Semolina Helva for Good Bored Souls

I had to try my first semolina helva, I felt like doing it. I looked for some pretext to cook it. Very often, helva is cooked when someone is dead or on the years that follow, on the very same day, as remembrance, we "cook a helva to his soul" and share it and those who eat, prays for the remembered person's soul.

I thought of my grand mothers but they passed away in cold seasons and not in a blooming May.

So I cooked it for my own soul I guess. My very bored soul lately and I made a wish-best remedy for bored souls.

I brought one plate to my neighbour that shared her mother's village fresh eggs, one plate for my next door neighbour- Dunya's mother and a large plate for our gardener and security guys.

And guess what I have received today: the most beautiful rose I have ever been offered. I took a picture of my first helva and the beautiful rose from the gardener.

Here I am giving the recipe of Irmik Hel vasi- Semolina Helva with some added cheese the way our neighbour Nevin Teyze used to make at my childhood.

Semolina Helva Recipe

semolina, 1,5 cups

olive oil, 1/2 cup

butter, 1/2 tablespoon

cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon grounded

cloves, 3-4 grounded

sugar, 1 cup

milk, 2 cups

pinenuts, 1 tablespoon or more

any unsalty fresh cheese like ricotta, 150 gr (I used turkish lor cheese)

1-Roast the semolina and pinenuts

2- Add the boiling milk and sugar

3- Add the olive oil and stir constantly until the semolina absorbs all the liquid.

4- Add the cheese and stir for 2 more minutes

5- Add the spices and butter

6- Take a deep braeth close your eyes

7- Pray for my soul and my wish to come true (every little helps, I need it ! :)

8- Mold and serve

PS(Same Day at around 20:30): Dunya has just told my name today for the first time after having "aunt berfin's cake". His mother says he wanted to have it all. I am sure he will be praying soon :)

Books for My Resolutions

No more clutter in my home !

I am following the book: A Year to an Organized Life.

I have to beat my insuline resistance:

500 Low Carb Recipes

to show you that I am practising:

The Unpotato Salad as given in the book

You will not believe how potato salad and how delicious it is without my beloved potatoes.

The Unpotato Salad

Red onion, diced 1 large

Celery, diced 2 cups

Cauliflower, 1 large cooked, chopped

Eggs, boiled, 4

For the sauce

Mayonnaise

Vinegar

Splenda

Saving the World With a Sweet Soup - עשוראא

It is believed that Noah, on his cruise to save the living, cooked Ashura with the left ingredients in the ship: wheat, sugar, rice, chick peas, beans, nuts, dried fruits.. A mixture that could be brought together after any disaster on my beautiful fruitful land of Anatolia.

For the rememberance, every year, there is a fixed Ashura day where the pudding like dessert is cooked and shared with neighbours, friends and family  around here. The date is the 26,27th of December according to the Greagorian calendar and according to the lunar muslim calendar, on the 10th day of Muharrem, hence the name Ashura which means 10th in arabic. I like the armenian meaning of the name which is the "sweet soup".

This is my Jo's favorite sweet in Turkey and thus I have put the hebrew name in the title as a personalized gift.

And am sharing the recipe as promised to Jo !

Last year I cooked Ashura for the first time when I first moved in to my flat for the sweet traditional thought that "Ashura brings wealth to home" with its big variety of ingredients, every basic ingredient in your home. Do not worry if you dont have nuts or dreid fruits, try substitutes.

The recipe I am sharing is a modified version from my favorite traditional cook Umit Usta's Agiz Tadiyla book that I strongly recommend. You will need:

wheat, 2 cups

rice, 1 cup

chickpeas, 1 cup if dried, if cooked almost 3 cups

beans, 1 cup if dried, 3 if cooked

sugar, 5 cups

wheat starch, 1/3rd cup

milk(to whiten), 3 cups

hazelnuts, 1 cup

walnuts, 2 cups

dried figs, 10 of them

dried apricots, 10 of them(could be related to the date 10th of muharrem :)

dried raisins, 1/3 cup

almonds, 1/2 cup ( I put more)

cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon

cloves, 5 of them

butter, 1 Tablespoon

rosewater (optional) , 1/3 cup ..or any aroma like vanilla with its own amount

I love the making, with sweet memories of my first cooking times guide Umit Usta's serials on tv.

Messages: to Jo- come to pick yours up which is the one in the white bowl, I will keep it for 3 more days for you in the fridge. to Ali- Yours is the pink one behind Jo's, thank you for sharing your home with crazy&drunk strangers. To Serkan&Inci: the biggest one on the first row thanks for this lovely presence in my home this year. to Oguz- for being so tolerant and giving to me.

The Making:

DON'T GIVE UP STIRRING the soup all the time..

1-Soak nuts and almonda from the night before toIf the beans and chickpeas are dried ones, soak them from the night before(for about 8 hours or so), then change the water and cook them separately.

2- If you will use cooked beans and chickpeas, soak the wheat from the night before, cook it well without changing the soaking water(it contains a natural starch that you will need).

3- When the wheat is cooked , add the cooked beans and chickpeas and bring to a simmer. then add gradually the sugar. If the sugar is added all in once this will thoughen your beans.

4- Miix the starch with the amount of milk and add it to the soup.The soup must be a dense one but feel free to add some extra water or milk if the cooking water of the wheat has not been enough for all.

5- Add the rose water or your aroma of pğreference. 5- Add all the nuts and dried fruits and spices giving them enough time to the taste wthin the boiling mixture.

6- Last ingredient: add butter.

7- Put them in your designated containers for your very precious neighbours and friends..Share!

And save the world.. Once more..

How to Prepare an "Open Tummy"

Karni Yarik (Open Tummy) is one of Mom's favorite dishes and I decided to share the way I prepare it with you on a saturday morning where Ayshe woke us early up to start cleaning the home.
Karniyarik is a meaty aubergine dish which I think tastes typical mediterranean cuisine. So the tummy we are talking about here is belongs to the aubergines :)

Well these pictures were taken in the vacuuming noise of Ayse which was happy at the end with the good lunch she had after then and enjoyed the talk with my sister and Pelin who would come over for lunch. They were all delighted with the delicious smell of the karniyarik and borek(pastry) in the oven.
As you can see, I first peeled the aaubergines in pyjamas and ripped all along the long axis.
then fried them in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

and then I filled them with the cooked mixture of minced meat, salt, black pepper, oignons, garlic, finely chopped ripe tomatoes, and peppers

garnished hem with sliced green peppers, addd some diluated tomato sauce and put them in the 175 degrees Celcius oven.
Waited until the green peppers looked roasted and delicious (about 45 minutes).
Which tasted great..!
So you will need for 6 large aubergines;
vegetable oil -2 tablespoons
minced meat - 300 gr
green peppers - 2 to garnish, 2 for the cooked filling
2 large ripe tomatoes or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
oignons -1 and a half if medium/large, 2 and a half if small
garlic - 4 cloves
tomato paste - 2 tablespoon for thje sauce diluated with 3/4 cup of water
salt, pepper
To prepare the filling first sautee the chopped green peppers oignons and garlic then add the meat. When the meat looses its pink color add chopped tomatoes, salt, black pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Afiyet Olsun!(bon apetit)

Sour Cherry Madness - My First Jam !

Oya just moved to her dream house. A beautiful house with a beatiful old garden with fruit trees. She was so generous about sharing half of her sour cherry harvest with me and a great family dinner and a breakfast in the garden with the girls and her mother who cooked the breakfast jam the night before.
Having learned the technique from her mother I took the boat to come home and dreaming of cooking my first jam today. I invented my own recipe combining the basic technique of cooking jam with my previous sour cherry brandy experience. Here is my recipe:


Sour Cherry Jam My Way


Ingredients:
Sour Cherries 1 kg
Caster Sugar 1 kg
Lemon juice 3/4 of a juicy lemon
Ground Cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon
Ground Nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon
Ground Cardamom 1/4 teaspoon
Butter 1 tablespoon

1- Wash the sour cherries, remove the stems and pit them. Pitting them will let the juice out in the sun.
2- Put them in a casserole with a lid, covering the whole fruits with caster sugar.
3- Leave the covered casserole in the sun for 6 hours. This helps to take the juice out of the fruits and melt the flavor with the sugar.
4- Boil the mixture adding the spices. Once boiled, cook for more 30 minutes in low heat
5- Add the butter give it a good stir.
6- Add the lemon juice and cook for the last 3 minutes.
7- Remove it from the heat and wait till it cools down to put it to your jars. To my experience, the mixture thickened more after waiting over night in the jars and was the most delcious jam I have ever tasted.

Now for my sour cherry brandy I use same ingredients apart from lemon juice and butter. After waiting for 12 hours in the sun. I add the spices but this time I do not use ground spices but the cinnamon sticks and nutmeg nuts for instance. I bring the mixture to a boil then let it cool down and add brandy - half of the amount of the sour cherry syrup. If you obtained 1 liter of syrup for instance, you will need 500 ml of brandy. I put the drink in my favorite bottles and let them in a cool place for at least one month then serve my beatiful drink to my joyful guests.

I learned the recipe of the Sour Cherry Brandy from Ilhan Eksen's beautiful small book "Multicultural Istanbul Cuisine - Cok Kulturlu Istanbul Mutfagi" where you will find the very old generation of Istanbul from different cultures(jews, muslims, greeks, ottomans..) racounting their childhood days in Istanbul and telling about the food and drinks of the occasions.

The jars by the window and on the photo above are for the Sour Cherry Liquerfrom the same book where you put the whole ingredients in jars -without pitting or boiling them and let them under the sun for 2,5 months then add alcohol and water to the jars, you find the details in the book.

The Pesto Sauce and The Goodness of Farmers' Market

Some goodness from the local farmers' market in Istinye is in my messy, happy kitchen now: fresh minth leaves, fresh thyme, fresh basil, home made tomato and pepper sauce and of course mulberries that make me think of their beautiful humble tree they fell from.

I will make pesto at basil's best time, with the recipe from Arman Kirim's very useful cookery book: Arman Hoca'nin Dunya Mutfagi (The World Cuisine of Professor Arman). I loved following his writings on cookery in the national Hurriyet newspaper but my favorite has been "Tazesi Makbuldur"(The Freshest Is Recommended), such an interesting good read, the autobiographical work of a successful economics professor that recites the stories around his cooking adventure, the life and the people around it. I especially liked the chapter on his italian neighbour and how he learns about pasta and italian cooking and the sudden loss of this beautiful young lady. So.. as he highly recommends in his "Freshest is Recommended" book, I went to the local farmers' market which I always loved to go. So let's have our fresh basil leaves from the marketplace and start doing an easy and great pesto sauce that you can save in the freezer for months.Recipe from Arman Kirim's book(Arman Hoca'nin Dunya Mutfagi) :

Ingredients:
Fresh basil leaves- 2 big handfuls
Garlic - 2 cloves
Olive Oil- Extra Virgin, 1/2 cup
Pine Nuts - 2 table spoons
Parmesan Cheese- Grated, 2 table spoons
Salt and freshly grinded black pepper

Puree all ingredients using a food processor and keep the sauce in the freezer to make a great taste out of a simple pasta. I am using this pesto sauce in different simple dishes such as chicken soup.

And as always.. don't forget to share. This time, I am going to share half of mine with my generous soul Oya who shared the local olive oil coming from her mother-in-law's favorite shop.

I have some plans to keep the fresh tyme chopped in olive oil with some garlic. I will check the internet whether others thought of such a solution.

My Grandmother's Treasures-1 Dry Dolma

After days over the very sad wedding event in Mardin, my roots have called me.. so my soul was back with my grandmother and my land.

When father decided to marry my mother, my grandparents had this picture taken and sent to my mother as a first step in their relationship. My mother who knew almost nothing about this town in the south got married and moved down to the frontier of Syria.

So this is my paternal family. Here is my grandmother Hasibe, always that straight and disciplined, always a great cook and always with a spotless clean home that you would liike to stay in as long as your parents would tell you "time to go".

So I decided to cook Hasibe's dry dolma and this time give the recipe here for all my friends that were asking for it lately:
Ingredients:

Onion 1 large, minced

Garlic 3-4 cloves

Rice-1 cup of uncooked rice

Sumac juice -3 table spoons if not found in local specific shops you can boil some sumac to obtain this very dense sauce shown in number 4 in the picture

Tomatoes - Optional- 3 0r 4
Peppers-and not chillies! Optional- 3
Tomato paste -2 tablespoons
Chilli paste- bought from a local shop, if you can not find it not a big deal than alternate for a fresh sweet chilli sauce- 2 tablespoons
Minced Meat -500 gr minced by a cleaver(you can ask your local butcher and he would kindly prepare it for you, if he doesn't never mind you can survive with his cruelty and use the usual modern minced meatinstead)
Sun Dried Peppers and Eggplants - 15 pieces in total - If you can not find dried ones in specific local shops you can use the fresh ones and carve them as shown on the latest picture.
Margarine - 1,5 tablespoons (Hasibe's little secret)
Vegetable oil - 3 to 5 tablespoons
Lamb chops - 4 to 6 pieces - around 400 gr
Parsley - a small bunch
Lemon juice of a small lemon
Salt, Pepper

1- So, these are our folks, sun dried eggplants and peppers. Put them in a boiling water and cook them for 15 minutes.
2- If it is a good season for tomatoes and peppers use them generously and have them minced in the food processor. Ah..my laborious grandmother had to chop everything with a good old knife in the old days..

3- Chop the onions and parsley leaves as well. I prefer these two ingredients chopped with a knife rather than the food processor.

4- Now the filling ingredients come together. Do your best to process with your beautiful hands or a good old spoon, your uncooked rice, minced meat, chopped parsley, tomato and chilli paste, chopped tomatoes and peppers, lemon juice, salt, pepper, the chilli of your choice, vegetable oil, margarine,

5- Never forget : the big elixir is the sumac juice ! But add only 2 spoons for the staffing. The 1 spoon left will be for the sauce.

6- Oil your casseroole and lay your lamb chops at the base to give your stuffed vegetables the goodness of the bones and the meat during the cooking time. The lambchops will taste great after being cooked with vegetables. They all will be happy together trust me
7- Fill your boiled vegetables gently in a way to fill them not completely but leaving 1/3 of the space for the cooked rice in the stuffing. So fill only 2/3rd of them and gently squeeze and place them on top of lamb chops siide by side not to leave any space to open up during cooking
8- Make a sauce with 1 cup of water, half of a table spoon of tomato paste, 1 tablespoon of sumac juice and 2 table spoon of vegetable oil.

9- Cook them covered for 30 minutes. Check the rice before turning down the heat.

10- If you will be patient enough to wait them cool down for some 20 minutes, you may think of Hasibe and her treasures like I most of the time do and share it with your friends, family and neighbours(I never forget them! Especially Filiz, Poyraz, Dunya and Funda)

HAVE A GOOD TIME SHARING!..

And now, for those of you who can never have the hope of having sun dried vegetables and never heard of a dolma in their lives, without really understanding why, mum was so kind to take one more picture of me showing you how to carve an eggplant

I am a Turkish teapot

I am a Turkish teapot. I brew tea. Below is the water pot, above is the tea.

I am a Turkish teapot I am her first teapot. She loves me. I feel every morning, every good morning, how she runs to me, how she is proud of me. Although life is hell for her lately, although all she has lately, is her health and good friends and family.

I am.. her first.

This moning I'm in a hurry. We will have guests for the tea.



I am her oven. How she likes to bake wit me.. How glad is she when she cleanses me.. as a knight does to his sword proudly.
I am her first oven... ever to be.
Ths morning I make borek for the special guests she expects t see.

And reflect her new hair cut to thee :)




So the Turkish breakfast is ready ! .. Can you smell the cucumbers, tomato and peppers, feta cheese, olives and the very turkish tea?





Here they came the merry cuple to see. The sweet childhood friend and her delicate partner.


Can you hear Bukra Wba'Do from Pink Martini as she wispers about his proposal and the ring? Does your heart get full with her happiness through the bright brown eyes you can not see?

Pink Martini brings me to the brightest day of love. A summer evening. Two tickets to Pink Martini concert. Our first date. A full moon, the greatest concert time ever, the most romantic evening. Happiness..

Recipe of Happiness

1- Fall in love

2- Trust him, let yourself go, get even drawn

3-See that he opens up for you

Borek's Recipe

Minced Meat 200 gr
4 small Oignons
Allspice 1 teaspoon
Blackpepper 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon
Tiny black currants (kusuzumu) 2 tablepoons
Phyllo pastry 5 large layers
Milk of any kind 1 cup
Water 1 cup
Vegetable Oil 2 tablespoons
1- Dice the oignons and seat them in a saucepan
2- Add the minced meat. Cook until meat is done. Add the tiny black currants in the middle of the process
3- Add the spices and salt. Stir and keep the saucepan aside while you prepare the pastry in the oven tray.
4- Gease our largest oven tray. Make sure your phyllo pastry will fit in it. Layer the phyllo in a wrinkld way. Moist it with the milk+water+vegetable oil mixture in a way to keep the mixture for each layer. Add the other layer ater the below sheet is moisened enough. Repeat the moistening and layering process until the 3rd layer.
5- After moistening the 3rd layer spread the mince meat mixture on top.
6- Add the 4th layer and moisten, then the 5th layer and moisten again.
7- Bake it in the preheated oven of 175 degrees celcius in the middle rack and until the pastry becomes crisp and golden brown.
8- Dont take a picture of it unles you have new sexy haircut
A great tip : Bake it with love and lots of expectation..
She said: "These guys are from our school". I knew Pink Martini's Lauderdale and Forbes were from Harward and so my sweet friend was. I told more on what I knew on their story.

Umm Ali

This is Umm Ali (meaning Mother of Ali), which is the Egyptian Bread Pudding that I tasted in Al Abraaj (meaning towers (burc is 1 tower al abraaz is the plural form for burc)

Recipe here

Sorry for the picture but I was more for eating than documenting it. Creamy sweet flavor of Ummmmmm Ali mmmm..
So after having Umm Ali, we tried to fix a date to go to see Umm A..

Leaving it Behind - A Recipe

This is my new friend M, talking on the phone with his bird love over our dinner on the terrace.
Love makes him smile and loose her casual face expression in this giant smile.
That was a nice chat where we listened back to Fairouz, a legend in the middle east, a beautiful bird singing sadness, the big eye make up she wears in my childhood
He gave me in a way the recipe of leaving it behind, a love, a job, a city, a life. And asked me for the recipe of Kisir(turkish tabouleh) instead. I wish I could put a photo to the recipe but he already finished his kisir in his plate in the photo. Here we go for the tabouleh recipe:
1,5 cup of fine boulgour(crashed wheat)
1 cup boiling water
3 heaped tablespoon of tomato paste
2 tablespoon of chilly paste
1,5 tablespoon of pomegrenate sauce(optional)
olive oil(as much as you want)
lemon juice(as much as you want)
2 teaspoon of cumin
1teaspoon of chilli powder
4 scallions
3 cucumbers
2 large tomates
2 handful of minth leaves
5 leaves of lettuce
salt/pepper

Kisir is a good idea to prepare for a crowd and very easy to prepare since you can taste it and change the quantities according to your own taste.
Finely chop scallions, lettuce, minth leaves and chop the remaining vegetables(I like cucmbers and tomatoes chopped in bigger sizes). Take boulgour in a casserole and add the water, close the lid (know that this dry ingredient will become 3 times bigger when left with some boiling water, so choose your casserole size accordingly). Leave for 10 mn. Open the lid and add the olive oil, lemonjuice, tomato and chilli paste, keep stirring and add the spices. Add the minth leaves. then the remaining vegetables.

Does anyone have a good recipe for leaving it behind? Your hopes along with your dreams..
I couldn't find it in my way, no recipes but just crawling and waiting.

There was this retired war pilot I met in Costa Cafe. Seing my tears, he gave me me his own one: "Don't look at your shoes, look forward. You are looking at your shoes now. Look forward and see what happens. When I was going to the war, up there there was no one. Leave it to Allah." How sharp he is in life could be seen in his eyes.

I allways wanted to be more than a knife in life. That may be the reason, what makes me crawl.

But you see.. Everybody has at least one recipe in life. Some share.