Artichoke Heart and Lamb Stew (Kuzu Etli Enginar)

Artichoke and lamb stew is a very common dish in the western Aegean part of Turkey, where Turk and Greeks lived together for years. The original recipe requires artichoke heart, lamb, onion, and, the most important of all dill. Yet, I find the mix of just artichoke and lamb to be very heavy, so I modified the recipe by adding carrot ands green peas.serves 4-61 pound lamb8-10 small or 4-6 big peeled artichoke hearts, cut into 4-6 pieces1 medium onion,...

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Bulgur Pilaf with Green Lentils (Mercimekli Bulgur Pilavi)

A perfect bulgur pilaf recipe!1/2 cup green lentils1 cup coarse bulgur5-6 sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped2-3 dried hot chilies, chopped2 red or green chilies, chopped2 medium onions, finely chopped3 tbsp tomato paste4 tbsp olive oil-Boil 1/2 cup green lentils with 3-4 cups of water until soft, approximately 15-20 minutes, and drain. (!/2 cup lentils will make 1 cup after boiled)-Heat olive oil in a pot. Add onion. Stir for 5 minutes.-Add sun dried...

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Kidney Beans with Beef Franks (Sosisli Kırmızı Fasülye)

This is a delicious fall stew with kidney beans.1 1/2 cups dry red kidney beans3 tbsp butter or olive oil1 big onion, chopped2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped2 red peppers or 1 red bell pepper, chopped4-5 beef franks, cut in 1/2 inch rounds1 potato, cubed2 tbsp tomato paste (+ 1 tbsp pepper paste, optional)4 bay leaves2 tsp cumin2 tsp oregano leaves2 tsp black peppersaltwater-Soak kidney beans in water overnight. The next day, boil them lots of...

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Vegeterian Stuffed Eggplants (İmam Bayıldı)

İmam bayıldı is one of the most popular olive oil dishes of Turkish cuisine. It literally translates as "imam (the priest) fainted." The rumor goes that imam faints, out of stinginess, when he learns the amount of olive oil used to make this dish.İmam bayıldı is also known as the vegetarian version of another very popular eggplant dish: stuffed eggplants (karnıyarık). In traditional cuisine eggplants are deep fried as a whole, just like in stuffed...

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Frozen Panda Cake (Panda Pasta)

One of my oldest friends, Sena, taught this recipe to me approximately 15 years ago. It was a big hit then. We would make Panda cake every week. Especially that coco sauce; we didn't seem to get enough of it. Although this is really a pudding, since you need to cut it and eat it with a fork we call it a cake. I wanted to have Panda cake again for a long time, but didn't ask Sena to e-mail the recipe, because I thought it wouldn't be as good without...

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Stuffed Zucchini with Bulgur (Bulgurlu Kabak Dolması)

I made pepper dolmas with bulgur two weeks ago and we loved it. So, I decided to try the recipe again, this time with zucchini. I picked big zucchinis, carvable in my standards. I cut each zucchini into 3 equal parts and carved carefully so that each one had a thin bottom to hold stuffing. If you work with smaller zucchinis, just cut them into two. With zucchinis I used fresh dill and mint, and also added garlic. And in the end, stuffed zucchinis...

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Çanakkale Style Vegetable Stew (Şaraşura)

This summer stew is a specialty of Çanakkale. Çanakkale, the northern Aegean/ half Thracian city, has a rich cuisine, but once you taste its famous peynir helvası (cheese halva) and fresh fish from Dardanelles you forget to ask for more.1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into two1 eggplant, peeled in stripes and largely diced1 zucchini, largely diced2 potatoes, largely diced3 banana peppers, chopped in big rounds1 big onion, roughly chopped2 tomatoes,...

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