
Easy-to-follow, mostly vegetarian, almost Turkish recipes
Purple basil-ade, or basil sherbet as they call it in Turkey, is a very old recipe that has become popular in the last couple of years. The way it is served is quite sweet for my taste so here's my recipe for a sugar-free purple basil-ade.
1 bunch purple basil
1/2 lemon
2 liters boiling water
optional
1-2 cinnamon sticks
4-6 cloves
1/2 cup sugar or any sugar substitute you want to use
-Wash the purple basil leaves and put in a jar or a pitcher
-Squeeze the lemon on top and crush/knead the leaves with lemon juice to extract the utmost color.
-Pour the boiling water on top and let it cool down overnight, uncovered. If you want a sweet sherbet, add the sugar with water and stir. If you want a sugar-free one, adding cinnamon sticks gives it a slight sweetness, which I prefer to sugar.
-That's it. Your basilade is ready. Serve it cold.
Note: If you make the basil drink more intense with less water, it becomes an excellent base for summer cocktails!
Haydari, a sine qua non for rakı tables, is a perfect summer side dish or dip. It is great with grilled meat or on toasted bread. Traditionally it's made by mixing strained/Greek yogurt and white cheese--although some try to skip the cheese, we all know that it ain't haydari if there's no cheese.
This is a classic tavukçu marinade i.e. grilled chicken restaurant marinade and it is both adult and kid favorite in our house.
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, grated
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp white rice
1/4 or 1/3 cup very finely chopped parsley
1/4 or 1/3 cup very finely chopped fresh dill
1 egg, white and yolk separated
1 tsp or more black pepper
salt
3 tbsp flour
4 tbsp olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
-Put ground meat, grated onion, parsley, fresh dill, 1/3 cup rice, white of the egg, black pepper, salt in a bowl and mix really well.
-Flour a tray.
-Make mini meatballs, quarter size, and place them on the tray.
-When all are on the tray, shake the tray back and forth or side to side to roll the meatballs to get covered in flour. This flour on them will make a nice crust and will make the "soup" part of the dish thick.
-Grab a wide bottom-ish pot and heat. Add the olive oil and once hot place the meatballs at the bottom.
-Cook the meatballs until they have a nice crust on one side.
-Add half of the lemon juice, 4 cups of water, and 2 tbsp white rice, and a tad bit of salt, just to your taste.
-Simmer on low for 20 minutes.
-Mix egg yolk with the rest of the lemon juice in a bowl. Start taking little scoops of liquid or soup from the dish and mix with egg and lemon. We are trying to warm the egg slowly so that it won't curdle when we add it to the dish. Add 3-4 scoops of liquid, one at a time and mix the sauce after each time.
-Add the egg and lemon sauce to the dish, stir once and let simmer covered for another 15-20 minutes.
-Serve fresh dill or parsley, or with dry mint flakes on top, and crusty nice bread on the side.
Tips: If you have picky kids or adults, you can skip the fresh herbes in the meatballs. If you want to add veggies, add diced carrots, potatoes, celery root and peas right after you add the water.
I love corn in any form and these cornmeal savory pancakes are one of my favorite brunch or lunch specials.
2 cups of cornmeal / corn flour
2 eggs
1/2 yogurt
1 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 finely chopped herbs: parsley, dill, mint, or chives, pick one.
1/2 cup hard to melt cheese such as crumbled feta, small diced halloumi, or Turkish tulum goat cheese (I use a mix of Syrian halloumi and Turkish tulum goat cheese)
1/2 pitted and chopped black olives