Slow Cooked Beef Stew (Etli Güveç)

Güveç (Gue-vech) is a Turkish term that defines both slow cooked stews and the clay pot, glazed or unglazed, that they are cooked in, just like tagine. The stew could be vegetarian or with meat: chicken, beef, lamb, or goat. The vegetables used in this dish vary depending on the season it's made.

Traditionally the dish is prepared by layering the ingredients in an order that they will cook; meat at the bottom and tomatoes on top, and no water is added because the clay pot and its lid are sealed with dough so the delicious steam doesn't escape. And the güveç is cooked slowly for 1,5 - 2 hours in the wood fired clay oven that most houses had in their backyards in the past. After crackıng the dough around the lid, the stew would be served over rice with a nice loaf of bread and yogurt on the side. It's really hard to describe the deliciousness of meat and/or veggies cooked slowly in their own juices in a clay pot.   

As you can imagine, nowadays not many people have clay ovens in their backyards. Some people still keep the tradition by sending their güveç to either neighborhood bakeries or, in rare instances, to few existing güveç bakeries that specialize in baking güveç. However, most people who still fancy the dish and the clay pot, like my mom, cook it at home on regular stoves (most kitchens in Turkey feature small size ovens that would not accommodate the height of a clay pot). My mom prepares the dish in her half a century old clay pot which is almost black now rather than clay color due to the usage and love it got over the years. She still makes a small amount of dough to seal the lid to the pot and uses a heat diffuser that distributes the heat evenly so the pot doesn't crack.

I gave up on clay pots after I broke two in suitcases trying to bring them here to the States. So the following recipe is an authentic "almost" Turkish one, since I opt for a cast-iron pot instead.

It is completely up to you how much of what you will use in this dish. The tricky part is you cannot make a small batch because even if you add one of each vegetable they add up. So make the dish, get some bread and a good red wine and invite friends over. I usually make a very meaty stew, since my younger clientele is still quite picky about veggies, so they flavor their buttery rice with only meat and juice from the stew.

1 lb stew beef or lamb (You can use chicken as well, but I rather have it vegetarian than with chicken)
1 medium to big size onion, diced
7-8 cloves of garlic, peeled
a handful of green beans, or less, trimmed and cut into ~2 inch pieces
1 eggplant, peeled in stripes or not and cut in cubes
1 zucchini or summer squash, or both, cut in cubes (in Turkey they peel zucchinis, I don't.)
1 potato, peeled and cubed
3-4 peppers, shishito, sweet Italian, anaheim-if you like spicy, chopped (but never ever use American bell peppers, please!)
3-4 medium tomatoes, chopped or grated. You can use grape or cherry tomatoes as well, just halve them
1/2 cup water (because cast iron and I am not making dough to seal it)
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil
salt
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste, optional (some add tomato or pepper paste for the color)
Parchment paper

-Take a biggish cast iron pot. Place meat at the bottom, and layer up the rest in this order: onion, green beans, couple of garlic cloves, eggplant, more garlic cloves, zucchini, garlic cloves, potatoes, peppers, and finally tomatoes.
-Mix salt and water and add to the pot. If you want to use tomato paste. Mix it in the water at this stage.
-Pour the olive oil evenly on top.
-Cover the top of the veggies with parchment paper tightly. We're cheating and using it in lieu of dough. Place a heavy plate on top; small enough to go in the pot but wide enough to cover as much of the surface as possible.
-Finally place the lid.
-Bring the stew first to a boil and then cook on low for 1,5 hours. Lamb cooks faster than beef. So cook for 1 hour for lamb and 1,5-2 for beef.

  

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Green Pea Stew with Beef (Etli Bezelye)

Green pea stew is one of the most common stews in Turkish cuisine. It was usually made in the summer months when the peas are in season and deliciously fresh. However, with freezers becoming staple households people start to pod them and freeze for the winter months. And, no, canned peas are really not a thing in Turkey. The green pea stew is made in three different ways: vegetarian, with ground meat (it's waste of peas if you ask me), and with stew beef. When it is made in the summer, the stew is usually accompanied by cacık, yogurt mixed with minced garlic, grated cucumbers, fresh dill, a bit of olive oil and water, a sauce similar to tzatziki). However, it's good with just plain yogurt as well.

1/2 lb stew beef
1 lb fresh podded green peas (you can use frozen peas as well)
2 carrots, diced or halved about 1/3 or 1/4 inch thick
1 big or two medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, diced (I love red onions in stews, but any kind is fine)
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
3 tomatoes, grated or diced (fresh tomatoes or great but 1 can diced tomato would do as well)
1 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tbsp pepper paste (available at Middle Eastern stores-if you cannot find it double the amount of tomato paste)
1/2 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped
3-4 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

-Heat olive oil in a cast iron pot or a heavy bottom pot on medium heat. Add stew beef and cook until it releases and absorbs its juice-approximately 15-20 mins.
-Add onions and garlic and cook 5 minutes.
-Add carrots and tomato&pepper pastes and stir for another five minutes.
-Add tomatoes (or canned tomatoes if you're using them) and bring to a boil.
-Add potatoes, peas (see the note below), 1/3 of the fresh fill and hot water just enough to cover them all.
-Salt and pepper to your taste.
-Once it boils, cover and simmer on low for an hour.
-Sprinkle the remaining fresh dill on top and serve with white or brown rice or a crusty wholesome bread.

Note: I love using fresh peas. I buy them in pod from a local market and pod them or buy them fresh and podded (I like Trader Joe's Fresh English peas!) But you can definitely use frozen peas as well. If so, add them to the stew half an hour before you turn it off.

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Beef Stew with Tart Green Plums (Yeşil Erik Tavası)

If you have happened to be around someone from Turkey during the month of May then you probably know how people of Turkey are crazy about their sour green plums. (These tart, crunchy plums dipped in salt are enjoyed as snacks or sometimes as meze with raki/arak/araq throughout the Middle East.) We talk about it--how it's so delicious with salt; pre-order overnight shipments of it; or some determined ones try to schedule trips to Turkey specifically in May. Meanwhile, almost all the Americans I know don't like these green beauties and, even worse, do not understand what the fuss is about, and I am living with one but have no complaints having all the green plums to myself.

This May my thoughtful in-laws who frequent a Middle Eastern market in Arizona came across the plums below and, remembering my obsession, shipped them to me. I was very excited, of course, but whether from Arizonan heat or the trip, they were not crunchy enough to be salt worthy. I decided to cook with them. In the Western parts of Turkey, green plums are used for making compote only when they soften or turn yellow. However, in the Eastern provinces they are frequently used in meat stews for their tartness. Plums stewed with fresh garlic give an incredible flavor to beef. This delicious stew recipe is from Urfa and it made the American here appreciate green plums.  

serves 4-6 people
2 lb stew beef
1 1/2 or 2 lb tart green plums, seeded
1 tbsp red pepper paste (like this) or just use tomato paste
1 tbsp tomato paste
7-9 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled
1/4 cup olive oil
5 medium tomatoes, grated or crushed in a food processor OR 1 can of diced tomatoes
salt, ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes

-In a bowl mix stew beef, pepper paste, tomato paste, salt, black pepper, and pepper flakes with your hand. Make sure the beef is well coated with pastes and spices.
-Add seeded plums, garlic cloves, and tomatoes.
-Place the mixture in a wide and deep oven-safe casserole or in a cast iron dish.
-Add boiling water to barely cover the meat ~1 cup.
-Cook in a preheated oven at 370F for two hours.
-Serve with rice and/or bread (you'll need both to soak up the divine juice).

You can find green plums at Middle Eastern markets or online Turkish grocery stores.

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Priest's Beef Stew (Papaz Yahnisi)

Since I haven't posted a new recipe in a while, I wanted to break the silence with a heavily delicious or deliciously heavy one: priest's beef stew or ragout. This succulent ragout recipe comes from the Aegean part of Turkey, and judging by the name, priest--not "yahni" since it is of Persian origin for meat and onion dishes--the dish must be originally Greek. Another clue about its Greek roots is the use of cinnamon. Although it is an indispensable spice in Turkish cooking, cinnamon is used for the most part in desserts, not in savory dishes and most definitely not in stews. But here we go, this stew asks for cinnamon and allspice, and in the end the beef braised for hours with these spices is just fantastic. If you are a meat eater, you will want to write this recipe down.    

serves 4-6, depending on the appetite 

2 lb stew beef

1 lb pearl onions, peeled (you can use frozen ones, but I really think they don't taste the same)

3 tbsp butter

1 head of garlic,8-10 cloves, don't panic it's good

3 tbsp red wine vinegar or 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 can of diced tomatoes or 3 tomatoes, grated

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice, ground

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp or more salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 c flour 

2 c hot water

parsley, finely chopped to garnish

-Place stew beef on a flat surface (a big plate or a tray), sprinkle flour on top, and make sure each piece is coated.

-Melt the butter in a stew pot, add stew beef, and on medium heat saute until they are all browned and crispy outside: ~6-7 minutes.

-Add pearl onions and garlic and stir for  another 6-7 minutes. At this point flour on the beef might stick to the bottom of the pot, but that's fine. Keep stirring; it'll go away once you add tomatoes and water.

-Add diced or grated tomatoes (I always put diced tomatoes in a food processor or a hand blender and pulse 2-3 seconds to have a smoother texture), spices, salt, and boiling water.

-Once it bubbles, turn the heat down to low, cover ans simmer for at least 2 hours, and get a beer &  go outside because the delicious smell will drive you crazy. 

-Serve with rice and/or crusty bread.

I started making papaz yahnisi based on a recipe that I read from a Turkish cookbook back in the day when I didn't have a blog and wasn't careful about my recipe sources. and now I cannot remember the name of the writer or the book. If I remember, I'll definitely cite it. 

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Fennel with Meat (Etli Rezene)

The Aegean cuisine in Turkey is known for its greens.  It is truly unbelievable how many different green plants/weeds and in how many different ways the Aegeans can cook. Among all those greens fennel is a popular one. Although it has numerous health benefits, fennel has a distinct flavor resembling anise that a lot of people, including myself, cannot stand. Mainly for this reason, although intrigued, I avoided cooking with fennel for a long time. When I finally decided to give it a try, my first choice of recipe was a very traditional and a very basic one which would not require any kind of spice to cover up that distinct flavor. Although I was prepared for the worse, I have to admit that I was nicely surprised. This is a very easy-to-make, very light recipe with fantastic flavors. I follow a Turkish blogger's, Miss Cilek's recipe.

1 bulb fennel, washed and coarsely chopped

1/2 lb stew beef (the original recipe asks for lamb on bone, but for me one strong smell was enough)

1 bunch green onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp butter (this is my addition; the original recipe does not ask for any)

salt and pepper

-Place the stew beef at the bottom of a pot so that they won't be on top of each other.

-Put first green onion then fennel on top and finish with the butter. 

-Add salt and black pepper and cover.

-Cook on low for ~1 hour. 

-Serve with rice or bread.

   

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Leeks with Stew Beef (Etli Pırasa)

Although the most popular way to prepare leeks is in olive oil (a vegetarian recipe served lukewarm or cold), leeks with ground meat or with stew beef are also widely enjoyed winter dishes.

3 leeks, washed and cut in 1/2 inch rounds
1/2 lb or more stew beef (some people like cooking leeks with lamb)
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, cut in half rounds
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp dill, finely chopped
1 tsp dry rosemary
1 1/2 cup water
salt

-Heat olive oil in a shallow pot and add stew beef. Cook until brown on all sides.
-Add leeks, onion, and carrots, and saute for 6-7 minutes or until soft.
-Add water, rosemary, dill, lemon juice, and salt.
-First bring to a boil, and then turn it down to low and simmer for approximately 1 hour.
-Serve hot with rice and / or crusty bread.

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Bowl Kebap (Tas Kebabı)

Bowl kebap is one of my mom's specialties. Although I have been very picky about red meat dishes all my life, bowl kebap is something that I never said no. I have been craving it recently and noticed that I had never made it here. Almost four weeks ago I was on the phone with my mom getting the details of her recipe. The same day one thing let to another and I ended up buying plane tickets to Turkey and a couple of days later I was there having bowl kebap for dinner with my parents. My trip was not for bowl kebap, of course, but I definitely asked my mom to make it a couple of times in two weeks before I flew back. After green plums (something I cannot find here) of which I ate one pound a day, bowl kebap was the food of my short trip to Turkey.



Bowl kebap is a very simple recipe. Preparation time is approximately 15 minutes, but you need to cook the meat over an hour for tenderness and deliciousness. Since you cook this dish in a bowl that sits in a pot, make sure you have the right utensils before you start chopping.


































 serves 4-5 people

1-1.1 or 1.2 lb stew beef or lamb
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 onions, diced
1 tsp or more black ground pepper
1 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp tomato or red pepper paste
3 tbsp olive oil or 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
2 cups of boiling water































-For this dish find a bowl that is resistant to heat and would hold all the ingredients. Next find a pot that the bowl would fit upside down, as in the pictures.
-Place potatoes at the bottom of the bowl.
-In a different bowl mix meat, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, and tomato or red pepper paste with your hands. Make sure meat gets coated with all.
-Add the meat mix to the bowl, on top of the potatoes.
-Place butter on top.
-Put the pot on top of the bowl. Securing both the pot and the bowl with your hands, turn the pot upside down so that the bowl will be sitting in it upside down.
-Since this is how we will be cooking the bowl kebap and we don't want the bowl to move, place a heavy container on top to seal or stabilize it: a pitcher, teapot or a pot filled with water.
-Pour 2 cups of boiling water in the pot, between the bowl and the pot.
-Start cooking on high. Once you see bubbles on the sides of the bowl, turn it down to low and cook between 75 to 90 minutes.
-When you turn it off, you need to move the pitcher, teapot or whatever you placed on top, and slowly remove the bowl leaving the ingredients in the pot to mix with the water which has turned in to delicious juice now. If you do not remove the bowl when it's still hot, it will be sealed to the pot and almost impossible to move.
-Serve bowl kebap with any kind of rice, although white is my favorite, and/or bread.

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Sultan's Delight (Hünkar Beğendi)

I have heard two different stories surrounding the name of this dish, Hünkar Beğendi, which literately translates as "the Sultan liked it." The first one is that the dish was created for Sultan Murad IV (1612-1640) and obviously he liked it. Where the dish was created--in the palace kitchens or in the kitchen of a moderate house that Murad IV spent a night on his way back from a hunting trip--is not clear. The second rumor is that the same dish was served for Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, in Sultan Abdülaziz's Beylerbeyi Palace in 1869, and she liked it so much that Abdülaziz promised her to ask his chef to give Eugenie's cook the recipe. And the rumor goes that Abdülaziz's chef was reluctant to share his recipe. I salute whoever shared the recipe later on.

Hünkar Beğendi is lamb stew served on a bed of creamy roasted eggplant puree. However, "begendi," in time, started to be used for eggplant puree. Now you can also find 'chicken beğendi' or 'meatball beğendi.'




























for 4 people

for the stew
1 lb stew lamb (preferably from leg)
1 onion, finely chopped
2 green chilies or bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, petite diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
2-3 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1-1 1/2 cup hot water

for the eggplant puree
2 lb eggplant
1/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup grated Turkish hard mature cheese OR kashkaval cheese OR parmesan
1-1 1/2 cup milk
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper

-Heat butter in a pot and sautee the onions for a coupe of minutes. Then add the meat. When browned on all sides, add green pepper. Stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add tomato paste and stir for another couple of minutes.
-Add tomaoes and cook for 5 minutes.
-At this point add the hot water and let simmer until meat is tender, approximately an hour. Add more water if need be.
-Meanwhile, wash and prick the eggplants with a fork on at least two sides.
-Place eggplants oon gas burner or under broiler turning them frequently until eggplant is collapsed and skin is charred. You can also bake them until flesh is soft, but charred tastes better.
-Let cool and then peel eggplants and discard stems.
-Mash eggplant with the back of a fork in a bowl and mix with lemon juice.
-Heat butter in a pot. Add flour and stir constantly to make a roux on low heat.
-Warm the milk and add slowly. Whisk to make the mixture smooth. simmer for 4-5 minutes.
-Add eggplant puree and mix well.
-Add salt and black pepper, and cheese. Mix well. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
-Make a bed on a plate with eggplant puree and place meat on top of eggplant puree. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

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Pressure Cooker Steak (Düdüklüde Biftek)

Another family favorite. Growing up I wasn't an enthusiastic red meat eater but I would never resist pressure cooker steak. It is always tender delicious with green pepper and oregano flavor. Usually my mom prepares the dish according to the ingredients I list below. However, once in a while she uses grated tomatoes in stead of sliced ones and adds 1 tbsp of tomato paste.
for four
4 steaks, cut ~1/4 inch thick3 potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced
3-4 tomatoes, thickly sliced
4-6 green chilies, banana peppers (I used anaheims), seeded
1 tsp oregano leaf
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
























-Place steaks at the bottom of the pressure cooker; it's ok if they overlap.
-Place potato slices on steaks.
-Cover all with tomato slices.
-Put green peppers on top.
-Sprinkle salt, oregano leaf and black pepper.
-Pour 1 tbsp olive oil.
-Pour water to barely cover steaks and vegetables.
-Cover and pressure cook on meat or high setting on medium to low heat for 20-25 minutes. If you have not-so-good-cut of steak, cook for 30 minutes.
-Serve with rice and/or crusty bread.


Do not let the simplicity of pressure cooker steak mislead you; oregano is the key ingredient.
This recipe is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging founded by Kalyn. WHB is hosted by Ahn of Food Lover's Journey.

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Cabbage Stew with Beef (Etli Kapuska)

Kapuska is a hearty traditional Turkish stew whose name is derived from, I believe, "cabbage" in Russian. Although the name is imported, the dish is truly Turkish, or Turkish version of a multi-faced cabbage stew common in Russia and Eastern Europe. Kapuska is widely known and eagerly consumed in Thrace, as a result of Eastern European impact i.e. Albanian and Bulgarian immigrants, and also in the Black Sea Region of Turkey thanks to our next door neighbor, Russia.

Kapuska is cooked in different ways in Turkey: with garbanzo beans, bulgur, rice, ground meat, lamb, beef, or vegetarian. This recipe is based on how my mom and aunt, the Thracian part of the family, make kapuska.




















1/2 pound stew beef or lamb
1 medium cabbage, coarsely chopped
3 medium onions or 2 big ones, diced
3 tbsp butter or you can also use olive oil
3-4 tomatoes, diced or 1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp pepper paste (use tomato paste if you cannot find red pepper paste)
1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp paprika
1 1/2 cups of water
salt and pepper
red hot chilies or any hot chilies you want

-Heat butter in a pot on medium heat and add stew beef. First meat will get juicy and soak the juice in.
-Once it loses its moisture, stir in onion and cook until soft (approximately 5 minutes)
-Add pepper paste, red pepper flakes, and paprika. Stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.
-Add 1 cup of water and simmer for 50 minutes to an hour until the meat is tender.
-Meanwhile chop the cabbage coarsely, wash, and rinse.
-When meat is cooked, stir in cabbage. Add 1/2 cup of hot water or more if necessary. It shouldn't be a watery dish but not too dry either. Simmer for half an hour.

Serve with crusty bread to soak the delicious juice.

kapuska is tastier if it's spicy.

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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 4-6

1 pound lamb
8-10 small or 4-6 big peeled artichoke hearts, cut into 4-6 pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped in half rounds
1 pound fresh green peas or 1 can green peas
1/2 bunch dill, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil or 4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp flour
juice of 1 1/2 lemon
1 tsp sugar
water
salt
-Soak chopped artichoke hearts in a bowl with lemon juice until you cook them. Otherwise, they will darken.
-Heat olive oil or butter in a broad pot and add lamb. Stir for a couple of minutes until it's cooked on each side.
-Add onion and carrot. Stir until onion is softened. Add flour and stir for another minutes.
-Add artichoke, green peas, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Add water to barely cover vegetables.
-Bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer on low for almost an hour.
-Add dill after your turn it off.
-Serve with rice or bread.

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Middle Eastern Lamb Stew (Orta Doğu Usulü Kuzu Güveç)

The only best-results-guaranteed lamb stew recipe I have takes between 2-3 hours of cooking. So it's not a recipe for emergency cravings. Although it's very easy to make, you have to start 3 or 4 hours before the meal. That's why I consulted the recipe book that came along with my precious smart pressure cooker when I was craving lamb stew and was too hungry to wait for 3 hours. I got the pressure cooker and the recipe book almost two years ago, and although I used the cooker almost every other day I didn't check the recipe book for even once. It got dusted on one of the shelves. Although there was actually a lamb stew recipe in the book, my expectations were really low not only because it was one of those thin generic recipe books, but also the recipe was categorized too generally--at least for someone from the Middle East--as "middle eastern": what part of that region the recipe came from was a mystery. Anyways, despite the confusing geographical definition and my low expectations the recipe with a couple of additions and changes turned out to be just perfect.

1 pound boneless lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium onions, choppes
2 medium Chinese eggplants, peeled lengthwise in stripes and diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 medium tomatoes, diced (or 1 can-14.5 ounces-petite diced tomatoes)
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp crushed hot pepper
salt and pepper

2-3 cups plain yogurt
2 tbsp fresh mint leaves, very finely chopped

-Heat the oil in big pot and brown the meat on all sides.
-Add onion, garlic, and eggplants. Cook until onion is soft.
-Add the remaining ingredients (except for yogurt and mint leaves). Season to taste.
-If you have a pressure cooker, cover and first bring to full pressure over high heat and then reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove from burner and release the pressure.
-If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring to a boil. Then turn heat down to low. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes.
-In a bowl mix yogurt and mint leaves.
-Serve the stew with minty yogurt on the side or on the top.
-Get your bread toasted, because the juice of this stew is not to be wasted!


Honestly, at first I didn't get the minty yogurt sauce. Yogurt is always good and refreshing with heavy stews, but why fresh mint? But after I took a bite, everything was clear. That strong and refreshing mint flavor mingled with cinnamoned and cloved lamb is simply rewarding. And for that big change that little bit of fresh mint causes, I decided to post this recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted this weekend by Anna of Morsels & Musings.

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Zucchini with Beef and Garbanzo Beans (Kabak Bastırması)

I saw this recipe in a Turkish food blog, chez Ayşenur, and immediately decided to make it. Garbanzo beans and zucchini: how could it be bad? It certainly is delicious. Ayşenur says that this is a local recipe from Kilis, a city in Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border.

2/3 cups of garbanzo beans
1/2 pound stew beef (I preferred beef but y0u can also use lamb)
2 zucchinis, medium size cut in half-rounds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 banana peppers or 1 bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp spicy pepper paste
3 cloves of garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp dried mint flakes

-Soak garbanzo beans overnight. The next day cook garbanzo beans and stew beef in a pressure cooker with 5-6 cups of water for 45 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, then you should cook them for at least an hour or until the garbanzos are soft. Or if you want to use canned garbanzo beans then cook them for approximately 30 minutes (until the beef is cooked). Take the garbanzos and beef out and keep the water; do not throw it away.
-In a big pot heat the oil and add onions and pepper. Stir until they're soft.
-Add the tomato and spicy pepper paste, stir for a couple of minutes. (if you cannot find spicy pepper paste, just use tomato paste and pepper flakes)
-Now it's time to add garbanzos, beef, and zucchini. Add 3-4 cups of the water you saved from garbanzos and stew beef. Salt to your taste. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until zucchini is tender on low.
-Mix minced garlic and lemon juice and stir in when zucchini is cooked. Simmer for 2-3 minutes and turn it off. Sprinkle dried mint , cover, and let it sit for 10 minutes before you serve. You won't believe how tender the beef will be.

Ayşenur suggests that it should be served with bulgur pilaf. I have a bulgur pilaf recipe, but it would be too flavorful for this. You can also serve it with white rice. But if you want to try it with bulgur, here's how to make a simple bulgur pilaf: Heat 2 tbsp butter in a pot. Add bulgur and stir a minute (the ratio of bulgur you will use to water should be 1:2). Add 1 tbsp tomato paste (or more) stir for another minute. Add water and salt, bring to a boil, and then cover and cook on low until bulgur soaks the water.

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