Purslane with Ground Beef – Kiymali Semiz Otu

Here we go, two purslane recipes backt o back! Spring and summer are the time a lot of olive oil based vegetable dishes are cooked in Western Turkey. Though most of them are vegetarian dishes, some have meat in them. This recipe has ground beef, but you can modify the recipe by deleting the meat or adding ground turkey instead.

Purslane with Ground Beef

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup olive oil
•  1 medium onion, sliced
•  3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 4 oz extra lean ground beef
• ½ cup chopped fresh (or canned) tomatoes
• 4 bunches of purslane
• salt & pepper to taste

For the garlicky yogurt sauce:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions:

Nip tender portions with the stem (top 1 inch) and pick the leaves on the bottom portion without the stems. Wash thoroughly and drain in a colander.

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, and ground beef, sauté for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, sauté for another 5 minutes. Add purslane and black pepper. Cover the lid and let it simmer over low heat until purslane is tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add salt and remove from heat. Serve hot with plain yogurt or with garlicky yogurt.

Purslane

Purslane pieces, slices onions and garlic and ground beef

Sauted ground beef, onions, garlic and tomatoes

Purslane cooked, ready to be served

Purslane with ground beef

Cauliflower Au Gratin - Firinda Karnibahar

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
• 2 cups boiling water
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 table spoons olive oil
• 1+1 teaspoons paprika
• 2 table spoons flour
• ½ stick of butter
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups grated jack cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a pot, combine boiling water and cauliflower florets. Boil until tender,  but firm, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a colander, rinse under cold water and drain well. Place the florets evenly in an oven safe dish (14”x10”).

In a medium sauce pan sauté onions and ground beef about 4-5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Evenly distribute the mixture over the cauliflowers.

Ground beef mixture over the cauliflower florets

In a pot melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly over medium heat about 4-5 minutes. Add the cold milk, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Bring to a simmer , remove from heat.

Pour the sauce over the cauliflowers. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the sauce & cauliflower mixture. Evenly distribute grated cheese over the dish. Sprinkle paprika over the cheese.  Cover the dish with an aluminum or wax paper.

cheese sprinkled over the dish

Bake until the cheese melts. Then remove the cover and bake until the top is golden brown.

Cut into pieces and serve hot.

Ready to be served

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Stuffed Zucchini & Peppers – Kabak ve Biber Dolmasi

Dolma means "stuffed" in Turkish, referring to stuffed vegetable dishes. Best known dolma by far is the stuffed grape leaves. Other vegetables that are used in making dolma are peppers, eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage, Swiss chards and onions. There are two versions of dolma. One with meat filling, other meatless. Both are made with a grain like rice or bulgur, onions and different herbs and spices depending on the version. Recipe below is made with ground beef and rice. Meatless recipe to follow at a later time. Dolma is great comfort food, tasty and satisfying. Like many Turkish dishes, it is usually served with yogurt on the side.

Ingredients:

• 6 medium zucchini
• 1 lb mixed red/orange/yellow small peppers
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• ½ cup rice, washed and drained
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1 table spoon paprika
• salt & pepper to taste
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions:

Cut the tops of the peppers, remove seeds, wash, set in a pot.
Peel and wash the zucchinis. Cut the top 1/3 of the zucchinis. Using a melon baller and a small tea spoon, remove the inside of the bottom parts of the zucchinis (see picture). Save the top portions and the pieces that come from the inside. You can make zucchini dip (see recipe dated Feb 20,2012) using the leftover zucchini pieces. Sprinkle paprika inside the zucchini shells. Set them also inside the cooking pot.

peppers ready to be filled

peeled zucchini

zucchini ready to be filled

peppers and zucchini in the pot, ready to be filled

In a bowl, place ground beef, rice, onions, dill, olive oil, salt & pepper. Mix well with a spoon. Fill the peppers and the zucchini with the filling. 

filling for the dolmas

pepper and zucchini dolmas ready to be cooked

In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste with boiling water. Add this sauce to the pot. DO NOT pour it over the stuffed vegetables, Gently pour from the side, letting the sauce go to the bottom of the pot. Otherwise the dolmas may get mushy. Start cooking over medium heat. When the sauce starts to boil, reduce heat to slow. Let it simmer until the rice is cooked and the peppers are tender, about 30-45 minutes.

Dolmas ready to be served

Serve hot with yogurt on the side or with salad.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Lady’s Thigh Meat Paddies - Kadin Budu Kofte

Lady's Thigh Paddies - Kadin Budu Kofte

This is a kind of kofte (meat paddies or meatballs) that is made with ground beef and rice. Turkish name translates as “Lady’s Thigh Meat Paddies”. Hard to tell if it was meant to be a compliment for the kofte or for a woman’s thighs. Either case, it is delicious. I have also tried it with ground turkey, that works fine as well. My mom used to make it when she had left over cooked rice.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup rice
• 1 lb ground beef (1/2lb + 1/2lb)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup of cold water
• 1 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 + 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1  cup of vegetable oil or olive oil

Directions:

Place rice and water in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to slow, simmer until rice is cooked. Drain the rice, let it cool to room temperature. 

In a pan, sauté half of the ground beef with onions for a few minutes only until beef's color changes. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine uncooked ground beef, 1 egg, parsley, pepper and salt. Knead them all until all mixed like a meat loaf. Add the cooked ground beef/onion mixture and mix well. Add the rice to the mixture and gently mix again. The reason to put the rice last is to make sure it does not get mashed during the kneading process. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to cook, take egg size pieces of the mixture, roll it up in your hands like an egg, then flatten the piece to give it an oval shape (about ¼ in thick). Place the paddies on a plate, ready to cook.

Paddies dipped in flour

In a frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.

Mix two eggs in a bowl, set aside.

Put the flour on a plate.

Take each piece of meatball, first place it in flour, making sure both sides are covered. Then dip it in the egg mixture and place it in the frying pan. Add as many meatballs as you can fit in the frying pan, do not over crowd the pan. Fry both sides until golden brown. They should be fried over medium heat. Place the cooked pieces on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. 

Place paddies on a paper towel before transferring to a serving dish

Serve hot. Goes well with French Fries and yogurt.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Oruk

Oruk - Meat and Bulgur Patties

Oruk - Meat and Bulgur Patties:

Before talking about ORUK, let’s first talk about BULGUR, the main ingredient in Oruk and many other Middle Eastern dishes. Bulgur is a form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried and ground. It is then sifted into distinct sizes. In Turkey, for example, two sizes of bulgur are available. Fine bulgur is used in soups, salads and “koftes.” Oruk is a type of “kofte”.  Coarse bulgur is used in “bulgur pilaf”. Bulgur is a nutritious grain with nutty flavor, rich in fiber and B vitamins, iron, phosphorus and manganese.  It is thus considered a favorable substitute for traditional rice pilafs. 

Based on ancient Hittite tablets and murals, bulgur wheat was cultivated in Mesopotamia -Fertile Crescent area first.  People made a dish similar to kofte, some sort of meat mixed with spices and grains, formed into patties, oven cooked, grilled or steamed.  

Legend goes like this: Fearful King Nemrut gives orders to kill Abraham. He is to be burned at the stake. By king’s orders, everybody is asked to bring all the wood from their houses to the center of the town (today’s Urfa in Turkey) to form the biggest fire. Since people used wood fire to cook in those days, they were not able to cook anything. If smoke was coming out of the chimney of a house, king’s men would punish the family who is burning wood.  A hunter comes back home with a deer and asks his wife to make a dish. Unable to cook the meat, she creates a new dish for her family by mincing the deer meat, adding bulgur and spices to it and forming the mixture into patties. Her family loved the new dish and day named it “kofte”.  The irony is that we have to thank cruel king Nemrut for this delicious dish enjoyed by millions all over the world. By the way, our story has a happy ending. When Abraham was thrown into the flames, the place becomes a lake and a rose garden and the woods become fishes. Since that day, the area in Urfa called Balikli Göl (Fishy Lake) is considered to be holy ground.

Balikli Göl - URFA

Oruk is a specialty of South Eastern Turkey. Growing up in the West, I did not know this dish until I met my husband who is from Antep. His parents and his uncles made amazing oruks. I got this recipe from uncle Meray who is a great cook. I modified the recipe a little. It is traditionally made with lamb, fatty part of lamb. In order to avoid animal fat, I use leanest ground beef and I add olive oil to add moisture to the beef patties so that when they are cooked they are tender, not hard and dry. When I suggested this change, uncle Meray hesitantly approved, but I'm sure he will continue to make it the "right way".

I am hoping that my friends from Southern and Southeastern Turkey will read this recipe and make comments on it. I’d love to modify it to add flavor and to make it more authentic.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of fine (#1 ) bulgur
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced with garlic press
• 3 heaping table spoons of dried or fresh mint, chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• dry red chili pepper to taste (1-2 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• salt to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.

Place bulgur in a large pan, add water to it, let it soak the water in for about 5 minutes.
Add the ground beef, olive oil, minced garlic, mint, red chili pepper, black pepper and salt to the bulgur in the pan.Knead the mixture until all ingredients are mixed well. You may want to use latex gloves to avoid smelly hands later.

Wet your hands. Take an egg size piece of the mixture. Roll it in your hand and shape it into a round or oval, flat piece (about 1/2 in thick). Repeat this for the rest of the mixture.

A side note here: Half of my family likes oruk very spicy hot, the other half likes it mild. I put hot crushed chili peppers into part of the mixture. To differentiate the hot ones from the mild ones, I form them into two different shapes; rounds ones will be mild, long ones will be hot for example as you see in the picture below.

Place prepared pieces of oruk on a large pan, side by side, touching each other but not overlapping.

Oruk ready to go into the oven

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is brown.

Oruk cooked until top is golden brown

Serve hot, but my family loves them cold too.

 Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Kofte - Turkish Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, cut into 4 pieces
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• ½ cup parsley
• 1 cup bread crumbs (whole grain bread works best, but store bought ready crumbs OK too)
• 2 heaping teaspoon cumin
• 1 table spoon tomato paste
• red chili pepper to taste
• salt to taste

Directions:

Place egg, oil, crushed garlic and cut onions in a blender. Blend until onions are chopped but not liquefied. Add washed parsley leaves to the blender, blend until parsley is chopped, but not liquefied. Place the ground beef in a large bowl. Add the mixture in the blender to it. Add bread crumbs, black pepper, red pepper(optional), salt and cumin to the bowl. Knead all ingredients for a few minutes until it is well mixed. Shape the mixture into flat paddies. Cook them on the barbecue. If in a hurry, you can cook them in a non-stick pan. Grilled koftes taste better of course.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!