White Beans with Pastrami-nimbuls (Pastırmalı Kuru Fasulye)

What we call pastrami in Turkey is completely different from the lunch meat pastrami that you can find at the stores here. At Sahara Mart, I found this pastrami which was, to my surprise, a product of USA--not imported from Middle East. It looked like Turkish pastrami; however, it was way less spicy and as a result way less flavorsome and stinky.



















2 cups of cannellini: white kidney: fazolia beans or 2 cans of those beans
10 pastrami strips (I used 10, but you can use less or more)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2-3 banana peppers, chopped
1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste, or half & half
2 tomatoes, diced or 1 can of petite diced tomato
2 tbsp butter or 1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1/2 tsp dried mint flakes
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
2 cups of water

-Heat the oil in a big pot and stir in the onions and garlic cloves. Cook until onions are soft
-Stir in peppers and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the paste, cook for another 2 minutes
-Add tomatoes, oregano, crushed pepper, mint flakes, and salt. Stir for 4-5 minutes
-Stir in the beans (I used dry beans. I didn't have time to soak them over night, so I pressure cooked them for 30 minutes. Either soak them over night and then cook them in water until they're soft, or use canned beans) and water. Bring to a boil.
-Tear the pastrami strips in to bite-size pieces. Place them on top of beans with dried hot peppers.
-Seal the pot with aluminum foil and cover. Cook on low for an hour.

Collard Greens Alaturka-nimbuls (Zeytinyağlı Kara Lahana)

Collard greens and chard along with corn and anchovy are the main requisites of the cuisine of the central and eastern part of the Black Sea region in Turkey. The use of corn in cooking is surprisingly higher in that region than it's in the South of US. The most popular collard greens dishes from the Black Sea region are collard greens soup and collard greens dolma--they use collard greens in stead of grape leaves and sometimes replace rice with cracked corn. It's delicious. This was my first attempt to cook collard greens in States so I chose an easier dish.

2 bunches of collard greens (2 bunches might seem like a lot, but they cook down)
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced or grated
1 tbsp pepper or tomato paste
1/2 cup rice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp crushed peppers
2 cups of water
salt

-Put a lot of water in a big pot and bring to a boil
-Cut the collard greens in two, lengthwise, and then chop them in approximately 1/2 inch pieces. Wash them well and boil them in the pot for 8-10 minutes and drain. You don't have to boil them beforehand; however, the leaves can be really though and so, hard to cook.
-Cook oil, onions, and garlic for 3-4 minutes and then add pepper/tomato paste. Stir for a minute and add tomatoes. Stir for 3-5 minutes
-Add collard greens and crushed peppers. Stir for another 5 minutes
-Add water and salt. Wait until it boils to add the rice, or the rice can be really mushy. Cook on low heat for 20-30 minutes. It's ready to eat when the rice is cooked
-Serve with yogurt

Stuffed Peppers with Groundmeat-nimbuls (Etli Biber Dolması)

This is an almost Turkish recipe because of the purple peppers. Purple peppers are rare in Turkey, and it's impossible to find Turkish green peppers here. So, we have purple Indiana peppers stuffed a la Turkish style. Once cooked, the purple peppers turned green just like purple beans. Do not try to stuff regular huge bell peppers that you can find at every store; they are really hard to cook (their skin is too thick), are too big (you can almost spend half of the stuffing on one pepper), and are unfortunately not flavorsome. Try farmer's markets. The purple pepper in the picture is from farmer's market and the red one is from Luke's garden.

10 peppers
1/2 pound ground meat (beef)
1 cup rice
3 onions, chopped finely
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch dill, chopped
1 1/2 tsp dry or fresh mint
1 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tomato

-With the help of a knife or your thumb, take out the tops of the peppers. Wash and take out the seeds. Make tiny holes at the bottom of peppers with a knife or a fork so that they can cook thoroughly
-Mix ground meat, onions, rice, herbs, black pepper, salt, crushed pepper, and olive oil in a bowl. Stuff the peppers with this mix. Leave 1/4 inch space at the top; we will put a slice of tomato there. Cover the tops with a slice of tomato
-Place the peppers in a broad pot facing up.
-Mix tomato paste with water and pour into the pot. Fill the pot half way up with water. Put butter in small pieces on top.
-Cook covered on medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Let it boil, but not vigorously; that might be harsh on your cute peppers and also unstuff them. To make sure taste the rice. If the rice is soft, that means the peppers are cooked.
Must be served with yogurt!

Back Alley Cherry Pie-nimbuls

The recipe for this pie is classic -- it is from the Joy of Cooking. What makes this pie special is that the sour cherries must be stolen from a back alley. I recommend early morning hours for your theiving, especially if your target tree is located in the yard of a rental inhabited by undergrads. After your acquisition, you should rinse the cherries, and then pit them. If you don't have a cherry pitter, forceps or small tweezers will work well too. Pitted cherries can be frozen in four cup portions for later use.















9" pie pan
2 pie crusts
4 C fresh sour cherries
2 2/3 tsp quick-cooking tapioca (or cornstarch)
1 1/3 C sugar
2 drops almond extract or 2 Tbsp kirsh
2T butter












-Add the tapioca or cornstarch to the cherries and let sit for 15 minutes.
-Place the bottom pie crust in the pie pan.
-Then add the sugar and almond extract or kirsh to the cherries.
-Pour the cherry mixture into the pie crust.
-Cut the butter into small pieces and dot the fruit with the butter.
-Cover the cherries with the second pie crust. Impress your friends by creating a lattice top or make a fancy design to vent. You may wish to make an aluminum foil shield for the easily-burned edge of the crust.
-Bake 10 mins at 450 then reduce to 350 for 40 mins longer or until golden brown. Your cherries should set up after the pie is cool as long as you bake until the filling is clear.















Enjoy the back alley pie, and be sure to use that label as often as possible.
-Jen

Stuffed Artichokes-nimbuls (Zeytinyağlı Enginar Dolması)

1 pack of peeled artichokes. Since I don't know, or rather don't want to know, how to peel artichokes, I usually buy them peeled and frozen from international or middle eastern stores. What you should be looking for is something like this:


1/2 pound green peas
2 big carrots, diced petite (or you can use a 1 pound mixed peas and carrots, frozen)
1 onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup olive oil (if it's an olive oil dish, you cannot be stingy with olive oil)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of water
1/2 bunch dill, chopped





This is such a fancy looking dish, yet soo easy to cook.

-Mix onions, peas, carrots, sugar, salt, and 1/4 bunch of dill (we're saving the other half to garnish) in a bowl
-Place the artichokes facing up in a broad pot, preferably a shallow one.
-Cover the artichokes with stuffing. Do not actually try to stuff them, just put the stuffing in the pot and cover the artichokes
-Add olive oil and water
-If you will use a pressure cooker, do everything the same. It doesn't matter if you put the artichokes on top of each other. The pressure cooker will not probably be broad enough. Then cook artichokes for 20 minutes first on high, then on low heat
-If it's a regular broad pot, cover and cook on high heat for 5 minutes (or until it starts boiling), then on low for another 30-35 minutes
-Garnish with dill and do the finishing "stuffing" touches with a scoop on the plate

Just like all Turkish olive oil dishes, stuffed artichokes are best when they're served cold. Even better the next day!

Tomato Soup with Rice-nimbuls (Pirinçli Domates Çorbası)

This is my all time favorite summer soup.
3-4 tomatoes, grated (if it's winter you can use 1 can of diced tomato, you should smoothen it in a blender)
1 not spicy green pepper such as Italian or banana OR 1-2 small red sweet peppers, chopped finely
1 small clove of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1/4 cup white rice
1/2 tsp paprika or red chili powder
1/2 tbsp peppercorns (I use peppercorns, because I love them and I think crushed black pepper changes the bright red color of the soup)
3 cups of hot water or stock
salt
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped to garnish
-In a pot heat the oil over medium heat
-Add the garlic and green peppers, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Don't burn them.
-Stir in paprika and cook for ~20 seconds.
-Stir in grated tomatoes and bring to a boil
-Cook at low for approximately 10 minutes, until it has a darker red color
-Stir in water and bring to a boil
-Add rice, salt, and peppercorns, and keep cooking on medium heat
-The soup will be ready when the rice is cooked
-Add parsley after turning off the heat or in the bowls.
-Serve with crusty fresh bread or toasted bread on the side.