KİLİS TAVA

TRAY KEBAB

Kilis is a city in Turkey which is my hometown and this kebab is one of its delicious dishes.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds of ground lamb ( or ground beef )
  
• 3 medium size of onions
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbs of tomato paste
• 1tbs of red pepper paste
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• salt

for the bottom:

• 4 medium size of potatoes ( thinly sliced )
  

Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Place sliced potatoes on a 13"18" inch tray no space between them .
Chop onions and mash garlic. Take them in a big mixing bowl. Put all of the other ingredients into this bowl and knead them until well combine. Take this mixing on top of the potatoes and cover the surface with this mixing pressing gently.
Bake it for 40 minutes.


Tips:

• You can use eggplants instead of potatoes for the bottom.
• You should slice thinly either potatoes or eggplants otherwise it might not cook.
  

MEVSIM SALATASI

SEASON SALAD

There is no fix recipe for this salad but it is a must for me, especially for dinners. Ingredients change a bit every time. Sometimes I use red onion instead of green onion or add fresh mint or cucumber.



Ingredients:

• 1 green pepper
• 1 medium size tomato
  
• 3 green onion
• 1 carrot
• 3 leaves of red cabbage
• 6 leaves of lettuce
• 1/4 bunch of parsley

Souse:

• 1 lemon juice
• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• salt

Wash all of the salad ingredients and drain them well.
In a big salad bowl, take lemon juice, salt, and olive oil and beat them with a whisk.
Thinly slice red cabbage and take it to the bowl and crush it with your hands until it gives its red color to the salad souse.
Chop tomato, onion, pepper, lettuce, and parsley. Grate the carrot. Take them all to the salad bowl and toss it.

DOMATES ÇORBASI

TOMATO SOUP

Winter is coming... Nothing is better than a small bowl of homemade soup for cold winter days.
Turkish cuisine has a wide variety of soups. We start our dinners with them as a starter.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp of vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
• 2 large tomatoes ( peeled and grated )
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1/2 tbsp of red pepper paste (optional )
• 5 cups of boiling water
• a pinch of ground thyme
• a pinch of black pepper
• salt

Take vegetable oil and flour in a medium pot. Turn the heat to medium. Stirring constantly with a whisk , cook it just until the flour has lost its raw smell. Turn the heat down to low. Add tomato paste, pepper paste, thyme, black pepper, and grated tomatoes into the pot. Stir until it is smooth. Than add boiling water slowly and stir continuously. Cook until it reaches thick consistency.Add salt. When you serve the soup, sprinkle some grated mozzarella cheese on top.
Enjoy...

ZEYTİNYAĞLI PATLICAN DOLMASI

 




























STUFFED EGGPLANT WITH OLIVE OIL

Turkish cuisine has a lot of stuffed vegetable recipes. They are either with meat or olive oil. I should admit, it is not so easy to make but it worth all of the time you spend for it.

Ingredients:

• 20 baby eggplants
• 20 slices of tomatoes
  

Filling:

• 20 tbsp of uncooked rice
• 1 large size of tomato
• 1 large size of onion
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tbsp pomegranate paste
• 2 lemon's juice
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 tbsp of red pepper paste
  

For filling, chop tomato, onion,and pepper. Take them in a big mixing bowl. Take the other ingredients for filling into the mixing bowl and mix them well.



Wash and cut off the eggplants' tops. Scoop out inside of the eggplants with a spoon or vegetable peeler.



Fill them halfway with the fillings. Close each eggplant a slice of tomato. Place them horizontally in a large pot, leaving no space between eggplants. Fill the pot halfway with boiling water. Take the pot on a medium heat and wait until it starts to boil. Turn the heat to low as soon as it starts bubbling. Cook for one our or until eggplants are tender.

ZEYTİNYAĞLI TAZE FASULYE

GREEN BEANS WITH OLIVE OIL

This recipe is from one of the iftar dinner which we had it with our friends.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb of green beans
• 2 medium size of onions
• 3 medium size of tomatoes
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• a pinch of sugar
• salt

Chop the onion. Wash, drain, trim the beans and cut them diagonally into1-inch pieces. Peel and grate tomatoes.
In a medium pot, take olive oil and chopped onion and saute them for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add beans to the pot and cook it until beans lost their rawness, stirring occasionally. Add tomatoes, sugar and salt to the pot and cook for half an hour.