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Tag Archives | Vegetarian

Turkish style rice pilaf with orzo or vermicelli – Sehriyeli Pirinc Pilavı

Pilaf, or pilav as we call, is an important dish for us, Turks. It accompanies almost every Turkish meal, including our casseroles, meatballs. The iconic Turkish bean stew, kuru fasulye is always served with pilav, the combination referred as “kuru fasulye – pilav”. Combined with chickpeas, Nohutlu Pilav is another delicious variation and a much loved street food- a meal in itself with pickles, tursu aside.

Turks are passionate about making pilav. Proper Turkish pilav needs to be grainy, “tane tane pilav” as we say, and mastering to make it properly is a real test, traditionally, for a Turkish lady before marriage. Rinsing then soaking the rice in warm water is an important stage, as it helps to get rid of excess starch and make the rice grainy. We also use either chopped vermicelli like tel sehriye or orzo like arpa sehriye which is sautéed in our rice, which adds additional texture and flavour.  Short grain baldo rice is the preferred choice in Turkiye, though I prefer the more widely available long grain rice. Make sure to let your rice rest for 10 minutes, covered with sturdy paper towel and lid, before serving – paper towel will absorb any excess moisture and make your rice grainy, “tane tane.”

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

Turkish style rice pilaf with orzo or vermicelli – Sehriyeli Pirinc Pilavı
 
Pilaf, or pilav as we call, is an important dish for us, Turks. It accompanies almost every Turkish meal, including our casseroles, meatballs. The iconic Turkish bean stew, kuru fasulye is always served with pilav, the combination referred as “kuru fasulye - pilav”. Combined with chickpeas, Nohutlu Pilav is another delicious variation and a much loved street food- a meal in itself with pickles, tursu aside. Turks are passionate about making pilav. Proper Turkish pilav needs to be grainy, “tane tane pilav” as we say, and mastering to make it properly is a real test, traditionally, for a Turkish lady before marriage. Rinsing then soaking the rice in warm water is an important stage, as it helps to get rid of excess starch and make the rice grainy. We also use either chopped vermicelli like tel sehriye or orzo like arpa sehriye which is sautéed in our rice, which adds additional texture and flavour. Short grain baldo rice is the preferred choice in Turkiye, though I prefer the more widely available long grain rice. Make sure to let your rice rest for 10 minutes, covered with sturdy paper towel and lid, before serving – paper towel will absorb any excess moisture and make your rice grainy, “tane tane.” Afiyet Olsun.
Author:
Recipe type: Pilaf, vegetarian, vegan
Cuisine: Turkish cuisine
Ingredients
  • 200g long grain rice
  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 3tbsp orzo (or tel sehriye, chopped vermicelli)
  • 420ml hot water
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Place the rice in a strainer and rinse under running warm water, until the water runs clear. Then place the rice in a bowl and cover with warm water with a pinch of salt and set aside for 15 minutes – this will help get rid of the excess starch.
  2. Pour in the olive oil in a medium size pot and stir in the orzo or tel sehriye, vermicelli, sauté over medium to high heat for 3-4 minutes, until it starts to turn dark golden. Drain the excess water in the rice bowl using a strainer and stir the rice into the pot. Stir and combine for 1 – 1 ½ minutes, so that the rice grains coat with the oil too.
  3. Stir in hot water, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix to combine. Cover, bring the pot to the boil, and then turn the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, covered; during this cooking time, do not stir the rice. Turn the heat off once the rice is cooked and water is absorbed. Now place 2 sturdy paper towels or clean tea towel over the pot and put the lid back on to seal, and leave to rest for 12-15 minutes. The paper towels will absorb any excess moisture and make your rice grainy, “tane tane pilav”, as we say in Turkish. Fluff the rice with a fork, check the seasoning and add more salt or pepper to your paste and serve. We love pilav rice with pickles, tursu and a dollop of yoghurt aside, as well as along with casseroles.
 

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Vegetarian Manti, Turkish dumplings with sautéed onions, chickpeas and spices

We absolutely adore manti; one of my favourite foods growing up in Turkey. I not only love the taste but the whole ritual of manti making; when I was a child, my mother would prepare the dough, cut into small squares and my father, sister, anyone around would help making these tiny dumplings. And with huge excitement, we would pour in the garlicky yoghurt and that delicious spices infused warm olive oil over to top of our manti and tuck in immediately, such special memories.

Making manti is a bit of a labor of love, but so very satisfying, delicious and I find it soothing. I previously made the traditional manti with ground/minced meat filling and recently, I made this vegetarian version with sautéed onions and chickpeas, a popular variation especially enjoyed in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It was a great success and my family loved it. Sautéed onions add a delicious natural sweetness and moisture to the earthy chickpeas. Warm, pungent cumin is made for chickpeas, and with a lovely heat from pul biber, they make a great vegetarian filling. I made these manti dumplings a bit bigger than my previous manti, hence easier to make and equally tasty.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

 

Baked dried apricots with walnuts, from Ozlem’s Turkish Table, image credit: Sian Irvine Photography

Why not serve manti with this light and delicious dessert, Dried baked apricots with walnuts, from my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table? Lovely vegan and gluten-free treat, that is so easy to make too. Signed copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book is available at this link and delivered worldwide. Manti is not at my current cookery book, but I hope you enjoy over 90 authentic recipes in there.


4.7 from 3 reviews
Vegetarian Manti with sautéed onions, chickpeas and spices
 
Here is my vegetarian manti, Turkish dumplings, with sautéed onions and chickpeas, a popular variation especially enjoyed in Central Anatolia, Turkey. Sautéed onions add a delicious natural sweetness and moisture to the earthy chickpeas. Warm, pungent cumin is made for chickpeas, and with a lovely heat from pul biber, they make a great vegetarian filling. I made these manti dumplings a bit bigger than my previous manti, hence easier to make and equally tasty. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
Author:
Recipe type: Vegetarian Manti
Cuisine: Turkish cuisine
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • Dough ingredients:
  • 300g/10 ½ oz. all-purpose plain flour (plus a little extra for rolling)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 115ml /4fl.oz water
  • 30ml/2tbsp olive oil
  • 5ml/1tsp sea salt
  • For the filling:
  • 1 onion, very finely chopped
  • 30ml/2tbsp olive oil (to sauté the onions)
  • 400g/14oz cooked (can of) chickpeas, rinsed
  • Small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • 30ml/2tbsp olive oil (to knead the filling mixture)
  • 10ml/2tsp ground cumin
  • 5ml/1tsp pul biber or red pepper flakes
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • For the garlic yoghurt:
  • 400g/14oz thick and creamy plain yoghurt
  • 1 -2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • For the sauce:
  • 15ml/1 tbsp. Turkish hot pepper paste, biber salcasi or tomato paste
  • 60ml/4 tbsp. olive oil
  • 10 ml/2 tsp. dried spearmint, kuru nane
  • 5 ml/1 tsp. (or more) ground sumac (optional)
  • 5 ml/ 1 tsp. (or more) Turkish red pepper flakes, chili flakes, pul biber
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F
  2. First make the dough. Sift the flour and salt into a wide bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in the beaten egg and the water and using your hands, draw the flour into the liquid and mix to dough. Pour in the olive oil and knead the dough for about 5-8 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. Manti dough needs to be quite hard; cover the dough with a cling film or kitchen towel and leave to rest in a cold place or in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the yoghurt with the garlic and season with salt to your taste. Cover and set aside to bring to room temperature.
  4. While the dough is resting, make the filling. Finely chop the onion. Heat the 30ml/2tbsp olive oil in a heavy, wide pan and stir in the onions. Sauté for 8 minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Season with salt and ground black pepper and mix well. Stir in the chopped parsley and combine well, turn the heat off to cool.
  5. Place the cooked and rinsed chickpeas in a large bowl. Mash them with a potato masher (I like to go hands on and mash and knead with my hands but if you find this labour intensive, you can mash in a food processor too). Stir in the cooled sautéed onions, 30ml/2 tbsp olive oil, cumin, pul biber or red pepper flakes. Season with salt and ground black pepper (this filling needs good seasoning, and its being vegetarian, you can taste the filling and adjust the seasoning to your taste). With clean hands, knead the mixture for a couple of minutes and combine well. The filling is ready.
  6. Cut the dough into 3 balls. Working one piece of dough at a time (and cover the rest of the dough balls with a cling film in the meantime so they don’t dry out), roll the dough as thinly as you can into a sheet, on a lightly floured surface. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into small squares (roughly 4cm/1 ½ in). Spoon a teaspoon of the filling, rounded at a size of a chickpea into the middle of each square. Pinch the opposite corners to form a little a little pouch and press the seams together to seal firmly. Make sure to lightly flour your hands if handling the dough becomes sticky, so that you can seal the manti well.
  7. Repeat with the rest of the dough and place the stuffed dumplings in a greased oven proof dish, stacking them next to one another in one layer. Bake uncovered for 8 - 10 minutes, until the manti, dumplings start to get a light golden colour. Take them out of the oven and let the manti cool. You can freeze some of this baked manti at this point, in a sealed bag for up to 3 weeks.
  8. Pour the hot water and pinch of salt to a large pan and bring to the boil. Place the baked dumplings gently to the boiling water and simmer for about 8- 10 minutes, until they are cooked. Once cooked, drain the water and return the manti to the pan. Drizzle a little oil over them so that they don’t stick together.
  9. While manti is cooking, prepare your sauce. Heat the oil in a wide pan and add the hot pepper paste, biber salcasi or the tomato paste. Stir in pul biber or red pepper flakes, dried mint and sumac, combine well and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
  10. Arrange manti on a serving dish and spoon the garlic yogurt over them. Then drizzle spices infused olive oil with the tomato/red pepper paste sauce over the garlic yoghurt. You can decorate with extra red pepper flakes, dried mint and sumac and serve immediately.
  11. Afiyet Olsun.

Ozlem’s Simit and Turkish Breakfast Online (Zoom) Cookery Class

Saturday, March 27th, 2021, 6 pm – 8 pm (GMT) – SOLD OUT

Thank you so much for your keen interest for my Simit and Turkish Breakfast zoom class – as March 20th class Sold Out so quickly, I am doing another Simit and Turkish breakfast zoom class on Saturday, March 27th.

Turkish breakfast, kahvalti, is my favourite meal and I am so very much looking forward to recreating some of my Turkish breakfast favourites at my zoom cookery class on Saturday, March 27th, 2021, 6 pm – 8 pm (GMT). This class will feature our iconic street food, Simit, Sesame encrusted bread rings – it is so much fun making simit at home, and I will show you how. This class menu also includes a delicious Olive Salad with pomegranate molasses from my hometown Antakya,  Zeyting Ufeleme, Eggs with Spinach and Onion, Ispanakli Yumurta and Dried fig jam – all these will wonderfully complement our Simit and Turkish breakfast.

Date: Saturday, March 27th 2021

Time: 6pm- 8pm (GMT)

Cost: 35 GBP per person

This is a slightly longer class, as the Simit dough will need to prove and we will make in total 4 recipes for our Turkish breakfast feast.

You will get plenty of ahead of time preparation tips, ideas for substitution and with stories from my homeland. Recording of the class will also be sent to the participants for limited viewing. The class would also make a wonderful gift for a foodie.

Upon registration, you will get a confirmation email. The zoom link to join the class, recipe pack and ingredients list will be emailed a week before the class. Please note that no refund will be issued.

Do hope you can join us to make this delicious Turkish breakfast feast and take a virtual culinary journey to Turkey!

For private group classes, please email ozlem@ozlemsturkishtable.com, I look forward to cooking together.

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

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Baked beetroots, celeriac, carrots and green lentils with pomegranate molasses

We love beetroots – pancar -,  celeriac – kereviz – and carrots – havuc – in Turkish cuisine. Root vegetables, and vegetables in general feature a lot in healthy, delicious Turkish cooking, based on seasonal produce. With my roots going back to southern Turkey, Antakya, our natural condiment pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi, is used widely in our meals too. From Kisir, Spicy bulgur wheat salad with pomegranate molasses to Stuffed courgette/zucchini with chickpeas , ground meat in pomegranate sauce and more, this delicious, tangy sauce is much loved in our kitchen, very healthy too. You can make your own pomegranate molasses with my recipe here, if you’d like.

I recently baked beetroots, celeriac and carrots with red onions, and then mixed with cooked green lentils, served with a simple sauce of pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice. It turned out to be a light, healthy vegetarian course, packed with flavor. It works great with grills, pasta or as a delicious vegetarian meal on its own. Leftovers can be kept in fridge 2-3 days too. Here is also another Baked beetroot with pomegranate molasses and walnuts recipe, if you like to try out this one too.

I hope you enjoy making this delicious plant based dish, celebrating seasonal root vegetables and wholesome green lentils.

Baked beetroots, celeriac, carrots and green lentils with pomegranate molasses
 
We love beetroots – pancar -, celeriac – kereviz - and carrots – havuc – in Turkish cuisine. Root vegetables, and vegetables in general feature a lot in healthy, delicious Turkish cooking, based on seasonal produce. I recently baked beetroots, celeriac and carrots with red onions, and then mixed with cooked green lentils, served with a simple sauce of pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice. It turned out to be a light, healthy vegetarian course, packed with flavor. It works great with grills, pasta or as a delicious vegetarian meal on its own. Leftovers can be kept in fridge 2-3 days too.
Author:
Recipe type: Plant based / Vegan
Cuisine: Turkish cuisine
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 690g/1lb 8oz -6 medium raw beetroots, peeled, cut into small chunks
  • 630g/1lb 6oz -1 medium celeriac, peeled and cut into small chunks
  • 600g/1lb 5oz baby carrots, washed, topped and halved lengthways (or large carrots, cut in small chunks)
  • 1 large red onion, peeled, cut into small wedges
  • 140g/5oz green lentils, rinsed
  • 60ml/4tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • For the pomegranate molasses sauce:
  • 30ml/2tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 15ml/1tbsp water
  • 60ml/6tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ juice of lemon
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • Handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped – to serve
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
  2. Put the prepared vegetables on a large baking tray. Drizzle with 4 tablespoon olive oil. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
  3. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes.
  4. While the vegetables are baking, cook the green lentils. Place the rinsed green lentils on a medium pan. Pour in hot water and boil for 25 minutes over medium heat. Stir once in a while so the lentils won’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Once cooked, drain and rinse over cold water over colander/sieve. Set the cooked green lentils aside in a bowl.
  5. After 35 minutes of roasting, check the vegetables and gently mix. Remove the foil and roast for a further 15 minutes, until tender and starting to colour at the edges.
  6. Once baked, combine the cooked green lentils with the baked vegetables.
  7. For the pomegranate molasses sauce; mix the pomegranate molasses, nar eksisi, with water, lemon juice and the extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  8. Pour the sauce over the baked vegetables and green lentils and combine gently.
  9. Place the baked vegetables and lentils on a serving plate. Scatter over the chopped parsley and serve immediately.
  10. Afiyet Olsun.

New Online Cookery Classes

Ozlem’s Turkish Table ~ Peri’s Spice Ladle – Healthy Lentils and Beans Virtual Cooking Class ; Friday January 8th 2021

Please join us to kick start the New Year at virtual cooking session on Friday, January 8th across time zones (9a Pacific Time, that’s 5p UK time) as we will be teaching healthy, plant-forward, family-friendly lentil and beans dishes from the Turkish and Indian cuisines. Prominent food writer and amazing cookery instructor Perinaz Avari is passionate about her native Parsi and Indian food, as I am about wholesome Turkish Cuisine. We would be delighted to have you with us at this delicous, wholesome, comforting class.

Please kindly see the class details and register at this link to join the class, we look forward to cooking together and taking you to a culinary journey to our homelands.

Please visit my Cookery Classes page for more upcoming Turkish cookery classes.

Signed copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book and Apron

My sincere thanks to you all for your amazing response and support for Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book this year. This special book has been my way of celebrating my southern Turkish roots, passing down my mother and grandmother’s delicious, wholesome recipes as well as popular, authentic Turkish recipes to food lovers. It sold over 7,000 copies worldwide, won Gourmands Best in the World Award in Food Heritage category. I am delighted to share that its 4th print run now on its way. My very sincere thanks to GB Publishing and Pinar Foods UK and to you dear readers, for your amazing support. It’s been very special to share my homeland’s delicious, healthy recipes with you all and I can’t wait to keep on sharing even more.

Signed copies of Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book are available at this link here, it is delivered worldwide including the US. We are also delighted to offer you this special Ozlem’s Turkish Table apron. It is special to my heart, as it is made in Turkey, with my hometown Antakya’s celebrated daphne leaves in the hand embroidered design – this lovely apron could also make a wonderful gift for; you can get yours at this link. Delivered worldwide including the US.

Turkish Breakfast spread from Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book; photo credit: Sian Irvine Food Photography

My very best wishes to you all for the New Year, in good health, happiness and delicious food.

Mutlu Yillar, Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

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