MEATBALLS WITH POTATOS (PATATESLI SULU KOFTE)

This recipe is a cross between a soup and a stew. Great for dipping bread into the juice.  I usually add both potatos and carrots but I skipped the carrots this time only because I forgot to buy them this week. "What do you serve with?" you ask. Bread of course for dipping in the juice; and either spaghetti or cooked rice with a side order of salad or cacik (yogurt and cucumber mix).

1/2 kilogram lean ground beef

1/3 cup rice

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2 onions

2-3 potatos

2 carrots

1 egg

salt, blackpepper

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons cooking oil

3 tablespoons flour

water

• First get your vegetables ready. Peel and cut carrots and potatos and set aside.
• Then make your meatballs by mixing together ground beef, 1 chopped onion, parsley, egg, rice, salt and pepper. If you like, you can let it sit in the fridge half an hour so it is easier to handle when making the meatballs.
• Take small pieces from the ground and make into small balls.
• Put flour on a plate and roll the meatballs in flour. You don't need to do this individually.  Just spread the flour on a plate, put all the meatballs on the flour and shake the plate a little.  Meatballs will roll around on their own but make sure they are all covered lightly.
• In a medium sized pan, put olive oil the second chopped onion and the meatballs and fry the meatballs without breaking them. You can use a wooden spoon to turn them over.
• Mix 1 cup of water with tomato paste and bring to boil. Add in vegetables. Reduce heat and cook until vegetables are soft
• You may need to add more water. This dish should be a bit watery.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

The specialty of this muffin is the strudel topping.  It reminds me of store bought muffins.  A couple of key points to remember when making this recipe is not to mix the flour too much to make sure it rises when cooking.  I used regular sized muffin cups to get 12 muffins.  I am thinking that mini muffins with these measurements would give a higher "rise" look.  Although this is really not necessary.  The top of the muffing with the strudel topping was a favorite at my house.  Even though we are trying to watch our weight, we couldn't help ourselves and finished all the muffins in one night.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Line muffin cups with muffin liners.
• First make the strudel topping by Mix ing all the topping ingredients together with a fork.  Set aside
• Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.
• Mix together the vegetable oil, the egg and the milk
• Add the flour mixture and using a wooden spoon mix through.
• Fold in blueberries.
• Fill 3/4 of the muffin cups and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Makes 12 muffins

ORANGE DREAMSICKLE COOKIES

This cookie recipe is from my sister in law.  They were so good that it did not last too long in my house.  Try them for valentines day!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 firmly packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 egg

1 cup white chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
• In large bowl, cream butter, sugars and zest with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Add egg, mix well.
• Add dry ingredients to butter mixture, mix well. Stir in white chocolate chips. Drop on a cookie sheet using a tablespoonfuls or cookie scoop.
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 3 minutes on pan; remove and cool completely on cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

VEGETARIAN RAW MEAT BITES (ETSIZ CIG KOFTE)

Yes.. Vegetarian raw meat is an oxymoron.  This dish is normally made with raw meat and bulgur.  Usually a very strong person kneads it like dough with spices for a very long time to get it right.  This recipe is done in a food processor with a day old bread and walnuts.  It is amazing how noone can tell that it isn't the real thing.  If you don't like spicy foods, you'll likely not going to like this recipe but if you enjoy currie and spices, this is a must try.

1/2 cup fine bulgur
1 piece of a day old bread (with crust)

1 small onion
2 cloves of crushed garlic

1/4 cup crushed walnuts

1 full teaspoon tomato paste
1 full teaspoon hot red pepper paste
salt
1 full teaspoon spice mix (below)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Spice mix (You can make this mix and save for other recipes) :

1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon blackpepper

2 tablespoon hot red pepper

2 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoon curry

1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon mint

1 teaspoon thyme

• Put the bulgur in a colander and pour boiled water through the bulgur.  Set aside to dry.
• In a food processor chop onion and add all ingredients except bulgur, olive oil and parsley and mix through until you have a sticky mixture.  Add in bulgur and mix through.  Finally add in olive oil and mix that through in the food processor
• Remove from the food processor and add in parsley and knead like a big dough making sure parsley is all through.
• Make small bites and serve in a bed of lettuce with pickles on the side

TURKISH DUMPLINGS (MANTI)

I called it Turkish Dumplings but it could also be called Turkish Tortolini.  Is this dish time consuming to make? Yes.  Is this dish bad for a meal if you are dieting? Yes.  Is this dish deeelicious? Absolutely!!  Not only is this dish a favorite of my girls, it is also a favorite of all their friends from school.  Even when their first reaction was eeewww!

2 Eggs

2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

6.5 cup flour

Filling:

300 gr lean ground beef

2 onions

1/2 bunch parsley
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Sprinkle:

2 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Sauce:

Garlic yogurt (see the recipe in the sauce section)
Sumac, mint, red pepper flakes

For those who don't like yogurt, regular spaghetti sauce also works well.

• Mix the eggs with salt.  Add in water.  Slowly add the flour.  First 4 cups is pretty easy as it is still soft but it starts thickening after that.  Add 1 cup of flour at a time and continue to knead.  You need a fairly solid dough. Cover. Set aside to rest about 30 minutes. 
• Prepare the filling by mixing all of the ingredients (ground beef, graded onion, parsley, salt and black pepper)
• When ready to make the manti, cut dough into 8 equal parts. 
• Take 1 part dough and roll out on a floured surface.  It doesn't have to be rolled out too thin and cut small square pieces (see picture below)
• Put a small piece of filling on each square and fold.  To fold, first make a triangle and then make the ends meet (see picture below). Shape is really not that important.  You just need to make sure that it does not come apart during cooking.  Put each one on a lined pan apart from each other to make sure they don't stick.
• To cook boil salted water (just like cooking spaghetti). Drop Manti in making sure they don't stick to one another.  I usually drop them in one at a time but you need to do this fairly quickly.  They will first sink to the bottom, then as they cook, they will float.  Cook for 10 minutes.
• If you want to make soup later, you should save some of the water.  Otherwise, you can drain
• Serve with garlic yogurt and the sauce on top.  Sprinkle with sumac and dried mint

Hint #1: Because this is hard to make, I make a big batch and freeze.  To do this you make the Manti, and put on a smaller pan.  Put in the freezer until they are frozen.  Once frozen, you can move them to a container.  They will not stick to one another.  You can just take them out and cook when you need them.

Hint #2: You can also make manti soup.  Just add the water you saved.  You can even add in a couple of spoonfuls of cooked chick peas.

FALAFEL

Falafel is from somewhere in the middle east.  Many countries claim it for their own.  Who ever invented it, we appreciate and enjoy it.  It is extremely easy to make and ready in 15 minutes.   The key is getting the consistency right to make sure it does not fall apart during frying.  It has to be a thick "dough".   I use a food processor all ingredients except the flour.  I add flour by hand and knead like a dough and continue to add flour until it is thick enough to roll into patties.

1 can chickpeas (540 gr.), drained
1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon ground coriander

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

6-8 tablespoons flour

For frying: Cooking oil

Serve:

In pita bread with humus, chopped lettuce, tomato and pickles.  You can also make a sauce with yogurt, garlic and chopped cucumbers.

• Drain the chickpeas and rinse with cold water. 
• Put all (except flour) into a food processor and mix together
• Take out of the processor into a big mixing bowl. 
• Start with 4 tablespoons flour and kneed like a dough.  Continue to add flour 1 tablespoon at a time to get a solid "dough"
• Make "patties" or "balls"
• Fry in a little bit of oil until both sides are light brown (Approx. 5 minutes)
• Serve with pita bread, humus, lettuce, tomato and pickles along with a sauce made of yogurt, garlic and cucumbers.

OVEN ROASTED CHESTNUTS

Chestnuts are often used in rice and other dishes in Turkey but roasted chestnuts are likely everyone's favorite.  They are often roasted on an open fire.  Sold in the streets in a code shaped newspaper.  Chestnuts always remind me my childhood vacations with my grandmother in Izmir.  Livingroom of her house had a huge window with the view of the ocean.  She also had an indoor mangal (barbeque) in her house.  She not only roasted chestnuts on it but also made her Turkish coffee on her little barbeque.  She was very fond of her coffee.  It had to be freshly ground (in a hand grinder) just before the coffee is made.  People tell me I look just like her.  I guess I am like her in more ways then just looks :-)

All you need for this is chestnuts (as much as you like) and water

• Soak the chestnuts in water for 30 minutes to soften them
• Make a small cut in each one (make sure the cut is pretty deep)
• Preheat oven to 350
• Cook for 45 minutes
• Cool, peel and enjoy!