Pub Style Bulgur Pilaf (Meyhane Usûlü Bulgur Pilavı)

Bulgur pilaf, a highly traditional central Anatolian dish, can be pretty boring, at least for me, when cooked regular way: with only tomato paste, oil, and maybe onions. However, pub style bulgur (my mom calls this recipe pub style, but I have no idea why) is rich in flavor + vegetables, is fun and a wholesome meal on its own.I don't know how many different kinds of bulgur there are elsewhere, but in Turkey we have two types: fine and coarse. Fine...

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Turkish Pumpkin Dessert (Kabak Tatlısı)

Pumpkin dessert is a very easy-to-make popular and traditional recipe. If you don't have a big company, you can use butternut squash in stead of pumpkin.pumpkin or butternut squashsugar4-5 clovescrushed walnutsThe ratio of pumpkin to sugar is 1 to 1/2. I used 3 cups of squash and 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Peel the pumpkin, cut it into big chunks, and put in a pot. Put sugar on and let it sit over night. It will release water, so you don't need to add...

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Barbunya Beans (Barbunya Pilaki)

Barbunya is a very common and popular olive oil dish (which is cooked always/only with olive oil and served cold) in Turkey. Delicious fresh barbunya beans appear in farmer's markets in midsummer. What people usually do is to buy large amounts of barbunyas, pod them, and then keep them in the freezer for the winter. Fresh barbunyas are always preferred to dried ones. However, since it's impossible to find fresh barbunyas here in the States, I learned...

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Swiss Chard Sauce (Pazı Soslu Makarna)

1 pack whole wheat spaghetti1 bunch red Swiss chard, leaves washed and chopped into 1/2 inch wide strips (if you don't want to waste the stems, you can use them ina soup)1 onion, chopped3 cloves of garlic, sliced2 anaheim or banana peppers, chopped3 tbsp olive oil1 tsp paprika1/2 tsp black pepper1/2 tsp crushed pepper2 fresh tomatoes, diced or 1 can petite diced tomato2 tbsp yogurt or milk1/2 cup coarsely crushed walnuts2 cups grated sharp cheddar...

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Red Lentil Soup (Kırmızı Mercimek Çorbası)

for the soup:1 cup red lentils1 medium size onion1 carrot1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or you can do half&half)1 tsp salt1 tsp crushed pepper or red peppercorns6 cups of waterfor the sauce:2 tbsp olive oil or butter1 tbsp sweet or spicy paprika-With a pressure cooker: Put everything (onion and carrot coarsley chopped) for the soup in the pressure cooker and cook on medium for 15 minutes and then smoothen the soup with a blender-With a regular...

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Potato Salad à la Turque (Patates Salatası)

Another parsley recipe for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Sher of What Did You Eat? Although parsley seems to be the dominant herb in this salad, the recipe shows the friendship of herbes4 medium potatoes--in Turkey this is made with yellow potatoes since we don't have red ones over there; however, I love it with red potatoes,too--peeled and diced (actually the number of potatoes depends on how big a salad you want)1 small...

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Lamb Stew (Kuzu Güveç)

If you want this to be a vegetarian stew, all you need to do is to skip the meat part.lamb, diced. Use as much meat as you want 1/2 pound or 1 pound (you can also substitute lamb with beef or use half lamb + half beef)1 big onion, chopped3-4 cloves of garlic1 carrot, chopped in rounds1 eggplant (not a huge american one though), peeled in striped pattern and diced1 zucchini, diced or cut in half rounds (or summer squash or both)1 or 2 potatos, diced...

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Adzuki Bean Stew (Adzuki/Japon Fasülyesi)

3 cups adzuki beans, cooked or canned (I used dried adzukis and pressure-cooked them for 10 minutes)1 cup TVP chunks (optional)1 onion, chopped3 cloves of garlic, sliced1 red pepper (anaheim or sweet Italian), chopped2 carrots, cut in quarter rounds1 red potato, diced2 tbsp pepper paste (or tomato paste)2 tbsp fresh dill,chopped3 tbsp olive oil or butter1 tsp paprika1 tsp black peppersalt-Soak TVP chunks in hot water in a bowl for app. 20 minutes....

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Adana Style Stuffed Eggplants and Zucchinis (Adana Usulü Patlıcan ve Kabak Dolması)

Years ago, my mom went to Adana--one of the "kebap" capitals of Turkey--to visit her cousins. In stead of kebap, she brought back this eggplant + zucchini dolma recipe. In Adana, they usually use sundried eggplants and zucchinis; however, in the northwestern part of Turkey it's not easy to sundry vegetables as it is in the southeastern part, so we modified the recipe by replacing sundried vegetables with fresh ones.With the following ingredients...

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Bread Topped with Tomato-Parsley et al (Fırında Domates ve Maydanozlu Ekmek)

When I was a kid, the biggest torture for me was to have stale bread for breakfast, and this recipe was my mom's genius invention to market stale bread to us. It worked well; it is still my favorite breakfast. Everything you expect from a Turkish breakfast is here on a slice of bread: tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, parsley, banana peppers, and eggs. Those little slices loaded with deliciousness go well with (Turkish) tea at both breakfast and afternoon-tea...

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Pear Experiment #2: Poached Pears with Bourbon (Armut Tatlısı)

Hey Nolan, I don't want to make you envious, but there's an ABC Bourbon night this Friday. Inspired by Rustic apple dessert and bourbon night, I came up with this pear dessert. I applied Betül's cooking and coloring ideas for apples on pears, and it worked just fine.4 firm pears, peeled and cored (you can core the pears either before cooking or while eating; it's your call)2 cups of water1 1/2 cups of sugar (if you want a really sweet pear, you should...

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Experiment Pear #1: Groundscore Gingered Pear Pie (Armutlu Zencefilli Pay)

This recipe is from Epicurious.com (originally it was Gingered Pear Pie with Golden Raisins), but we’re suggesting some adaptations… As with the cherry pie, you may derive the most satisfaction from stealing the pears from an unattended tree. In this case, ripe pears will fall from the tree, so you can feel like you are just tidying up the resident’s yard. The pears will be softer if you let them ripen for a few days before baking. One adaptation...

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