Tag Archives | red pepper paste

Delicious and Easy Turkish Delights for Summer – Join us at the Istanbul Culinary Institute for a Turkish Feast

By Ozlem Warren on July 24, 2012 in Appetizers and Mezes, Fascinating Istanbul, Fascinating Turkey, Roasts and Kebaps 12

Bosphorus is calling; former Egyptian Consulate and boats by the Bosphorus, Istanbul

I will be traveling to Turkey, my homeland in early August, the travel bug in me already ready to go. Going home is always special, with family and friends to see, glorious country and food to enjoy. This time, I am even more excited, as I will be the guest chef at the wonderful Istanbul Culinary Institute and will be teaching a Southern Turkish style Turkish cooking class on 7^th August, Tuesday. If you are in Istanbul that day, and would like to join our class to learn more about Turkish cuisine, history and culinary traditions, please book your spot at Istanbul Culinary Institute – Classes. It would be a pleasure to cook and enjoy Turkish food together.

So what do we have in the menu, you may ask. Going back to my roots, Antioch (Antakya), we have a delightful, refreshing and easy to prepare menu, Southern Turkish style. Below are the courses we will be doing and you can also easily create them in your home:

Walnut, red pepper paste and olive oil dip

This is one of my favorite mezes of all time; it is very easy to make and very, very more-ish, you just can’t stop eating them. It is one of my mother’s recipes from her historic hometown Antakya (Antioch) and whenever I make it, I feel like I am home. Pita bread or crackers would go really well with this delicious dip/spread. You can keep the dip covered in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Walnuts, red pepper paste and olive oil dip is a wonderful appetizer and great on crackers

Smoked Eggplant Salad with Garlic Yoghurt – Patlicanli Yogurtlama

Here is a wonderful, refreshing salad from Southern Turkey, Antakya, and one of my favorites, featuring Turkey’s beloved eggplant “patlican”. Traditionally, the eggplant here is cooked over an open fire. This dish can be served as part of a “mezze” – appetizer- or can accompany grilled meats. It is packed with flavor and a very welcoming mezze for warm summer days. The dried mint really adds a wonderful, refreshing flavor to this salad.

Smoked eggplant salad with garlic yoghurt and dried mint; a refreshing taste for hot summer days

Tepsi Kebabi – Tray Kebab with Vegetables

This is a wonderful kebab prepared in the Southern Turkey. In Antakya, I remember my grandmother preparing the meat mixture at home, and then we would take the meat to the local bakery to be baked, delicious memories.

Tray Kebab with vegetables; so easy, yet delicious and wonderful for entertaining

Traditionally, locals wouldn’t put slices of potato and vegetables around the kebab, though that’s the way my mother did and we enjoy having vegetables in it. My mother cleverly divides the kebab into wedges and inserts the potatoes along these edges. This not only helps the meat cook evenly in less time, but also the potatoes soak up all the delicious juice, just wonderful. You can cook this kebab ahead of time and the leftovers can also be kept in freezer successfully.

Dried Apricots stuffed with walnuts – Cevizli Kayisi Tatlisi

Baked dried apricots go so well with a dollop of vanilla ice cream by the side

One of Turkey’s most prolific fruits is the apricot. Because of their abundance, some of the yearly harvest is allowed to dry in the hot summer sun in order to be enjoyed all year round. Malatya, a city in southeast Turkey, is particularly famous for excellent dried apricots which are exported throughout the world. Apricots are great snacks; they are packed with fiber, antioxidants as well as their naturally rich flavor. This easy dessert is great for parties, sharing with friends or family or just indulging yourself.

All these dishes are easy to prepare, refreshing and packed with flavor. If you are in Istanbul on 7^th August, and would like to have a go making them with us, please do join us and book your spot thru here at Istanbul Culinary Institute. If you can’t, I do hope that these recipes may inspire and you can have a go at making them at home. Please let me know if you have any questions, I would be very happy to help.

If you would like some more information on Antioch with more Southern Turkish recipes, please also check my previous post on Antioch style stuffed vegetables with bulgur, ground meat and spices. Here are a few more photos from Antakya – Antioch;

Friendly local selling handmade olive soaps at outskirts of Antakya, Antioch

Fascinating, wall size mozaic depicting marine life at the Antakya Mozaic Museum

I will be traveling to Turkey as of early August, and will be in touch from Istanbul with wonderful delights and sights to share. I wish you all a happy, healthy summer, with precious time spent with family and friends.

Happy and delicious travels to you all,

Ozlem

Casserole of Turkish Meatballs with Aubergine, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Peppers – Sebzeli Firin Kofte

By Ozlem Warren on July 14, 2012 in Casseroles and Stews, Fascinating Turkey, Turkish Drinks 27

There is a concept of “lokanta” restaurants at home, where slowly cooked and ready to eat casseroles of meatballs and vegetables, vegetables cooked in olive oil, stuffed vegetables and many more are displayed on serving trays. The idea is you get a chance to eat freshly cooked “home style” dinners in a restaurant in no time; you simply pick up your tray and fill in your plate with these scrumptious food and they are very good value too. There is no waiting, and you can have a healthy, delicious meal within 30 minutes. Please check out my previous post Slow Cooked Turkish Fast Food for more delicious, affordable and healthy ways of eating out in Turkey.

Pre-cooked delicious casseroles, pilaffs, vegetables cooked in olive oil; all ready to eat

This week’s recipe is an all-in-one pot popular meatball and vegetable casserole (not only with the children but with the adults too!), one of the many you can experience at lokantas, in Turkey. It is delicious, healthy and you can easily re-create at home. The casserole can either be cooked on the stove top or baked in the oven, and you can bake ahead of time. It makes a complete and hearty main course served with plain rice or with my recent bulgur pilaf with sautéed almonds. I like to add a variety of seasonal vegetables to my meatballs casserole; zucchini (courgettes) and peas work well here too. You can add as much red pepper flakes as you would like for a spicier flavor.

Casserole of Turkish meatballs and vegetables; a favorite for all

Baked Turkish meatballs casserole from Ozlem’s Turkish Table, image by Sian Irvine Food Photography

I love our hearty and healthy casseroles as well as regional specialties in Turkish cuisine. I made a vegetarian version of this, adding earthy chickpeas – Baked Vegetables with chickpeas at my new cookery book, SEBZE, Vegetarian recipes from my Turkish kitchen, which you can order here.

I usually double this casserole recipe and freeze half the portion, as it freezes very well.

Serves 4-6

Preparation time – 30 minutes Cooking time – 40-45 minutes

For the kofte (meatballs):

450 gr /1 lb ground lamb, beef or mixture

1 medium onion, grated

2 slices of stale bread, soaked in water and squeezed dry

1 egg, beaten

1 bunch finely chopped Italian parsley

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A bowl of water for kneading kofte / wetting hands

And the rest:

450 gr / 1 lb medium potatoes, sliced like thin apple quadrants

1 green, red or yellow bell pepper, deseeded and sliced

1 medium carrot, coarsely sliced

1 aubergine, cut in half lengthways and sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

400 gr /14 oz (1 can of) chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon red pepper paste -optional-

1 tablespoon olive oil

240 ml / 1 cup water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F

Ingredients for the Turkish meatballs

Discard the crusts of the bread, soak in the water and squeeze dry. Then crumble them into a large bowl. Add all the kofte, meatballs ingredients except the meat and knead well. This will soften the onions and enable the spices to blend in the mixture evenly. Add the ground meat and knead well again until the mixture resembles soft dough. With wet hands take a piece the size of a large walnut and roll into a large finger shape about 1 inch thick. Continue until all the mixture is used. The meatballs can now be covered and stored in the fridge until required.

Salt helps the moisture to come out of the eggplants; make sure you drain these bitter juices

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the eggplant (aubergine) lengthways in stripes like a zebra. Slice the eggplant lengthways, about ½ inch thick. Then cut each slice into three parts. Sprinkle some salt over them and leave for about 15 minutes. Squeeze out their moisture with paper towel.

Coat the vegetables with olive oil, red pepper paste or with tomato paste and red pepper flakes

In an oven dish, spread the vegetables. I like to coat the vegetables with the red pepper paste, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix the vegetables and make sure they all get this lovely coating (if you like a milder taste, you can replace the red pepper paste with concentrated tomato paste, and add more red pepper flakes for a spicy flavor). Place the meatballs between the vegetables. Add the chopped tomatoes and water, mix well. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and the sauce has thickened.

Baked Turkish meatballs with eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes; an all in one delicious dish

Baked Turkish meatballs with eggplants, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes; an all in one delicious dish

Serve hot, with plain rice or bulgur pilaf with almonds by the side.

Have you ever tried our traditional drink Ayran? Ayran is a mixture of plain natural yoghurt, water and a pinch of salt blended together. To make ayran, blend 2 cups of plain yoghurt with 3/4 cup water with a pinch of salt, for about 20 seconds. You will see a nice thick foam and bubbles formed at the top. Serve in water glasses with a few ice cubes in them. Ayran is a popular drink at home, especially with kebabs and casseroles, and it would go well with this casserole too.

Wonderfully foamy and bubbly Ayran; our traditional drink with kebabs and casseroles.

Have you ever tried Ayran? Have you had any experience at eating in lokantas in Turkey? I would love to hear from you, please share with us, thank you.

Afiyet Olsun!

Ozlem

Stuffed Peppers and Zucchini with Bulgur, Ground Meat and Spices; Antakya Style

By Ozlem Warren on May 21, 2012 in Fascinating Turkey, Regional Signature Dishes; Mains, Sides and Desserts, Vegetables Cooked in Olive Oil 36

Stuffed peppers and zucchini with bulgur, ground meat & onion

Some of the food we eat has the power to transport us to our childhood, have a special link to bond us with those precious memories. These stuffed peppers and courgettes (zucchini) have such power on me; they are the delicious gateways to take me back home, right to my mother’s as well as my grandmother’s kitchen in the ancient city of Antioch, Antakya.

My Grandmother’s 450 year old house in ancient Antioch; we used to gather around a big table in the courtyard for wonderful feasts

Preparing the dolma is quite a grand ritual at home; cousins, sisters, whoever available, gather around a big table; filled with trays of vegetables and stuffing. Some prepare the vegetables, scooping the flesh out, some make the filling, and some do the stuffing. These all happen, of course, with constant flow of Turkish coffee and tea (cay) and catching up! We would then eagerly wait for the dolma to be cooked; then me and my sister would eat the dolma with a dollop of plain yoghurt on top. We used to call them our “savory ice cream”; I am now trying this trick on my children:)

My mother rolling the stuffed vine leaves; we would all help preparing the vine leaves, removing stalks, or making Turkish coffee!

We Turks love stuffing vegetables. The word dolma is used for the vegetables like aubergines, peppers, courgettes that are stuffed. Fruits such as apples, quince and plums can be stuffed too. We also stuff vine leaves (that is called sarma) and cabbage leaves (lahana sarma, here is the link for that recipe), either with an aromatic rice, pine nuts and currants or with ground meat, rice, herbs and spices.

Stuffed peppers with aromatic rice and herb filling

This recipe comes from the ancient town of Antakya, Antioch, where my roots are from. This is the region where bulgur, red pepper paste, pomegranate molasses and spices like red pepper flakes, cumin, and mint are used frequently. All these add such rich, wonderful flavor to the dishes, and very healthy too. I used bulgur instead of the traditional rice for stuffing, like we do in Antakya. Bulgur’s nutty, wonderful flavor adds another dimension to the dish, with bonus of bulgur’s many health benefits. In Antakya, once the flesh of the vegetables taken out, they are given a little wash with pomegranate molasses & little water. The tangy and sweet flavor of the molasses adds to the richness of the flavor. You can use a good balsamic vinegar if you can’t get hold of pomegranate molasses.

I hope you enjoy this delicious, satisfying dolma packed with flavor and memories and have a chance to visit the fascinating Antioch sometime.

Signed copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table book, available to order at this link

I am passionate about sharing authentic Turkish recipes from my homeland and the wholesome, delicious Turkish cuisine; this lovely recipe and many more (over 90 recipes) are included at my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland. You can order Signed copies at this link, delivered promptly worldwide.

If you live in the US, Canada or Mexico, hardback copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book can be purchased at this link with lower shipping rates.

Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 40 minutes Cooking time: 40-45 minutes

3 medium size courgettes (zucchini)

3 medium size bell peppers

30ml/2tbsp pomegranate molasses or good balsamic vinegar, mixed with 1tbsp water

3 small tomatoes, cut in half (to cap the dolmas)

6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed

For the filling:

110gr/4oz/ 1/2 cup ground beef/lamb or ground turkey

115gr/4oz/generous 1/2 cup coarse bulgur wheat

1 medium onion, finely chopped or grated

Handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

10ml/1tbsp olive oil

10ml/1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste or red pepper paste

5ml/1 tsp red pepper flakes/chilli flakes

5ml/1tsp ground cumin

5ml/1tsp dried mint

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Bowl of plain (natural yoghurt) or cucumber, yoghurt dip, cacik to serve

Stuffing ingredients all together

Put the ground meat in a large bowl and stir in the rest of the filling ingredients. Season and knead, until all blended well. The filling is ready.

Stuffing ingredients, after mixing

Now, let’s prepare the vegetables. Cut the stalk ends of the peppers and save them aside (we will need them to cap the stuffed peppers later). Scoop out the seeds of the peppers.

Scoop out the seeds of the peppers to prepare for stuffing

Cut the courgettes in half. Scoop out the flesh of the courgettes with the help of a long coffee spoon (in Antakya, we use a long and thin scooping device made just for that purpose). Carefully remove some of the flesh to create a cavity that is large enough to stuff. Take care to leave the bottom of the courgettes intact.

Taking the flesh out of the courgettes (zucchini); long coffee spoon would work here

I Iike to save the flesh of the courgettes, as they go very well in the bulgur, tomato and courgette recipe. You can keep them in a sealed freezer bag in the freezer up to 3 months.

Give a little wash to the peppers and zucchini with pomegranate molasses and water mix

Mix the water with the pomegranate molasses (or balsamic vinegar) and wash the inside of the peppers and courgettes with this mixture. Add the left overs of this delicious juice to filling mixture, mix well.

Take spoonfuls of the filling mixture and pack it into the vegetables. Take care not to overfill to the top, as bulgur will need a little space to expand. Place the stalk ends and the halved tomatoes as lids. Place the stuffed vegetables upright, packed tightly, in a heavy pan. Pour a couple of cups of water to the pan, until it covers the half of vegetables. Stir in the cloves of garlic and cover. Bring the liquid to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook gently for about 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Cap the stuffed peppers and zucchini with the pepper stalks and halved tomatoes

Serve hot with plain natural yoghurt or Cacik; yoghurt and cucumber dip.

Stuffed peppers and zucchini; they go so well with plain yoghurt by the side

Afiyet Olsun!

Snapshot from home, Turkey: Ancient city of Antioch, Antakya

Here is a new section in the blog! Whenever I can, I would like to give a little snapshot of fascinating places in Turkey that I have visited. Food and travel complement one another so well, and I hope this part could bring the places alive and inspire you to visit sometime.

Ancient Antioch, Antakya; cradle of many civilizations

Here, I would like to introduce my beloved, ancient home town Antakya, located in the southern part of Turkey. Antakya was one of the three biggest cities of the Roman Empire and the capital of the east. Antakya was founded in B.C. 4 by the Syrian King, Seleukos, and he named the city after his father, Antiochos. Over the centuries, the city was under Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and French rule. As of 1939, Antakya became a part of the Republic of Turkey.

One of the many grand mosaics at the Antakya Mosaic Museum

Antakya Mosaic Museum is the world’s 2nd biggest mosaic museum in terms of the richness, quality and the size of the mosaics. The mosaics you’ll see there are from the Roman and the Byzantine periods, and they are simply fascinating. The museum also hosts magnificent sculptures; the most important of them is the 3 meter high figure of Apollo.

Friendly children of Antakya, guiding us towards the Church of St Peter

St Pierre Church (Church of St Peter) is another fascinating sight. St Peter’s Church, built in a cave, on the skirts of Habib Neccar Mountain in Antakya, is known as one of the first places that the early Christians gathered. St Petrus, one of the followers of Jesus (A.D. 29- 30), came to Antakya and used this “cave” to expand Christianity. St PierreChurch is regarded as the first church of Christianity outside Jerusalem. Due to its importance, Pope Paul 6th declaredSt Pierre Church a pilgrimage for Christians. Every year on June 29th, Remembrance of St Petrus ceremonies take place in Antakya, with the participation of thousands of Christians from around the world.

Church of St Peter, Antakya

Another wonderful visit in Antakya is the Long Market, Uzun Carsi, city’s ancient market. This is the place I visited many times as a child, to get our daily bread, yoghurt, cheese and vegetables, when we used to visit my Grandma. The smells and colors are simply mesmerizing. Antakya’s cuisine has an incredible richness of fresh herbs and spices, packed with flavor. A type of wild oregano, zahter, cumin and red pepper flakes are used very commonly. The red pepper paste, biber salcasi, is one of the landmarks of Antakya too. The richness of this red pepper paste adds a wonderful flavor to casseroles and meat dishes. Another specialty food item worth mentioning is the nar eksisi, the syrup made from concentrated sour pomegranate juice. This incredibly rich, concentrated flavor is a must for many traditional salads and meze spreads.