KURU KAYISI REÇELİ

DRIED APRICOT JAM

Ingredients:

• 30 dried apricots
• 1+1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 1 tbs of fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups of cold water

Wash the apricots. Soak them in a large pot over night. Next day move the pot over high heat and add sugar, cinnamon and cloves on top and stir. Bring it to the boil. Turn the heat down to medium. Stirring occasionally, cook it for 25 minutes. Add lemon juice and stir. Boil for another 5 minutes over medium heat. Turn the heat off and let it cool for ten minutes.

TAVUKLU ŞEHRİYE ÇORBASI

CHICKEN & VERMICELLI SOUP

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken leg quarter
• 4 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of vermicelli pasta
• 1 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1/2 tbsp of red pepper paste
• 1/3 tsp of ground black pepper
• salt

Wash chicken. Take it in a pressure cooker and add 4 cups of cold water. Bring it to the boil. You will see some foam on the surface when it starts to boil. Take them all with a spoon and discard. Add black pepper. Close the lid of pressure cooker and turn the heat down to low. Cook the chicken for 15 minutes at low heat. Take the pressure cooker and let it cool. Open the lid when it is cool enough and take the chicken out in a plate leaving meat broth in the pressure cooker. Take the bones of chicken and cut them into small pieces.
Add tomato and pepper paste into the pressure cooker. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add vermicelli and chicken in to the pot and bring it to the boil. Turn the heat down to low. Cover the lid and simmer it for 25 minutes and turn the heat off. Add salt. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. 
Serve it with lemon juice. 

YUMUŞAK POĞAÇA

SOFT POGOCAS

Makes 16 pogacas.

Ingredients:

• 2+3/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of warm milk
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 egg white
• 3 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 1 tsp of yeast

Filling:

• 1/2 cup of feta cheese

Topping:

• 1 egg yolk
• nigella and sesame seeds

 Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add milk, vegetable oil and egg white. Knead them all together with your hands until becoming dough. The dough should be sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest until the dough rises to double its size. It takes one to two hours.

In a small bowl, put some vegetable oil. Damp your hands with this vegetable oil before touching the dough. That way, the dough will not stick to your hands. It also give them a nice taste too. 
Take the bowl and knead the dough again until it is bubble free. Take a small piece of dough ( about the size of an egg) and make it flat with your hands.Place 1 tbs of feta cheese in the middle of the dough and close it up.  Place them on a baking tray and let them rise for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Brush all of the pogacas with egg yolk and sprinkle nigella and sesame seeds on top. Bake them until the color of egg yolk turns to brown.

ETLİ SARI KABAK DOLMASI

STUFFED YELLOW SQUASH

Ingredients:

• 20 yellow squash
• 20 slices of tomatoes
  

Filling:

• 20 tbsp of uncooked rice
• 1/2 lb of ground beef
• 2 large size of tomato
• 1 large size of onion
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 green pepper
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 tbsp pomegranate paste
•  juice of 2 lemon
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 tbsp of red pepper paste
• salt 

Take onion, green pepper,tomatoes and garlic into the bowl of food processor and process it until finely chopped. Take them in a large mixing bowl. Add the other ingredients ( rice, beef, tomato paste, red pepper paste, lemon juice, black pepper,pomegranate paste and salt) into the mixing bowl and mix it until well combined.
Wash and cut off the squash's tops. Scoop out inside of the squash with a spoon or vegetable peeler.
Fill them halfway with the fillings. Close each squash with a slice of tomato. Place them horizontally in a large pot, leaving no space between them. Fill the pot halfway with boiling water. Take the pot over medium heat and wait until it starts to boil. Turn the heat down to low as soon as it starts bubbling. Simmer for one our or until squashes are tender.