In Turkey, despite the Islamic prohibition against wine and anything alcoholic, there is a rich tradition associated with liquor. Drinking alcoholic beverages in the company of family and friends at home, in taverns and restaurants, is a part of special occasions. Similar to the Spanish tapas, "meze" is the general category of dishes that are brought in small quantities to start the meal off. These are eaten until the main course is served along with wine or more likely with "rak�", the anise-flavoured national drink of Turks sometimes referred to as "lion's milk".
HUMMUS
INGREDIENTS
3-4 tbsp Tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
salt to taste
Drain and wash the chick peas. Place chick peas, Tahini, lemon juice
in a blender or food processor. Crush garlic with salt. Add to mixture
in blender. Blend well. Add more lemon juice if needed.
Garnish with parsley and sprikle with olive oil. You can use
dried chick peas which have been soaked and then boiled until tender.
NOTE: For a more traditional way of preparing Hummus, you can mash the
chick peas, Tahini and crushed garlic until soft. Then add the lemon juice,
and a bit of cold water if needed. But I find that using a food processor
is just as easy, and faster and for a creamer texture, a blender does
wonders as well.
I love the flavor of Turkish style kebabs, wonderfully marinated and grilled to perfection.
INGREDIENTS
SAUCE
Place pides on a grill and heat both sides gently. After cubing the pides,
put them on a preheated plate and top of with 2 1/2 tablespoons of
melted butter or margarine. Mix well and set aside.
Marinate the cubed meat in onion juice and olive oil.
Skewer the meat cubes, leaving 1/2 inch between each meat cube,
place skewers 2 inches above moderate coal fire and grill all sides
until golden brown for 4-5 minutes.
While the kebabs are being grilled,
peel and dice the medium tomatoes, put in a pan and cook gently for
5 minutes. Spread the cooked tomato sauce on the pides,
beat the yoghurt with a fork and add on top of the tomato sauce.
Place the kebab again evenly and decoratively on
each plate, top with red pepper and melted butter or margarine.
Slice the tomato and grill very gently while grilling the green peppers
well. Top with the grilled tomato and green pepper slices and serve hot.
INGREDIENTS
FILLING
Sift flour in a large bowl. Make a hole in center. Add eggs, oil, salt,
lemon juice and water. Blend well. Make a medium stiff dough. Knead for
5 minutes or until smooth. Let stand covered for 5 minutes. Roll and
cut dough into 20 pieces. Shape into balls. Cover balls with napkin.
Roll each ball out as thin as tissue paper with rolling pin (or a
smooth long stick 1 1/2 cm (3/4 inch) in diameter if available). Sprinkle
with starch each time while rolling. Pack first 10 rolled sheets on top
of another sprinkling with starch between sheets. Set aside.
Repeat the same with the remaining balls. Place first pack in an
ungreased round baking pan 38-40 cm (16 inch) in diameter, 5 cm (2 inch)
deep, one by one. Brush off starch while spreading sheets (if same size
baking pan is not available use any other, but trim pastry layers to fit
into your pan). Grease the pan lightly and place one layer of dough over.
Pour 1/2 tablespoon melted margarine evenly over the dough. Place only half of the pieces of dough on the tray so that there is
one layer of dough, and margarine over that. When half of the dough is used up, sprinkle ground
walnuts over. Over the walnuts place another layer of dough, spread some margarine, then another
layer of dough, continue until all the pieces of dough are used. Cut the pieces of dough into the shape
of baklava, place in a moderately heated oven and cook for an hour until the colour of the baklavas
turn golden brown. Put granulated sugar, water and lemon juice into a pan, melt the sugar over
moderate heat and boil for about 15 minutes until the mixture becomes a syrup. Remove from heat
and allow to cool for 10 minutes, brush with butter.
DID YOU ENJOY?
READY TO COME BACK TO TURKEY FOR A SURPRISE?
900 gr. beef, chiken or lamb
5 Pides (Pide is slightly leavened bread, for this dish
you may obtain the pides from a Turkish Restaurant), or if no luck,
use pita bread
5 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 medium tomatoes(very ripe)
6 green peppers
1/2 tablespoon red pepper
BAKLAVA
4 1/3 cup flour
2 cups water
2 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup melted margarine
1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts
2 teaspoons lemon juice
SYRUP
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
