Regional Recipes Roud-up: Turkey!!

I think this was the best round of Regional Recipes yet. The participants did such a great job at showcasing the flavors and textures of Turkish cuisine. Every one of these submissions have been added to my must-try-soon list. I think you'll enjoy them too.

Hamsi Tava (crispy fried anchovies) submitted by Momgateway. I love anchovies in all forms, but fried anchovies are icing on the cake!





Cerez Tavugu (Circassian chicken) submitted by Mary of One Perfect Bite. Mary says Circassian chicken is like a western chicken salad, only more flavorful and nutritious. It’s a dish everyone should make at least once before they die. Now that's a strong endorsement!





Nohut salatasi (Turkish chickpea salad) submitted by Wandering Chopsticks. All our favorite ingredients—chickpeas, olives, onions, tomatoes—tossed with a zingy lemon dressing.





Lamb Kebab submitted by yours truly. Grilled lamb patties rolled in flatbread with a cool yogurt sauce. Hits the spot at 3AM after a night of merrymaking.





Hunkar Begendi (beef stew with eggplant puree) submitted by Joanne of Eats Well with Others. The surprise in this dish is the eggplant puree. It’s made by combining roasted, mashed eggplant with a smooth béchamel. That’s a new combination I’ll definitely be trying soon.




And last, but definitely not least, [eatingclub]vancouver showed their culinary prowess by submitting not one, but 5 dishes! Talk about Turkish extravaganza!

Let’s start with the borek with beef filling. Phyllo dough stuffed with ground beef and baked to a golden brown. They get bonus points for the beautiful, rustic presenation ☺



Etli biber dolmasi (stuffed peppers with groundmeat). A filling, familiar favorite.




Turkish bulgur kofte. Dense dumplings served with a garlicky yogurt sauce.




Mualle (eggplant and lentil stew with pomegranate molasses). Creamy eggplant, earthy lentils and a subtle punch courtesy of pomegranate molasses—an exotically delicious dish!



Kisir (Turkish bulgur tabbouleh). Take note guys, this is a dish that can cause a little excitement with the ladies.




Now aren't these submissions impressive? I hope you'll click through and check out the posts. You may learn something. I certainly did!

For our next region, I choose Korea!

Wandering Chopsticks will be hosting the next round. If you'd like to participate, please read the guidelines, then send submissions, with a photo, to wanderingchopsticks(at)gmail(dot)com. by June 15th.

Regional Recipes Turkey: Lamb Kebab

[eatingclub] vancouver has chosen Turkey as the spotlight region for this month's Regional Recipes, and while I’ve never been to Turkey (but it’s high on the list!) to experience the food firsthand, I did live in Denmark, which might be the 2nd best thing. Confused? Let me explain...

Many people may not know there is a sizeable Turkish immigrant population in Denmark (as well as other Western European countries). The first wave came over as guest workers during the labor shortage in the 60’s and decided to stay. The guest workers subsequently brought over their families, their religion, their customs and, of course, their food. Of all the things these guest workers brought with them, it’s the food that seems to have been absorbed most readily into Danish society.

Nothing says "eat me!" like a picture of a kebab sandwich in your face, except maybe a real kebab sandwich in your face.

The interesting thing about Turkish (and other Middle Eastern) cuisine in Denmark is that it’s usually offered as quick food—things like sharwarma or kebab—and it is very popular. In Copenhagen you didn’t have to look very hard for a sharwarma joint, even at 3 AM after a night of pub crawling (the best time to eat kebab IMO). Our favorite place was located on StrØget, the pedestrian shopping street. They boasted the best sharwarma in the city and that their secret was a spice combination consisting of an outlandish number of spices. The number that keeps coming to mind is 65, but that just can’t be right. Maybe the place is still there and still popular? I’ll have to try to squeeze in a visit the next trip to DK.

So what’s the difference between a sharwarma and a kebab? Honestly, I’m not really sure. I always thought sharwarma consisted of sliced meat that was compressed into a big hunk and slow cooked on a vertical spit. When you order, a little meat is shaved off, quickly browned then rolled in a flatbread with some dressing and maybe some tomato. Kebabs always bring to mind seasoned meat (chunks or minced) grilled on a skewer then rolled in flatbread or served with a rice pilaf. That’s just my understanding, but people seem to use the terms interchangeably, so how's a girl supposed to know? If you have any insight, do chime in!

Since I didn’t have an occasion or the equipment to slow cook a hunk of compressed lamb on a spit, I went for the easy route and made minced meat kebab sandwiches. Can’t really go wrong with anything comprised of well-seasoned minced meat on a stick, now can you? The only thing was missing the rinky-dink-hole-in-the-wall-everyone-around-me-is-half-drunk ambiance. You know how some things just taste better when eaten in a particular context? Going to have to figure out how to achieve that in my backyard.☺

Lamb kebabs

• 1 pound ground lamb
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp paprika or cayenne
• 1 tsp ground cumin or coriander
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg or cinnamon
• 1 to 2 tbs toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tsp kosher salt (I use Diamond brand)
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbs all-purpose flour

Mix everything well, form onto skewers (pre-soaked if using wood), then grill until done. Can’t get much easier than that.

Serve with a nice rice pilaf and fresh sliced tomato and cucumber. Or in a flatbread of your choice with tomato and yogurt dressing (Greek-style yogurt + chopped fresh mint and/or cilantro, squeeze of lemon, finely chopped garlic and salt).


This is my submission to Regional Recipes. I'm hosting this month and will take submissions up until May 20th. Send them, along with a picture that is approximately 250x250 pix to blazinghotwok(at)gmail(dot)com.

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Falafel

Homemade Falafel Rules

Hey, if you want good falafel, go to Denmark. Just kidding...but really not. There's actually a robust population of people from Turkey, Greece and the Middle East and it seemed like just about every street in our little city had a falafel/sharwarma joint. My favorite place was just a rinky-dink establishment with 2 tables and 4 chairs and the owner was the cook. We visited at least once a week until one day we popped in and saw it was closed down. No forewarning; nothing! Oh, the disappointment!

Here in Portland, there aren't any falafel stands located close to me so I end up making my own. The first couple of times I tried it, I used Molly Katzen’s recipe from her Moosewood Cookbook. The flavors were fine, but I never liked the texture because it was too mushy. I experimented with a couple of other recipes, one of which was a complete disaster because the patties didn’t hold together. Then I came across this recipe. It's a great recipe, but I felt it needed a little more flavor (1 tsp of salt is not going to cut it for a pound of chickpeas!). After a little tweaking, I finally have something that I’m happy with. Using soaked (but uncooked) chickpeas is the key. It really makes all the difference in the texture.

The thing about falafel is that it needs to be eaten right after it's made. Don't think you can fry up some extras to take to lunch tomorrow, like I did. They turn out pretty sponge-y gross. This recipe can be doubled, if you need to feed more than 4 hungry adults.

Falafel
Feeds 4 adults

• ½ pound dried chickpeas, soaked in water for 24 hours
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1½ tsp kosher salt (even more to taste)
  
• ¼ cup fine bread crumbs (see note below)
• 3 green onions or ¼ of a large sweet onion, minced
• ¼ bunch cilantro, minced
• ¼ bunch parsley, minced
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten
• Oil for deep frying

Note: I like to make my own breadcrumbs using crackers. For this recipe, I like using the sesame water crackers. Pulse the crackers in a food processor until fine.

Drain the soaked beans and put them in a food processor. Run until the beans are finely chopped. You may have to do this in batches, unless you have a huge processor.

In a large bowl, combine the processed beans and all the other ingredients. Mix (easiest to use clean hands) until you get a uniform paste. It may seem a little dry, but have faith! It will hold together. Shape the paste into balls then flatten slightly. The paste will be slightly sticky, but it shouldn’t cake your hands. When the oil is hot enough, deep fry the balls, flipping if they aren’t completely submerged until evenly browned , about 4 minutes. I recommended draining on a rack set over a backing sheet. This allows the oil to drain off more efficiently and it prevents the underside of the food from getting soggy. Serve immediately.

I like to serve it with pita bread or flatbread. The original recipe includes a yogurt sauce you may want to try. Accompanied by a simple salad, it's a filling meal, but it’s also nice to put out hummus, olives and feta, tabouleh, and/or baba ghanoush (eggplant dip).