Egyptian ful medames

In my cooking frenzy I came across this recipe, and it has become one of my favorites. You can cook a fair amount and freeze it in portions. It is excellent with pitta bread, or Iraqui bread if you can find it, with boiled eggs, fried eggs, tomato salad or fresh herbs. It is cheap and extremely tasty. I found the recipe on The Guardian. 1kg whole dried fava beans 1 garlic clove 1 red onion 45g fresh coriander 20g fresh parsley Juice of 2 or 3 large lemons 1 small hot chilli ¼ tsp cayenne ¼ tsp cinnamon 3 heaped tsp cumin 500-700ml jar passata 2 heaped tsp tomato puree 3 heaped tsp sugar (or more to taste) 100ml sunflower oil (plus oil for frying) Salt and black pepper 1 Soak the beans overnight. Drain, place in a pan, cover with plenty of water and cook for around one hour until tender. 2 Chop the onion and garlic until very fine (or puree in a food processor), then fry gently in a little oil. Meanwhile, chop and mix the herbs, oil, lemon juice, chilli and spices. 3 Add this mixture to the onions and garlic, then cook for a few minutes. Add the passata and tomato puree plus 100ml of water, which you can first use to wash the remains of the passata out of the jar or packet it came in. 4 Cook for a few more minutes and then add the beans. Continue to simmer and taste – adjust seasoning with sugar, salt and pepper. The beans will be ready as soon as the seasoning is balanced, although you can leave them to reduce if you would prefer a thicker sauce. 5 Eat straight away or allow it to cool, divide into portions and freeze. It's delicious eaten with pitta bread, tomato salad and a fried egg.

Cem's pilaf

- put some olive oil in the pan. less than what can cover the base plate.
- measure pilaf and fry for a bit in olive oil. enough to turn some of
them white and
get a sizzling effect when you put water.
- put 2.5 water to 2 measure pilaf. cold water.
- stir only once or twice. bring it to boil.
- reduce to very low heat, cook until water disappears. test it with a
spoon. if you dip it
in vertically and you don't see wetness it's done.

for beans:
- water them the night before. boil almost 2/3 thru.
- empty water. put sauce (usualy tomate paste).
- slice onions. fry them in olive oil. put beans. put hot water to level beans.
-boil
-eat

Börek - Boerek with Feta Cheese

1 pack philo pastry
100 - 125 gr Fetta cheese
1 cup milk
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 eggs (the yolk of one egg is for spreading over the wraps)

Make a mixture of milk, one egg and olive oil. Set aside. Grade/grate the feta cheese. Mix it with egg white, set aside the yolk. Wrap the cheese in small amounts in philo pastry (you can follow the instructions on the package for wrapping). Put on a pan which you oiled before. Batter with some egg yolk. When all the cheese is wrapped in the pastry, pour the milk mixture over the wraps and let it wait - 25-30 minutes. Then bake in pre-heated oven. Serve hot.

I am guessing it is on the heat of 200 C and for about 30 minutes.

Zeytinyagli Havuç - Carrot Dish

3-4 carrots, cut into cubes
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 medium size onion
2 small spoons of rice
2 cups of hot water

Sauté the onion in 1 spoon of olive oil. Add carrots and stir without burning them, 2-3 min. Add the rice and salt (to taste). Add the remaining olive oil and hot water. Cook until carrots are tender. Serve cold.

Courtesy of DuDu

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.

Tips

Always have a few frying pans.
Use one ONLY for tomatoes
and one ONLY for eggs.

Courgette Fritters

Courgette fritters

2 large courgettes, ca 600 g in total, preferably lighter green skinned
coarse sea salt
1 medium white onion, peeled
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled
around 3 level tbsp plain white flour
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp each of chopped fresh mint, dill and flat leaved parsley
3 large whole eggs, beaten
sunflower oil
strained yoghourt, to serve

Wash the courgettes well then grate coarsely, including the skin. Sprinkle generously with salt and leave to stand for 15 minutes or so to weep their juices.
Meanwhile, grate the onion, discarding any juice and finely chop the clove of garlic. Drain the courgette and with your hands, squeeze well to get rid of any extra moisture. Mix together the drained courgette, onion and garlic mixture, and the beaten eggs. Stir well together with a wooden spoon.
Fill a non-stick pan with oil to a depth of around 1.5 cm and place over a medium heat. When the oil is hot enough to crisp a cube of bread, start frying the courgette fritters. Add the mixture a dessertspoonful at a time to the hot oil, never adding more than 3-4 dessertspoons at once or you will overcrowd the pan. With the first patties, stand well back in case the oil spits. Fry for 3 minutes or so then carefully turn over and fry for another minute or two. The fritters should be golden brown but still tinged with the green of the courgettes and herbs.
Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper, then repeat the exercise. This quantity should give you enough for 12 fritters. Serve hot as part of a mezze table with spoonfuls of cold yoghourt. The fritters are also good cold and can be reheated.