3-4 green onions * 100 g parsley * salt * black pepper * red pepper

Place the bulgur in a bowl with hot water. Cover the bowl and wait until the bulgur absorbs all the water and cool down. Add the olive oil, the lemon juice, the pomegranate sauce, the tomato and pepper pastes, the salt, the black pepper and the red pepper. Peel the tomatoes and the cucumbers, cut them in small cubes and add them to the bulgur. Slice finelly the the lettuce, the green onions and the parsley. Add to the bulgur and mix well. Place on a serving plate over lettuce leaves.

This is a very common dish in the Turkish houses during the summer.

It's white mulberry season

In Turkey, it's the white mulberry (dut) season, a delicious fruit with many benefits for the health. From this mulberry is produced a molasses (dut pekmezi), famous for its power to cure and prevent anemia.

White mulberry tree in a street in the center of Ankara.

Detail of the same mulberry tree.

White mulberries in a market in Ankara.

Fake Chicken Breast Pudding (Yalancı Tavuk Göğsü)

1 cup flour * 4 tbsp margarine * 4 cups milk * 1 cup sugar * 1 tbsp vanilla extract * cinnamon to sprinkle

Cook the margarine with the flour on medium heat. Add the milk and mix well. Then add the sugar and stir continuously with a wood spoon until the mixture becomes tick. Take from the fire and add the vanilla. Beat with mixer for 15 minutes. Wash a big serving plate or tray only with water and don’t dry it. Pour there the tavuk göğsü. Serve sprinkled with cinnamon, cold or warm.

Rice with Chicken and Dried Fruits Covered with Phyllo Pastry (Perde Pilavı)

1 sheet phyllo pastry * 2 cups rice * 2 medium sized onions * 25-30 g butter or 4-5 tbsp olive oil * 1 tbsp dried currants * 1/2 cup sultana raisins * 200 g chicken chest (boiled and cut in small pieces) * 2 tbsp pine-nuts * 1 tsp allspice * salt * 4 cups hot water * 2 tbsp olive oil

Place the rice in a bowl with hot water and salt for 50-60 minutes. Place the dried currants and the sultana raisins in hot water for 30 minutes. Mince the onion and sauté with the olive oil or butter for 3-4 minutes. Filter the rice, add it to the onion and fry for 5-6 minutes stirring with a wood spoon. Add the chicken, boiled and cut in pieces, the sultana raisins and the dried currants (after filtering the water), the pine-nuts, the allspice, the salt and four cups of hot water. Cook covered over low heat until all the water is absorbed.
Meanwhile, grease a round cake tray, with 20-25 centimeters diameter, with two tea spoons of margarine. Cover the tray with the phyllo sheet. As the phyllo sheet is big (about 60 centimeters diameter), part of it will be out of the tray. When the rice is cooked, let it cool down a little and stir it carefully with a fork. Place the rice on the phyllo pastry sheet. Then cover it with the parts of the phyllo pastry sheet that were out of the tray and brush with two table spoons of olive oil. Bake on a 175º pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes. During this time both resistances of the oven (up and down) must be connected. Place the rice on a serving plate and serve hot.

Baked Kibbeh (Sini Köftesi)

500 g ground meat * 1 onion * 1 1/2 cup thin bulgur * 1 tbsp tomato paste * 1 tsp chili flakes * 1 tsp black pepper * 1 tsp cumin * salt

Mince the onion. Place the bulgur in hot water for 10 minutes. In a bowl, mix very well the ground meat with the bulgur (after draining all the water), the onion, the tomato paste, the salt and the spices. Place this mixture in a greased oven tray and bake on a 180º preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cut into squares and serve hot.