Turkish kitchen

Turkish Kitchen

1 - Kebab Iskander : 

Ingredients :

2lbs lamb or beef tenderloin

4 large onions

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

olive oil

4 pieces of Asian Nan Pita bread or plain pita bread

Garnish:

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cupsplain yogurt

4 cloves garlic

salt to taste

4 tablespoons butter

Directions : 

Place onions in a food processor and process till liquid, discard any remaining onion pulp.Mix salt, pepper, olive oil, and onion juice in a large bowl. Add beef or lamb pieces and marinade overnight or for 24 hours.

The next day before you cook the meat, use a knife, electric knife or meat cutter to shred the meat. Then cook the meat in a large skillet (be careful not to over-cook).

While the meat is cooking you can prepare the Iskender plate.

Warm pita bread on the stove on both sides and keep warm.

When everything is ready then slice the pita into squares, divide into 4 portions and place as a layer on each plate.

Crush garlic with the salt and add to yogurt, mix well. Add extra salt to taste.spoon garlic yogurt onto the pita squares just before adding hot lamb or beef.

Stack hot lamb or beef onto yogurt covered pita bread.

Mix tomato puree with olive oil and pepper and heat in a small saucepan, add salt to taste, and drizzle over the meat.

Lastly, melt the butter in a small pan. When it starts bubbling, pour over the tomato sauce.

Serve Iskender Kebab while its hot with a side of yogurt

2-Turkish Mücver : 

Ingredients :

• 1 medium zucchini/courgette
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 tbsp chopped dill
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp flour
• If you wish you can add 4 tbsp of crumbled feta cheese
• Salt & black pepper
• Olive oil
• Salt

Directions : 

1. Grate the courgette and chop the onion and dill fine.
2. Mix all other ingredients together. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet and drop squash batter by tablespoonful into the hot oil and cook on medium high. Turn once after 2-3 minutes when light brown. Drain on a paper towel.
3. Serve with a sauce of yoghurt with salt and garlic

3- Turkish Turkey Pizza :

Ingredients : 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 pound lean ground turkey 
• 1 cup diced canned tomatoes, drained 
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 4 (4-inch) pitas
• 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped red onion 

Directions : 

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Add turkey; cook 3 minutes. Add tomato, 2 tablespoons parsley, tomato paste, and next 3 ingredients (through allspice) to pan; reduce heat to medium. Cook 5 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.
3. Place pitas on a baking sheet. Combine low-fat yogurt, salt, black pepper, and red pepper in a small bowl; spread evenly over pitas. Divide turkey mixture evenly over pitas; sprinkle evenly with remaining 2 tablespoons parsley. Bake at 450° for 5 minutes; serve immediately.

4-Turkish Tabbouleh (Kisir) :

Ingredients : 

1. 1 cup of fıne Bulgur (or Cracked Wheat)
2. 3/4 Tablespoon tomato paste
3. 1 Teaspoon Hot pepper paste 
4. 3-4 Tablespoons  olive oil
5. 1/2 Cup  Green Onions/Scallions, finely chopped
6. 1 Small Onion, cut in thin half moons
7. 2 Cups flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
8. 1 Small Cucumber, finely chopped
9. Hot Peppers, finely chopped 
10. 1 Tablespoon pomegranate syrup 
11. Juice of  1/2 lemon 
12. 1 Teaspoon ground black pepper
13. 1 Tablespoon Dried Mint
14. 1/2 Tablespoon Cumin
15. 1 Tomato, finely chopped + more for the sides
16. Lettuce leaves

Directions : 

Soak bulgur in cold water until soft; for about 1/2 hour.  Squeeze out excess water from bulgur using hands or paper towel. Or Cook according to the package direction.
Soak the Cracked Wheat/Dalia in enough water to just cover it. Let it soak for about an hour. Most of the water will be absorbed. If there is additional water, drain and reserve. Boil 2 Cups of water & cook the soaked cracked wheat for about 15-20 minutes or till tender. Drain the excess liquid & dry it. Set aside the drained cooked cracked wheat.put tomato and pepper paste in a big bowl and mix them together. Add the cooked cracked wheat/bulgur and  salt into this mix. Stir once. Cover with and let it soak the water for 10-15 minutes.Cut the onion into very thin half-moon shapes. In a little bowl, knead/crush onion with 1 teaspoon salt . Rinse salt and squeeze excessive water.Fluff cracked wheat/bulgur with a fork. Add  ground pepper, cumin, mint flakes, oil, pomegranate syrup, lemon juice, and kneaded onion. Mix well. At this point taste to see if it needs more lemon juice. Kisir should taste slightly sour.Add sliced fresh peppers, spring onions, tomatoes, cucumber, and parsley. Mix everything together well.

Kisir is served and eaten with lettuce leaves and tomatoes.

5-Çerkez Tavugu (sharkasseya )

Ingredients

1. Chicken breast, skinless, boneless -- 3 pounds
2. Water -- 4 cups
3. Salt -- 2 teaspoons
4. Olive oil -- 3 tablespoons
5. Onion, chopped -- 1
6. Garlic, minced -- 2 cloves
7. Paprika -- 3 tablespoons
8. Cayenne pepper -- 1/2 teaspoon
9. Walnuts -- 3 cups
10. White bread, crust removed, soaked in water and squeezed dry -- 2 to 3 slices
11. Lemon juice -- 1 tablespoon
12. Salt and pepper -- to taste
13. Olive oil -- 3 tablespoons
14. Paprika -- 2 tablespoons
15. Parsley, chopped -- 2 tablespoons

Directions : 

1. Add the chicken, water and salt to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high flame. Reduce heat to low and simmer 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Remove chicken, reserving the broth, and set aside to cool. When the chicken is cool, shred it finely with your fingers.
2. Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium flame. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, paprika and cayenne and sauté for another 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Place the onion mixture, walnuts, bread, lemon juice, 2 cups of the poaching liquid, salt and pepper into a blender or food processor. Process until fairly smooth but with a little texture remaining. Remove to a large bowl.
4. Add the shredded chicken to the walnut sauce. Adjust seasoning and add more poaching liquid if the sauce is too dry. Place in a serving dish and shape decoratively with the tines of a fork.
5. Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the paprika over medium flame until the oil colors a deep red, 1 to 2 minutes. Drizzle the oil over the chicken, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and serve warm or at room temperature.

6- Turkish lamb pilau : 

Ingredients : 

1. small handful pine nuts
2. 1 tbsp Olive Oil
3. 1 large Onion  halved and sliced
4. 2 Cinnamon sticks, broken in half
5. 500g lean lamb neck fillet, cubed
6. 250g basmati rice
7. 1lamb or vegetable stock cube
8. 12 ready-to-eat dried apricots handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Directions :

1. Dry-fry the pine nuts or almonds in a large pan until lightly toasted, then tip onto a plate. Add the oil to the pan, then fry the onion and cinnamon together until starting to turn golden. Turn up the heat, stir in the lamb, fry until the meat changes colour, then tip in the rice and cook for 1 min, stirring all the time.
2. Pour in 500ml boiling water, crumble in the stock cube, add the apricots, then season to taste. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 12 mins until the rice is tender and the stock has been absorbed. Toss in the pine nuts and mint and serve.

7-Turkish Chicken Thighs 

Ingredients : 

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, (about 3 1/2 pounds total), skin removed, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons hot paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried mint
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions :

Place chicken in a large bowl. Add lemon juice and toss to coat. Whisk yogurt, garlic, ginger, paprika, mint and salt in a separate bowl. Pour the yogurt mixture over the chicken and stir to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.

Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard marinade). Place the chicken on a broiler rack and broil until browned on top, about 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 400°F and bake until the chicken is juicy and just cooked through, about 15 minutes longer. (Thigh meat will appear dark pink, even when cooked through.) Serve immediately.

8- Icli Kofte : 

Ingredients : 

Filling:
300 gr lean ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, crumbled
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp all spice
Salt
Pepper

Kofte shell:
400 gr beef steak (no fat, no veins), cut in medium sized chunks
1 1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 cup bulgur, fine grain
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp red pepper paste
Salt

Directions:

For the filling: Saute the ground beef with the onion until the meat is light brown and crumbly. Then drain and add the rest of the ingredients, stir. Put aside.
For the Kofte shell: Put the beef and red pepper in the food processor and turn it into paste. After that check the paste with your fingers, if there are any stringy veins, remove them.
Place the bulgur in a large bowl and add a little bit of water to get it wet, but not sloppy. Add the red pepper paste, onion and salt, knead them all. Slowly add the beef paste little by little and knead well. During the kneading, wet your hands once in a while and continue kneading. Do this for 10 minutes and make sure everything's mixed well.
Take a walnut sized piece from it, make a ball and place it on your palm. Use your other hand's index finger to make a hole at the centre . Make the outside as thin as possible. Put 2 tsp of filling in itThen wet your hand and slowly close the top. And rotate it in your palm to make the surface smooth 
Place the Kofte on a plate and make sure they don't touch each other. If you don't want to fry all of them, put them in the freezer, and after freezing, put them in ziploc bags. When you do want to fry the frozen Kofte, let them sit for 5 minutes at room temperature before frying.
Heat the sunflower oil in the frying pan, then fry all sides equally. Serve with crushed red pepper, dry mint, lemon wedges or sumac.

9- Turkish baklava (Dessert): 

Ingredients

For the baklava

• 300 g shelled pistachio nuts, or almonds (or a mixture of both)
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 600 g ready-made filo pastry 
• 125–150 g butter  melted

For the syrup

• 300 ml water
• 350 g caster sugar
• 125 ml clear honey
• 1 sticks cinnamon, or 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 orange, zest only
• 1 tsp whole cloves 

Direction : 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. 
2. For the baklava : grind the nuts in a food processor until coarsely ground, then mix in the ground cinnamon. 
3. Using a soft pastry brush, lightly butter a 24 x 19cm ovenproof dish. Gently unfold the filo pastry, covering it immediately with a damp clean tea towel to stop it drying out and cracking. 
4. Start layering the sheets of filo pastry into the dish, brushing each sheet with melted butter before placing the next layer on top. After six layers, scatter over one-third of the crushed nuts. 
5. Repeat and add six more layers of filo pastry. Butter the top of the last layer and trim off any overlapping pastry with a sharp knife to create a neat edge. Cut into small 4-5cm diamonds, making sure the knife goes all the way to the bottom. 
6. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 40–45 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp, reducing the temperature to 170C/gas 3 during cooking if the baklava looks as though it is browning too quickly. 
7. For the syrup: place all the syrup ingredients into a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the liquid has reduced by one-third. Stir occasionally, then leave to cool. 8. Remove the baklava from the oven and spoon half the cooked syrup all over the top. Leave for five minutes, then spoon over the remaining syrup. Allow the baklava to cool completely before removing the individual pieces from the dish with a palette knife. 

10 - KUNEFE DESSERT : 

INGREDIENTS

300 g of kadayif

21/2  cups of sugar

1/3 cups of melted margarine

2 cups of grated salt-free ,fresh white cheese

1/2 a tablespoon of lemon juice grated peel of 1 lemon

Directions :

1- heat 21/2  cups of sugar with 2 1/2 cups  of water in a pot and stir until the sugar disolves.bring to a boil then add in lemon juice and lemon juice and lemon peels let boil for 5 minutes then remove from heat
2- grease a tray (25 cm in diameter) with half of the margarine.
3-  put half of the kadayif into the tray.sprinkle grated cheese over and press gently.
4- put the remaining kadayif on top and press gently
5- pour the remaining melted margarine on top with a spoon.cook in an oven until it turns pink.remove from the oven and pour sugar-water on top
6- slice and serve while hot.