Turkish Moussaka (Patlıcan Musakka)

The moussaka, originally an Arabic dish, has been prepared and served in differing ways across the Middle East for centuries. However, it's the Greek version, modernized and de-Turkified in early 20th century, that is well known in America and, unfortunately, the only version one can find at restaurants. I say "unfortunately," because the Greek twist i.e., the Béchamel sauce on top, makes this already deliciously heavy dish way heavier than most of us can handle.

The classic Turkish moussaka consists of fried slices of eggplants, ground beef, tomatoes flavored with onion, garlic, sweet green peppers, tomato paste, and olive oil. However, there are many variations in the Turkish version as well: some use the more traditional lamb and some use chicken, an act I believe should be banned. Some add potatoes to eggplants (another bannable variation) and some use zucchini instead of eggplants.  What follows is, of course, an "almost" traditional Turkish recipe. What makes it almost is the kind of eggplant available in US and how we will prepare it.

The eggplant variety in Turkey that is used for this dish is similar to Italian or Holland eggplants, smaller and longer than the American or globe eggplants. The eggplants are peeled in stripes and cut in half an inch thick slices before deep fried for the classical version. The American eggplant makes giants slices, three or four of which would cover a whole dish. For this reason we will cube them instead of rounds. Fried eggplant is absolutely "the" best; however, it also is very heavy and greasy. Lately the dish is prepared by baking rather than frying. So these changes in preparation makes it an almost Turkish dish.

This is not a difficult dish to make; it's very forgiving. Yet, it's a time consuming one. However, it's so  very much worth the time and effort. I've been making moussaka for dinner parties and potlucks for years, and I've never ever had any leftovers.

serves 4-5
2 globe eggplants, cubed (peeling in stripes is optional)
1/2 lb ground beef
1 big onion, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
2-3 green or sweet peppers, sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
3-4 tomatoes, petite decided or grated (or processed in the blender)
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil for eggplants + another 1/4 for the sauce
salt and black pepper
1/3 cup or more parsley, chopped


-Preheat the oven to 430-450 F.
-Put cubed eggplants in a bowl. Add salt and 1/4 or 1/3 cup olive oil. I love my olive oil and I use 1/3 or even more. Toss and mix well to make sure the cubes are covered in olive oil. Next, spread them over an oven tray layered with parchment paper or not. Bake until brown approximately for 20-25 minutes. Try to resist the urge to open the oven and check on them.
-Heat 1/4 cup olive oil on medium in a big pan or heavy bottom pot. Add ground beef and cook thoroughly until it releases its juice and soaks it back. While cooking crush the ground beef with the back of your spoon, wooden spoons work best for this. The ground meat should not be clumped at all.
-Add onion and peppers and cook on medium until soft but not browned.
-Add tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes stirring.
-Add crushed tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper.
-When the tomatoes are cooked, i.e., they changed into a darker red, add one cup of boiling water.
-Simmer for five minutes.
[We will finish the dish by baking so we need an oven proof dish.]
-If you are using a heavy bottom pot (I use a 3.6 qt casserole dish) for the sauce, you can just add baked eggplant cubes into it and mix.
    If you used a regular pan. Find an oven proof dish, place eggplants at the bottom and spread the sauce on top evenly. You can also place sliced tomatoes on top for a nice presentation.
-Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350-360 F.
-Sprinkle parsley on top and serve hot with rice and yogurt.

Tips: You can skip the oven part and just simmer for 10-15 minutes after you put together the eggplant and the sauce. But baking adds an incredible flavor to moussaka.

You can prepare the dish or the eggplants and finish it the next day.

If you want to make it traditional, fry the eggplant cubes until brown.

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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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Roasted Eggplant Purée with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Patlıcan Salatası)

Eggplants... we love them. We cook them in any way imaginable; we bake them, dry them, fry them, pickle them, purée them, roast them, split them, stew them, stir-fry them, stuff them, and even jam them--true story!

This side dish/salad/appetizer is a summer favorite and one of the easiest eggplant dishes to make. It is readily available at any meyhane/tavern/pub where they serve rakı, anise-flavored brandy. There are some rules associated with rakı culture and to have at least one type of eggplant salad/meze is one of them. At homes eggplant salad is usually prepared during mangal, i.e., barbecue. First eggplants are roasted and while the meats are grilled, purée is made.

Although in Turkish it is called salad, it is consumed either as a spread over slices of baguettes or as a dip for which bread morsels become scoops.

This recipe is one of the many variations of the classic eggplant purée which could be found across Mediterranean. For the classic purée simply skip the yogurt.

(1 big American eggplant makes 1 cup eggplant purée when roasted. You can decide how many eggplants to roast)

There's nothing written in stone. You can use more or less of everything.

1 big eggplant
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
~1/2 cup strained/Greek yogurt
1 clove of garlic, minced or smashed
1 tbsp parley or mint, finely chopped

-Prick the eggplant(s) a couple of times with a knife so they won't explode. On medium to high grill roast them until skin is charred and flesh completely soft. OR roast them in a pre-heated hot oven of 450F for 40-50 minutes.
-When cool enough to handle, peel the skin and mash the flesh well with the back of a fork. (Some people take the seeds out as well, but I leave them.)
-Mix in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and yogurt.
-Salt to taste.
-Garnish with parsley or mint.

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Dried Eggplant Dolma (Kuru Patlıcan Dolması)

I have been receiving complaints from readers, friends, and friends of friends about lack of new recipes on the blog. I know; it's been a while. I've been busy and lazy at the same time. But here we go.

Dried eggplant dolma is a popular winter dish mainly in the southeastern part of Turkey. Reasonable size eggplant are cut in half, carved, put on strings, and dried out in the sun to cherish eggplant deliciousness in the winter. You can find strings of dried eggplants easily at Turkish or Middle Eastern markets. The number of dried eggplants on a string vary between 30-40. Why am I cooking dried eggplants when we can find tasty fresh ones? We're moving across the country and I am cooking our pantry one item at a time!

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Cannellini Beans with Eggplant (Patlıcanlı Kuru Fasulye)

A great twist to a very traditional recipe: white beans, which are generally referred to as the national dish of Turkey.

1 medium size eggplant, diced
1 cup of dry cannellini beans, soaked over night or 1 can of cannellini beans
1/4 lb stew beef [for a meatier stew you can use more stew beef and for a vegetarian version skip it completely]
1 big onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tomatoes, diced or 1 can of diced tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 green chilies (slightly spicy anaheims?), finely chopped
3 tbsp butter
frying oil, ~1/2 cup
salt
red pepper flakes

-Heat frying oil in a pan and fry eggplant until golden brown. Let fried eggplant cubes soak on a paper towel. If you want to keep the oil level low, you can bake the eggplant in stead of frying. Brush an oven tray with oil and place eggplant cubes. Bake ~20-25 minutes at 390F.
-Heat butter in a pot. Add onion and garlic. Stir until soft.
-Add pepper and stew beef. Cook until beef releases and then soaks its juice.
-Add diced tomatoes, 1 cup of hot water, salt, and red pepper flakes--optional, [and if you are using dry beans, add them now, too.] Cook for 30 minutes.
-Add fried eggplant cubes and beans [if you are using canned beans] and cook for another 15-20 minutes on low-medium.
-Serve hot with crusty bread and rice.

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Eggplant Papucaki (Patlıcan Papucaki)

This is a typical Aegean dish that you can find on both Turkish and Greek sides of the Aegean Sea. As much as the dish itself, I love its pronunciation: pa-bu-ja-ki. Given the suffix -aki the name sounds definitely Greek, however "papuc" or "papuç" is a Persian word "paposh" (پاپٯش) that is used in Turkish and means shoe or slipper. So maybe these little shoes are not "typical"Aegean after all, who knows?

I have eaten two different versions of papucaki. One was made by boiling the eggplants and then stuffing them and the other one featured roasted eggplants, which was more appealing to my taste.


4 small(er) eggplants, Italian eggplants are perfect for papucaki
2-3 green peppers or 1 bell pepper, finely chopped
3-4 green onions, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, diced or grated
juice of 1/2 lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
~1 cup grated mozzarella or feta cheese
2 egg
4 bay leaves
salt and pepper


-Place eggplants on a baking sheet, poke holes in them and roast in the oven at 400F until they collapse and the flesh is all the way soft, ~40-45 minutes.
-Once they cool down, cut a rectangle piece on top as in the picture and scoop out the flesh.
-Dice the roasted eggplant flesh and mix them with lemon juice in a bowl.
-In a pan heat olive oil and add onion and peppers. Stir until soft.
-Add diced eggplant flesh and cook for 2 minutes.
-Add tomatoes, salt, black pepper, and bay leaves and cook until tomato juice cooks off.
-Beat eggs in a bowl and stir them in the tomato mix and stuff the eggplants with this. [I usually skip egg part]
-Cover the tops with grated cheese.
-Place stuffed eggplants in an oven dish and bake in a preheated oven at 400F for 15-20 minutes.
serve immediately.

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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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Sour Eggplant Stew (Ekşili Patlıcan)

Eggplant dishes from south eastern part of Turkey are usually cooked with a sour ingredient: lemon or pomegranate molasses. I love eggplant dishes in every form, yet I find those tangy ones such as Adana style stuffed eggplants or eggplant and lentil stew with pomegranate molasses to be even more delicious during the summer days.

























4 medium size eggplants, stem removed, peeled in occasional vertical stripes, and cut into edible chunks
2 medium onions, thinly sliced in half moons
4-5 tomatoes, diced
5-6 cloves or garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
juice of 1 lemon
a generous 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

-Place eggplant chunks in salted cold water for half an hour.
-Drain eggplants and squeeze them to remove excessive water.
-Mix eggplants with other ingredients in a pot (save half of the parsley).
-Cover and cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, until eggplants are cooked (no water is necessary).
-Sprinkle rest of the parsley and serve hot or cold. Sour eggplant stew is even better the next day.

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Fried Eggplant (Patlıcan Kızartması)

For a Turk, a summer without fried eggplant is simply impossible, unheard-of. Along with other eggplant dishes such as stuffed eggplant "split belly" , or its vegetarian version, "imam fainted," or roasted eggplant salad, fried eggplant honors our tables at least once every week. However, if you live or spend your summers on the coast, which is not very uncommon since Turkey is surrounded by seas (Aegean, the Marnara, Mediterranean, and the Black Sea), your eggplant intake might be daily; there's something about coastal weather and eggplant. Fried eggplant is the easiest eggplant dish in Turkish cuisine. The simplicity should not deceive you; it is as delicious as any complicated eggplant dish. It's always served either by a tomato or a yogurt sauce. Both sauces should be loaded with garlic.

Although this is a simple dish, there are a couple things to be careful about when cooking with eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones. Eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. Even though its skin is thick and sometimes bitter, do not peel it all the way; peel it lengthwise in 1/2 inch stripes. Once peeled eggplants darken fast. To prevent this you can take out the spongy middle part with seeds and keep eggplants in salty water until you cook them.

























for 4 people 3 eggplants-I used regular American big eggplants, peeled as described, and diced (I prefer diced eggplants, but you can also cut them in 1/3 inch thick rounds or slices)
1-2 cups of frying oil (vegetable, corn, canola, etc.)
salt

for tamato sauce
3-4 tomatoes, petite diced or grated (or 2 cans of diced tomato--it's better if you put in a blender for a couple of seconds)
1 clove of garlic for each tomato (this is optional; you can use more or less garlic), minced
salt

for garlicy yogurt sauce
2 cups any kind of plain yogurt
2 cloves of garlic, minced

-Keep diced eggplant in a salty water until ready to fry them. Drain the water, squeeze eggplant, and pet them dry in a clean kitchen towel.
-Heat oil in a pot. When it's really hot put eggplant in and fry in portions.
-Fry until golden brown.
-Put a paper towel at the bottom of a plate. Take out eggplant with a slotted spoon and put over the paper towel.
-For the tomato sauce, put grated tomato, minced garlic, and salt in a pot and cook for ~20 minutes until tomato is cooked.
-For the garlicy yogurt sauce, beat minced garlic with yogurt.
-You can either pour the sauce on fried eggplant on the serving plate or on your plate, the choice is yours. But do not have it without sauce. What brings the beauty of this dish is definitely the garlic.
-Serve fried eggplant as a side with meat or rice. My favorite way to eat fried eggplant is to have in a fresh crusty bread. mmmmmm

bon appetit!

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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 eggplants, in preparation of imam bayıldı. And the stuffing is kind of stir fried with olive oil. However, my mom skips the deep and stir frying parts and starts with raw vegetables for a lighter and possibly healthier recipe.


























2 lb small eggplant
1 lb onion, chopped thinly in half-moon shape
4-5 green chilies, chopped
10 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 lb tomato, diced
1 tsp sugar
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
3/4 cup olive oil



















-Peel eggplants in stripes lengthwise. Cut them into four lengthwise leaving the bottom attached. Put them in salty water to prevent darkening.
-Chop onions very thinly in half moon shape. Place them in a bowl and knead with a pinch of salt.Add finely chopped green peppers and cubed tomatoes to onion.-Add finely chopped garlic, parsley, salt and sugar to the mixture. Mix them all well.-Take eggplants out from the salty water by squeezing them well.-Place eggplants in a broad and shallow pot. With your hand lift the top two parts, open them up, and fill them with the vegetable mixture. If there's any stuffing left, place it on top.-Pour the olive oil on top along with ½ cup water.-Cover and cook first on high until it boils, then on low until eggplants are cooked, approximately 30-45 minutes depending on the kind of eggplant.
-This is a traditional olive oil dish, which means that it's served when it's cold and that it's always better the next day.

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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 two
1 eggplant, peeled in stripes and largely diced
1 zucchini, largely diced
2 potatoes, largely diced
3 banana peppers, chopped in big rounds
1 big onion, roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 -2 cups of water
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt



















-Heat oil in a big pot. Add onions. Stir until cooked.
-Add in peppers and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes.
-Melt tomato paste in with a little bit of warm water and stir in.
-Add all the vegetables, salt and water. Mix well.
-Cover and cook on medium for 45 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.
-Serve luke warm or hot. It goes well with rice, bulgur, or couscous.

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Eggplant Stew with Rice (Patlıcanlı Cive)

I'm still posting eggplant recipes, and I still have more, because eggplants and zucchinis are the main things we've been getting from farmers market every week for over a month now. And I took the opportunity to show how Turks are crazy about eggplant! Cive is a great summer dish from the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, Antalya. Cive is good warm or cold, with yogurt or bread. The main point is to make it with green tomatoes that give cive the desired sour taste.


























1 lb eggplant, peeled partially leaving lengthwise stripes and diced
2 medium onions, cut in thin half moons
10-12 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
3 green chilies, chopped
3 tomatoes (preferably green tomatoes for a sour taste), peeled and petite diced
3 tbsp rice
1/4 cup olive
1 tsp black pepper
salt
2 or 3 tbsp chopped fresh basil or mint OR t tbsp dry mint or basil



























-Heat oil in a pot. Add onion and garlic. Stir for 3-4 minutes.
-Add chopped chilies. Stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add tomato, eggplant, black pepper, salt. Stir one and do not stir again; otherwise eggplant will get mushy.
-Cover and cook on low-medium until vegetables will get juicy in the pot. Stir in rice nice and polite.
-Cover and cook on low for 30-40 minutes.
-Before you serve, sprinkle chopped basil or mint.

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Eggplant and Lentil Stew with Pomegranate Molasses (Mualle)

Here's another delicious certified Turkish eggplant recipe. I had mualle first in İstanbul at Çiya Restaurant. The owner and chef of Çiya, Musa Dağdeviren, is not only a great chef but also a passionate researcher of forgotten Anatolian recipes. He has traveled all around Anatolia and collected almost 4 thousand local recipes. That's why Çiya's menu changes daily. One of those 4 thousand recipes, Mualle, is a summer stew from Antakya. Mualle that I had at Çiya was so good that I got very excited when I found Dağdeviren's recipe in Food & Wine. Try this recipe before the last eggplants of the season start to disappear from farmers markets.

























3-4 long narrow eggplants, peeled in lengthwise stripes
1/2 cup green lentils
1 medium onion, chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 banana peppers or any long thin green chilies, seeded and chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped or 2 tbsp dry mint
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
2/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp pomegranate molasses (you can find pm easily at Middle Eastern markets)
salt
























-Peel the eggplant partially and leave lengthwise stripes of skin. Cut them into 4 lengthwise. Chop every piece crosswise into 3. Place them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Let them stand for an hour.
-Bring green lentils to a boil with 2 cups of water. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until lentils are soft.
-In a bowl mix tomatoes, green chilies, onion, garlic, mint, salt, crushed peppers, and tomato paste.
-Coat a small cast-iron casserole with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Put 1/2 cup of veggie mix on bottom. Cover with half of the eggplant, then half of the lentils, and half of the remaining veggie mix. Top first with remaining eggplant, then with lentils, and then with veggie mix.
-Pour olive oil around the side. Sprinkle pomegranate molasses.
-Bring the stew to a boil. Then cover and turn it down to low and simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Mualle is good with rice and yogurt.

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Stuffed Eggplants (Karnıyarık)

Another "certified Turkish" recipe from my mom: karnıyarık which literally translates as "split belly." Karnıyarık is widely made and dearly loved almost in every part of Turkey. But by going over the ingredients and cooking method, I believe it's from southeastern and eastern Mediterranean regions of Turkey. I must warn you; this is not a light dish, but it is absolutely fantastic and if you haven't had karnıyarık before, it will change your ideas on eggplant dishes. Enough said to advertise eggplant.

There are a couple things to be careful about when you're cooking with eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones; eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. And for this dish, do not use huge American eggplants. Try to find cute little ones or Asian eggplants.

2 lb eggplant, peeled in stripes lengthwise
1/2 lb ground meat
2 onions, cubed
1/2 bunch parsley, finely choppped
1 tomato, petite diced (for the stuffing)
1 tomato, sliced in half moons (for the top)
green banana peppers, as many as eggplants
ground pepper
salt
2 tbs olive oil
frying oil
1 cup hot water

-Peel eggplants leaving lengthwise stripes and then put them in salty water for 10 minutes. Dry them well and fry them as a whole in a deep pot with canola or corn or vegetable oil, whichever you're comfortable with. (Make sure oil is really hot before you place eggplants, otherwise eggplants will soak tons of oil)
-Once they're fried, first soak the excessive oil by resting them on a paper towel, and then place eggplants on an oven dish.
-In a deep frying pan, heat olive oil. Add onions and stir for 3-4 minutes.
-Add ground meat. Cook until ground meat soaks all the juice it lets out.
-Add diced tomato. Stir until cooked. Turn it off.
-Add chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
-With the help of two spoons, slit eggplants into two. But leave the tops and bottoms attached.
-Stuff eggplants with ground meat mixture.
-Place a slice of half moon shaped tomato and a green pepper on top of each split belly eggplant.
-Pour 1 cup of hot water on top and bake them in preheated oven at 400F until green peppers are nicely baked.

Serve with rice and yogurt.

Another eggplant recipe with parsley for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded by Kalyn and is hosted this week by Katie of Thyme for Cooking.

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Thracian Roasted Eggplant Salad (Tunçilik)

Roasted eggplant salads are very common in Thrace, where I come from, during the summer. Thrace (Trakya in Turkish) is the northwestern corner or the European part of Turkey. Thrace is a historical and geographical region that spreads over Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The Turkish part is the Eastern Thrace. Eastern Thrace, in years, witnessed major waves of migration--like the two big ones after the Ottoman-Russian war and the Lausanne Treaty--which created the marvelous ethnic, cultural, and culinary mosaic of the region today.

My favorite jewel of this culinary mosaic, Tunçilik, is one of the many different versions of roasted eggplant salad or meze (=appetizer) that's made in the region. Tunçilik is a specialty of the southwestern part of Turkish Thrace around Tekirdağ.

for 6 people
4 eggplants
5-6 big red peppers or banana peppers
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
6-7 tbsp of vinegar
3-4 tbsp olive oil
salt
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
There's nothing written in stone. You can use more or less of everything. Whatever you do, make sure you use all the ingredients. There's no such thing as Tunçilik without parsley, peppers, or tomatoes, or vinegar. Make it less vinegary or more oily or peppery, but have all the ingredients.


-Roast eggplants and peppers on a grill, or in oven at 450F. Roast tomatoes along with eggplants and peppers for 4-5 minutes.
-Let them cool first. Then peel eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. And seed them.
-Chopped them all finely.
-In a bowl mix crushed garlic, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and parsley.
-In a small bowl, mix vinegar, olive oil, and salt. Add this on vegetables.
-Mix well. Taste. If you think you can handle a little more garlic and vinegar, do not hesitate to add more.
-Tunçilik goes well with red meat or poultry, especially if they're grilled. And do not forget to soak the juice with fresh bread.

One of the readers of the blog, Tash, has made some wonderful suggestions to perfect this recipe (also see Tash' comment below). I'd like to share them with you:
- After removing the roasted eggplants from the hot ashes, they are cut length wise, salted and kept vertically in a colander for a few minutes to drain. This I am told drains the bitter taste out of eggplants and removes excess moisture for a more consistent texture in the mix. 
-Roasted tomatoes and peppers are not always peeled to add texture and smokier taste to the mix. Just brush off the ashes. 
-If available Tahini and little lemon juice with a little roasted garlic was sometimes added to the mix.
-I also noticed that lemon juice was omitted if the roasted tomatoes were in the mix. 
-Mixing in fresh kaymak (solidified heavy cream) to the basic mix was my favorite version.

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Eggplant-Meatball Casserole (Fırında Köfteli Patlıcan)

This delicious eggplant and meatball recipe was highly inspired by another recipe I found at one of Turkey's most popular and successful food blogs: portakal ağacı. In her blog Hatice, tells that she got the recipe from an aunt (in Turkey you call all the elderly ladies "aunt X or Y" for respect regardless of your blood relation to them) and that it's called "Antep kebap" (Antep Kebabı). I liked the idea of having meatballs and eggplant--my favorite vegetable--but I didn't follow the recipe strictly. I think this is the good side of casserole dishes; they give you room for flexibility. In the end it turned out to be a light and tasty recipe.

I particularly like meatball casserole dishes, because (1) they are really easy to make and (2) in the end they are delicious. I usually make meatballs from 2 lb of ground lamb and beef. Later I freeze meatballs and use them whenever I need them. As you can imagine, when you have already made frozen meatballs, making any kind of meatball casserole dish takes almost no time.

























2-3 eggplants, peeled in stripes and cut in 1 inch rounds
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 or 1/2 banana pepper for each meatball
1 big onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
salt

for meatball (I used half of the meatballs from this batch for the recipe; the other half went straight to the freezer)1 lb ground meat
1-2 slice of stale bread, processed in a food processor or grated
1 eggs
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 big clove of garlic, minced
1 onion, grated or finely chopped
1/2 parsley, finely chopped
(the original recipe didn't ask for cumin, oregano leaves, onion, and garlic for the meatball part)

-Mix well all the ingredients for meatball in a bowl and make round , half inch thick meatballs.
-Peel the eggplants in stripes and cut them in rounds. Place the rounds in a casserole.
-Place one meatball on each eggplant round.
-Scatter chopped onion and garlic on meatballs.
-Underneath onion and garlic, you'll still see your small eggplant and meatball towers; put one slice of tomato and one or half banana pepper (or any pepper you want) on each eggplant+meatball tower.
-Salt to your taste and pour 1/4 cup of alive oil on top.
-Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for an hour at a preheated oven at 450F. After an hour uncover, and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

I served eggplant and meatball casserole with bulgur pilaf and yogurt.

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Eggplant Bulgur Pilaf (Patlıcanlı Bulgur Pilavı)

This is a perfect summer dish and is especially good with cold refreshing yogurt, or as a side dish for red meat. Traditionally this recipe is made with white rice, and eggplant cubes are deep fried. I decided go healthier and lighter so I made a couple of changes. To have a certified Turkish eggplant rice, use white rice and deep fry cubes of eggplant until golden brownish with vegetable, corn, or canola oil.

On Sunday I'm leaving for Turkey for 3 weeks. Although I will be very busy indulging myself in food and non-food related activities, I'll try to post "absolutely" Turkish recipes of my mom and my aunt, and, possibly, of our neighbors.

2 cups of bulgur (I chose to use fine bulgur, but it'll be great with coarse bulgur, too)
3 1/2-4 cups of water
1 big American eggplant or 2 regular size ones, peeled in stripes and diced
4 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped finely
2 banana peppers, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 tbsp currants
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt & pepper

-Brush olive oil on a shallow oven pan (use aluminum foil to avoid a mess) , put diced eggplant on it, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 375F.
-Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pot (it's easier to cook bulgur with non-stick pots). Add onions and stir for a couple of minutes. Add pine nuts, red and green peppers, and currants. Stir until peppers are cooked and nuts are golden brown.
-Add diced tomato and cook for 4-5 minutes.
-Add bulgur, stir constantly for a couple of minutes.
-Add water. Start with 3 1/2 cups of water. Cover and cook on low-medium until bulgur soaks water--this will take approximately 20-25 minutes. Some bulgur would be fine with a bulgur to water ratio of 1 to 1 1/2, some with 1 to 2. So check if the bulgur is cooked; if not add the rest of the water. Cover and cook on low.
-After you turn it off, cover the top of the pot with a clean kitchen towel or a paper towel. Put the lid back on and let rest for 10 minutes.
-Fluff the pilaf with a serving fork. Add eggplant and parsley. Mix well and serve.

Bon appetite! Afiyet olsun!

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Vegeterian Eggplant Stew (Etsiz Patlican Güveç)

If there's a hierarchy among vegetables, for me eggplant's place is secured at the top. Given the number of different eggplant dishes in Turkish cuisine, I think I'm not alone in my admiration of eggplant. In Turkish cuisine eggplant is used in various ways; we bake it, fry it, grill it, roast it, stuff it, paste it, puree it, use it as filling for pastries, wrap it around kebaps, and even make jam with it. There are a couple things to be careful about when cooking with eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones. Eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. Even though its skin is thick and sometimes bitter, do not peel it all the way; peel it lengthwise in 1/2 inch stripes. Once peeled eggplants darken fast. To prevent this you can take out the spongy middle part with seeds and keep eggplants in salty water until you cook them.

This is a perfect Mediterranean summer recipe with olive oil, garlic, and eggplant.


























1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 big eggplant or two medium ones, peeled lengthwise in stripes
1 zucchini, diced
1 potato, diced
2 tbsp pepper paste or tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tomatoes, grated or 1 can of diced tomato processed in a blender
1/3 cup water or vegetable stock
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
salt
black pepper
pepper flakes

-Saute onions, garlic, and eggplant with olive oil on medium heat for 15 minutes.
-Add tomato/pepper paste, stir for 1-2 minutes.
-Add the rest of the ingredients except parsley. Cover and cook on low for 40-45 minutes.
-Sprinkle parsley on top a minute or two before you turn it off.

Serve with rice and 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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Adana Style Stuffed Eggplants and Zucchinis (Adana Usulü Patlıcan ve Kabak Dolması)

Years ago, my mom went to Adana--one of the "kebap" capitals of Turkey--to visit her cousins. In stead of kebap, she brought back this eggplant + zucchini dolma recipe. In Adana, they usually use sundried eggplants and zucchinis; however, in the northwestern part of Turkey it's not easy to sundry vegetables as it is in the southeastern part, so we modified the recipe by replacing sundried vegetables with fresh ones.

With the following ingredients I stuffed 12 big dolmas (6 eggplants + 6 zucchinis). If you're not planning to stuff so many of them, use half of it.

6 small eggplants (as seen in the picture)
2 huge zucchinis (I cut each in three equal pieces)

for stuffing:
1/2 pound ground meat
2 cups of white rice (never use basmati rice)
3 onions, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, grated or 1 can of diced tomato
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped or 1/3 cup dried mint flakes
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt

for the sauce:
8 cloves of garlic, minced
6 tbsp olive oil or butter
2 tbsp dried mint flakes2 tbsp hot pepper paste
1 tsp or more pepper flakes
juice of two lemons









-In a big bowl mix well all the ingredients for the stuffing
-For the eggplants: cut the tops off, peel them in striped pattern, and carve them with a potato peeler or a spoon. After carving, put the eggplants in a bowl filled with salty water to prevent darkening. Make a little cut at the bottom or on the side of eggplants and zucchinis with a knife so that they can cook thoroughly
-For the zucchinis: I picked 2 huge zucchinis to make carving easier. The zucchinis were from farmer's market and organic, so I did not peel them. I cut them into three equal pieces and carved them with a potato peeler and it was very easy. In the end they looked like weird coffee mugs
-Stuff the eggplants and zucchinis with the stuffing and place them in a big wide pot facing up. Add water to the pot. It shouldn't cover the dolmas; the water level should be 1 or 1 1/2 inches below the top












-Cover and cook on low to medium heat (boiling vigorously would crack the dolmas) for 40 -45 minutes
-In a skillet heat the oil and stir in garlic. After a a couple of minutes add the paste and mint flakes. Stir for another 1-2 minutes. Pour in lemon juice, stir, and turn offthe heat
-Pour the sauce on dolmas with a spoon at the end of 45-minute cooking and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

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