Cretan Zucchini in Tomato Sauce (Domatesli Girit Kabağı-nimbuls)

Cretan zucchini in tomato sauce is a staple appetizer/meze on both sides of the Aegean coast.  I’ve been dying to recreate the recipe for years, but it was hard, if not impossible, to find those baby zucchinis in US. I was really excited to start my experiments when Trader Joe’s started to carry those tiny cute zucchinis a couple of years ago. However, it wasn’t until last summer when we ate, among many other delicious mezes, an incredibly divine version of Cretan zucchini with tomato sauce and cheese at Lal Girit Mutfagi on Cunda island that I finalized my own recipe.

serves 2 as a main course and for 4 as an appetizer

1 lb baby zucchini, ends trimmed

3-4 tbsp olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, slices or minced

3-4 medium size tomatoes, grated OR 1 can of diced tomatoes (smoothen them in a food processor for 10 seconds)

½ cup water

Aged cheddar (or feta or any kind of cheese you prefer)

salt

-Heat olive oil in a wide pot on medium to high.

-Add zucchinis, garlic, and salt. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes. To cook zucchinis evenly on all sides, shake the pot with the lid on a couple of times.

-Add tomato cook for 2 minutes.

-Add water and simmer on low for another 10 minutes or until zucchini is cooked.

-Once you turn it off, add cheese on top, cover and let cool down to room temperature.

-Serve as a meze/side dish/appetizer or as a main dish with rice, grilled meat, crusty bread, or all.

Zucchini Fritters nimbuls(Mücver)

Although I gave different versions of mücver recipes so far, I haven't posted "the" mücver recipe. In Turkey mücver is usually made after stuffing zucchinis, using the carvings. But it is a delicious dish on its own featuring all the fresh herbes of summer.

















5-6 small firm zucchinis, grated or left over zucchini carvings from stuffed zucchinis (makes ~4 cups)
3 eggs
1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
2-3 tbsp or 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (depending on how much you like mint)
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
1 cup white cheese/feta
1 tbsp paprika
salt
black pepper
~1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup olive oil for frying

-Put grated zucchini in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and let drain for 10 minutes. Squeeze and place in a bowl.
-Mix well all the ingredients except for flour and frying oil.
-Add flour in slowly and mix well.
-Heat oil in a frying pan. On medium drop scoops of mücver mixture in hot oil. Make sure they don't touch.
-Fry them on each side until golden brown, 4-5 minutes.
-Drain excessive oil by placing fritters on paper towels.
-Serve with plain yogurt or garlicy yogurt sauce. For garlicy yogurt sauce beat every 1 cup of yogurt with 1 clove of minced garlic.

Stuffed Zucchinis with Ground Meat nimbuls(Etli Kabak Dolması)

I was surprised to see that I haven't posted this recipe before, since it's one of my favorite summer time dolma dishes. Now that zucchinis are everywhere, especially round zucchinis that are perfect for stuffing, it's time to stuff zucchinis.




























makes 12 zucchini dolmas

12 round zucchinis or 6 thickish zuchinis
~1 lb ground meat (preferably beef)
2 onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup rice
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
2 tomatoes, grated
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 1/2 cup hot water

-If you're using globe zucchinis, wash them, cut tops off, and carve out each carefully. If you're using regular zucchinis, wash them, cut them in half and carve out each half carefully. Save the carvings for dishes such as Baked Zucchini Fritters or Baked Vegetable Fritters
-Slightly salt inside of all and set aside.
-In a bowl mix well ground meat, onion, rice, olive oil, parsley, dill, salt, black pepper, and 1 grated tomato.
-Loosely stuff each zucchini with the stuffing half inch to the top and place them in wide pot.
-Cover the tops with a tomato slice. (You can place the globe zucchini tops on tomato slices if you wish)
-Mix 1-2 cup of hot water with the remaining grated tomato and pour on top.
-Let it boil first, then cook on low for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

It goes well with yogurt.

Baked Vegetable Fritters nimbuls(Fırında Sebzeli Mücver)

Mücver is usually made with zucchini and then fried, however it is way lighter to bake it in these hot and humid summer days. This is a modified recipe that uses not only zucchini but also potato and carrot. If you have other vegetables in mind like spinach, leek, etc., you can add them, too.




























1 zucchini, grated
1 potato, grated
1 carrot, grated
3 spring green onions, chopped
1 green or red pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint or basil, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 or 1/3 cup white cheese or feta, crumbled
1/3 cup, pitted 'real' black olives, chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
sesame or nigella seeds




























-Heat oil in a pan. Add first pepper, then carrot, then potato, and finally zucchini. Sautee until wilted, but not totally cooked.
-Transfer this mix in a bowl and let it cool down.
-Add green onion, parsley, dill, mint, eggs, cheese, olives, baking powder, and flour.
-Pour the mixture in a greased oven safe dish. Make sure the mix is not thicker than 1.5 inches in the dish.
-Sprinkle sesame or nigella seeds on top. You can also decorate it with sliced canned olives.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for ~1 hour or until it gets golden brown on top or on the sides. Check with a clean knife or a wooden toothpick/skewer.

You can serve baked vegetable fritters as a side dish with dinner, with afternoon tea, or for breakfast.

Baked Zucchini Mousakka nimbuls(Fırında Kabak Musakka)

There is something about mousakka recipes; they always turn delicious, even at the sloppiest restaurant. One of the best eggplant zucchini dishes I've ever had was at my boarding school's cafeteria where even a boiled egg could be a disaster. The reason why mousakka dishes are tastier out at a restaurant is the amount of oil used. Usually it's tastier when it's greasier. Although I love to eat greasy mousakkas out, I prefer healthier ones at home. For this recipe, in stead of deep frying zucchini rounds, I baked them. If you want a vegetarian mousakka, replace ground meat with TVP or try mousakka with garbanzo beans.


























2 lb zucchini, cut in 1/3 inch rounds
1/2 lb ground meat
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 banana peppers or 1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tomatoes, sliced in rounds
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
salt and black pepper


























-Bake zucchini rounds in a preheated oven at 400F for ~30 minutes.
-Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add onion and green pepper, and cook until soft.
-Add ground meat. It will release some water. Cook until meat soaks the water.
-Add tomato paste. Stir for a minute.
-Add diced tomato and cook for 5 minutes.
-Turn it off and add salt, pepper, pepper flakes if you wish, and fresh dill.
-Layer half of the zucchini rounds in an oven safe dish. Cover with half of the ground meat sauce. Make the second layer of zucchini rounds and pour over the rest of sauce.
-Add 1/3 cup hot water.
-Place tomato slices on top.
-Bake at preheated 375F for half an hour.

Vegetarian Stuffed Globe Zucchini nimbuls(Zeytinyağlı Yayla Kabağı Dolması)

I hadn't seen these round zucchinis, globe zucchinis or zucchini ronde de nice, or whatever you call them, in a long time. They are perfect for stuffing. They are very easy to scoop, yet the outside is firm and stays so even after an hour of cooking.














10 globe zucchinis

1/2 cup olive oil

1 heaping cup of rice (I measured 1 1/2 tbsp rice for each globe zucchini)

2 medium onions, grated or finely chopped

3 tomatoes, grated or blended

3-4 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp dried currants
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped finely or 1 tbsp mint flakes
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped finely
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt

-Wash globe zucchinis, slice the top as a hat and scoop out the flesh. (you can save the flesh to make zucchini fritters later)
-Mix all the ingredients (except for zucchinis) in bowl.
-Stuff the zucchinis with this mixture. (If there's stuffing left, you can stuff a bell pepper or a tomato)
-Place those little hats on top and place zucchinis in a pot. Pour 2-2 1/2 cups of water or more to cover the zucchini dolmas half way.
-Cover and cook on low-medium for approximately 50 mins to an hour or until rice is cooked.
-Serve warm or cold, preferably with yogurt on the side.


recipe update
There was a little bit of whining about the slight sweetness caused by currants and all spice, so the next time I made stuffed globe zucchinis, I did not use those two ingredients. I replaced them with 2 tbsp of sumac (powdered or flakes, or you can use juice of 1 lemon). I also discarded the zucchini tops, and covered little dolmas with a slice of tomato; this way dolmas were juicier than when I made them using the tops.

Zucchini Börek nimbuls(Kabak Böreği)

Börek is a common name in Turkey and neighboring regions that were influenced by Ottoman cuisine for a pie made with flaky pastry: phyllo or yufka. Börek can be made in different forms (bundles, rolls, rounds, squares, etc.) and with different fillings (eggplant, ground meat, milk, potato, spinach, and white cheese).

This particular recipe is my mom's signature dish. This is the dish that I asked her to make every time I went back home from boarding school, college or from the States, and that my friends ask her to make whenever they come over for tea, for dinner, or for a visit. I haven't made zucchini börek before simply because it is hard to find Turkish yufka here and phyllo doughs that you can find in the stores are too thin (harder to deal with), starchier (fit better for baklava than börek), and come in rectangles rather than rounds as we have them in Turkey. However, for the first time I haven't been to Turkey over a year now. I decided that I couldn't wait for another year for zucchini börek.



~30 sheets of phyllo dough=1 box (since they're really thin, a couple will be lost along the way)

for the filling
2-3 zucchinis, grated approximately 4 cups of grated zucchini
3 eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped dill
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint or 3 tbsp dry mint flakes
1/2 cup crumbled Turkish white cheese or feta
1 tbsp paprika (or Hungarian paprika)
1 tbsp or less black pepper
salt (depending on how salty the cheese is)
1 tsp spicy red pepper flakes (optional)

for brushing phyllos
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (nonfat, reduced, or whole)

-Thaw frozen phyllo as indicated on the package.
-Mix well all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.
-It will be a juicy mixture. Squeeze the mixture and pour that excessive juice into a smaller bowl. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 cup yogurt into the juice and mix well. You will use this to brush phyllos.
-Place a phyllo, wide side facing you, on the counter. Brush it with the mixture and put another phyllo on top and brush it, too. Since phyllos are too thin, it's better to use two at a time).
-Place filling ~one seventh of zucchini filling on the long side of phyllo and roll up to make a long cigar.
-Grease ~ 11 X 13 or ~11 X 11 oven tray.
-Hold one end of the long cigar and coil roll around to form a spiral shape as in the picture above.
-Repeat brushing, filling, rolling, and coiling until there's no more filling.
-Pour whatever juice left in the brushing and filling bowls on the börek.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 380-390 F until golden brown. Approximately 50 minutes.
-Cut into triangle pie slices. Serve with tea or soda for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

It is not a common practice throughout Turkey, but where I come from, Thrace, we love to eat our savory börek by dipping it into jam, especially into cherry jam.