Meatballs (Koefte)

1/2 kg lean minced beef
1-2 medium size onions
5-6 slices of bread (normally white bread, but brown bread should be ok too)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
cumin (if desired)

Sauce:
Tomato puree
1 fresh tomato
1/2 green pepper
1-2 cups of hot water

Chop the onions finely. Put the bread in a food grinder and make it into crumps. Knead the meat, onion, bread, egg and spices for 10-15 minutes. (The longer the better!!) Form meatballs and put in a large pan.
In another pan, chop the pepper and tomato into cubes, add water and set it aside.
Cook the meatballs over medium heat for five minutes. You can add a tiny bit of olive oil to prevent them from sticking/burning. Then add the tomato mixture. Cook for 30 minutes. Ideally, the meatballs should absorb most of the water. If they absorb the water before they are cooked, add more to the tomato mixture.

Attention:
The tomato mixture should never be too much. It is only to give taste to the meatballs. This is not a dish with lots of sauce.

Cabbage Dish (Kapuska)

one cabbage
one onion
2 small spoons of bulghur
2 tablespoons of olive oil
kusüzümü - no idea what that is (yrsa) and nuts to taste
salt, pepper and chili pepper
2 cups of hot water

Slice the cabbage. Sauté with one chopped onion lightly. Add the nuts (if desired), kusüzümü, salt and chilli pepper (to taste). Stir 1-2 minutes and add the hot water. Cook for 30-35 minutes over medium heat. Ideally the cabbage should absorb most of the water and be very tender.

Recipe by DuDu

Cem's Speciality

General idea: - put things together, drown them in olive oil; salt as desired, onions galore;
- light up
- pray

applies to:
- omelette (eggs recommended)
- menemen (egg's optional)
- veggie stew (water recommended; leeks discouraged)
- güveç (wee water)

"things" include;
- aubergine
- carrots
- potato
- tomato
- pepper
- mushroom
- onion (lots) - stir fry first

exclude:
- leek
- artichoke
- other tree like veggie - looking impostors

Enjoy (overcooking recommended)

Yrsa's recommendation is to have it for breakfast, Turkish breakfast
including
- Cheese (Turkish)
- Olives
- Bread
- Pots of Tea
- Some green things, like parsley, chives, and raw vegetables, with lemon
- Fruit
- Walnuts
and to end it all Turkish Coffee (it is only for those days, where you don't want the morning to end)

Rose Scented Deserts

Rose Scented Fruit Salad

Peel where necessary and cut up a variety of fruit such as melon, mango, bananas, oranges, apples, pears, apricot, nectarines, strawberries, seedless grapes, kiwis, cherries and pineapple.
Sprinkle with a mixture of sugar, lemon juice and rose water. To serve 6 you may like 4 tbsp of sugar, the juice of 1 lemon and 1-1/2 tbsp of rose water. Leave to macerate for at least an hour before serving, turning over the fruit a few times.

Rose Scented Grated Apples

6 eating apples
juice of 1 lemon
3-6 heaped tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp rose or orange blossom water
3-4 ice cubes, crushed
6 thin slices lemon

Peel and grate the apples nto a glass blow, squeeze the lemon juice over them to prevent them from discolouring. Add sugar to taste, sprinkle with rose or orange blossom water and mix lightly. Chill for a few hours. Just before serving, add the crushed ice. Decorate with thin slices of lemon and serve.