Falafel
I was asked to make falafel for a quite some time now. I do not like using pre-made mixtures, and even though I did not look for a recipe earlier, I was sure that it was not that hard to cook falafel at home from scratch.
I searched recipes online, then I turned to one of my cookbooks specialized on Mediterranean food.
The traditional method for cooking falafel is frying, and it does not include egg or flour, but as I mentioned in the previous entry, I decided to bake them. My main concern was having dry falafel balls. It was not the issue, at least they were not more dry than their fried counterparts. However, they fell into pieces. Hence came the addition of egg and flour.
I admit, including egg and flour make falafel taste like slightly more vegetable burgers than falafel, but I will not have the regret of eating a fried dish.
Makes 6 servings. After cooking the chickpeas, the preparation of falafel takes about 10 minutes.
Continue reading Falafel
Sandviç
Did you try a sandwich made with a freshly cooked Turkish home bread?
I used my favorite fillings: tomato, cucumber, parsley, lettuce, just a little olive oil and oregano. Try with your own choice of fillings.
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Lahmacun
Lahmacun, lahmajoun or lahm bi-`ajĩn is a personal, very thin crust, minced meat pizza. It is a common dish in Middle East, Anatolia and Caucasus regions. In countries like Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, or Iran, there are bakeries that cater only lahmacun. In Western countries, some Arabic, Kurdish, Armenian, or Turkish restaurants serves lahmacun as a side dish.
As the Arabic name suggest (lahm bi-`ajĩn - meat with dough), it is not a vegetarian dish, but since I try keep away from meat in my daily life, I replaced the minced meat with ground meat alternative. The taste was same.
For the dough I used the same recipe as Turkish pide, from Home Baking.
Continue reading Lahmacun (Middle Eastern Pizza)
Salçalı Pilav
This noon I tried to cook the rice with tomato paste. I like pasta with tomato, and I was planning to make one. When everything was ready, the butter was sauteed and the tomatoe paste was added, I changed my mind and instead of pasta, I prepared pilaf. It turned out good.
I saw many different posts for pilaf. Most of them looks interesting and mouth watering, yet I was stuck to my usual pilaf cooking method. I needed that change.
Continue reading Rice Pilaf with Tomato Paste
Kızarmış Plantain
I always see plantain in the supermarkets. Finally I tried. It was an interesting experience.
I did not know that the plantain I bought was raw, and I need to wait for quite some time. When I fried them, there were still some raw parts. I should say that eating a raw plantain was not a big pleasure, even it was cooked.
Continue reading Fried Plantain
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