Salicornia Salad Video

Salicornia Salad from Dilek on Vimeo.

Yesterday my husband’s sister and her husband came to us. In fact they came to us to see our baby.  They broght Turkish raki, fish and  salicornia as a savory food. We altogether prepared the dinner. This was not only a dinner also a celebration of my doughter’s The Forty Days. In Turkey most of us   celebrate  The Forty Days. This is a kind of a belief. According to this belief  if a baby finishes, forty days from birth s/he will be healhty in the future and s/he will have a good life. It is only a belief but if we research  how this belief appears from past to now we find something interesting. In fact “the forty days” belief is an important time interval for a baby because on this time interval a baby maybe  becomes ill or not but her/his body gets used to our world. His/her body learns how to fight with viruses, other microbic organisms and also  every kind of ilnesses. According to this belief forty days later a baby is ready to live.

We fried fish, prepared Salicornia Salad and they drank Turkish raki I had apple juice yesterday. Our fish was Sea Bass. As I told before Sea Bass is verry yummy fish. We ate garden rocket and Salicornia Salad.

Ingredients:

• A bunch of salicornia
• A lemon
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• Half glass of olive oil

Recipe:
First of all wash a bunch of salicornia perfectly then put the bunch of salicornia in a pot. Then pour water in it and put the pot on fire. Boil it  for 10-15 minutes. After boiling take the boiled salicornia from the pot. Put it  in a cullender then  put it under water in order to getting cold. After that strech it from both edges to peel the salicornia because It has a hard stringy core in it. Pull off the core from the edible part of the salicornia .After pulling all of the salicornias mash the garlic cloves then put the mashed garlic on the peeled salicornias then pour the olive oil  and squeeze a lemon  on it. Mix them carefully. It is ready for your beautiful dinner as a savory food.Enjoy.

We purchase every kind of vegetables and fruits from the bazaar. In Tire there is a big bazaar. It is called “Tire Bazaar.” It is realy big and cheap. In Tire Bazaar you can find whatever you want. Everybody in Tire or people from the other cities come here to purchase fresh vegetables and fresh fruits. The sellers bring their vegetables and fruits from their gardens. The farmers grow organic plants here. They do not use hormonic   chemicals to the plants so we buy them with a big contentment.
We purchase salicornia from the bazaar too. Salicornia  grows on beaches so it has high salt content.  Because of this there is no need to use salt with this salad.
Salicornia contains lots of mineral in it like sodium, potassium, magnesium, iodine, sulfur, zinc, phosphorus, calcium and iron. It grows on iodic soil so it helps to heal a goiter patient  from the ilness of goiter. It   has lots of benefits to eat this nutritive Salicornia Salad.

Purslane Salad Video

Purslane Salad from Dilek on Vimeo.

Purslane grows  everywhere in Turkey.  It  is  also known as Verdolaga, Pigweed, Little Hogweed or Pusley. In fact it is a kind of weed and it grows  naturaly. We use it as salad with every kind of  dish. Eating purslane is healty for everyone especially pregnants. Purslane has lots of nutritional benefits for our health because Purslane contains Omega 3, vitamin A, vitamin C,  vitamin B, magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron..
We sometimes pick up from garden or purchase from the bazaar. Today again my husband made this yummy Purslane Salad. Purslane Salad is made from purslane , garlic, yogurt and a pinch of salt.
Garlic is an important plant for everyone because Garlic prevents heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and cancer and also garlic has cardiovascular benefits.
This is the recipe of Purslane Salad:
Wash a bunch of purslane perfectly then cut them from the middle then take out of the root part after that put it in a bowl and pour water in it and add vinegar in it. Addding vinegar is good for the microbic organismas. Vinegar cleans the microbic organismas from the purslane and like other fresh weeds or vegetables. After cleaning, chop the purslane well and put it in a bowl then mash 3 or 4 cloves of garlic then add the mashed garlic  and  yogurt in it. Then sprinkle a pinch of salt in it  then mix them perfectly. It is ready. Purslane Salad  goes very well with Turkish Raki as a savory food. Enjoy.

Pea Salad

 

One of my neigbour had a birthday last week and we wanted to make a beautiful surprise for her as the building dwellers. Everyone would prepare something. One of our friends would take over a birthday pastry. One of our friends would take over beverages.  Appetizers are necessary for the beverages. Everyone would prepare a different appetizer and we would meet at the door of our neighbour who had a birhday at 20.00. I decided to prepare Pea Salad a different local flavour as an appetizer. I started to prepare it before the meeting hour and I made it. I went to the party with this salad in my hand.  When we all gathered in front of the door of our friend at the fixed time, she opened the door with a big surprise at night. We celebrated her birhday all together. Of course drinking is forbidden for me because of being pregnant. My friends drank all the night and they ate appetizers. They finished the whole appetizers. Guess which appetizer finished first ?

Here is the recipe of the favourite Pea Salad appetizer.

Ingredients:

• 500gr fresh pea
• a lemon
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 4-5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cups of water

Recipe:

First of all string the peas then wash them. Cut the fresh peas in two.Put them in a pot and boil in two cups of water. When they soften, take out the peas from the pot and drain then put them on a plate. Mash the cloves of garlic in a bowl then put the mashed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a pinch of salt on peas then stir them perfectly. Now it is ready.

Pea  salad goes very well with alcohol drinks. 

Enjoy it.

Mustard Plant Salad

       I told about Aegean Region where I live  in my previous posts. Nature is efficient here. The most beautiful green plants of the world  are grown up here. Today I made mustard plant with lemon juice and garlic.

 Ingredients:

• 500gr fresh mustard plant
• 1 lt water
• 1 lemon
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
• A pinch of salt and black pepper

   Recipe:

    First of all clean mustard plant and wash them carefully and drain. Put water in a pot and boil it. Put washed mustard plant in it. Boil them for 5-10 minutes.

   After boiling, take  them from the pot and drain .  Cut them in equal lengths. After cutting take them on a service plate then pour lemon juice on it. Peel garlic cloves and cut them small pieces. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and black pepper and combine them perfectly.

  Enjoy it.

Kisir

      Probably Kisir is the most popular dish of all in every Turkish home. We can say that Kisir is a traditional dish. The recipe of Kisir changes from region to region even from home to home. For example, some people saute the onion with tomato paste, some add it raw. And the spice choices of people also vary. Besides,some eat this savory dish with grapevine leaves while some prefer lettuce instead.

This is my easy Kisir recipe: 

Ingredients:

• A cup of pounded wheat 
• 2 cups of boiled water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• A pinch of red pepper
• A pinch of salt
• A bunch of parsley 
• A bunch of green mint
• A bunch of green onion

Recipe:

Put the pounded wheat  (A cup of pounded wheat for each person who will eat.For two people, two cups, for three people three cups, and so on) in a large bowl then add hot water on it and wait for about 15-20 minutes.

Wash all vegetables very well. Put them in a pot and add water passing over the level of vegetables and then for your hygiene add 2 tbsp vinegar in it.Wait for about 15 minutes. 

After that put a pan on fire and put olive oil in it after heating the oil put tomato paste in it and saute the tomato paste with olive. Then sprinkle a pinch of red pepper.

After draining, chop the vegetables. Add chopped vegetables and sauted tomato paste to brewed pounded wheat then add salt and stir it.

You can add lemon juice on it while eating.

If you like sweetbasil you may add it in that mixture. It tastes very good in it I think.

Enjoy it.

Lentilball

     The name of this dish is Lentil Meatballs but in Turkey ladies make this Lentil Meatballs without using meat. This is its property. Let’s look how  I can make it.

Ingredients:

• A cup of red lentil
• A cup of thin pounded wheat
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• A bunch of parsley
• A bunch of green mint
• A bunch of green onion
• Half lemon
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of black pepper
• A pinch of cumin

 

Recipe:

Wash the lentil and drain it. Put it in pot and add  hot water passing over the level of lentil. Boil it until it gets soft. When the lentil is cooked enough add a cup of thin pounded wheat in it then put the lid on the pot and wait for 15 minutes.

Wash parsley, green mint and green onion carefully and chop them small piecess.

 Put  a pan on fire and put vegetable oil in pan. Heat it for about 2-3 minutes then put 1 tbsp tomato paste in it.  Saute the tomato paste by stirring.

Take the lid from the pot and check the lentil ( It is important that there shouldn’t be any water. If there is no enough water in it put some extra hot water in it.)

Add the sauted paste, salt and the other spices in it then knead them perfectly.  After kneading, add the chopped vegetables in it then stir. Take pieces as big as a walnut and make small  balls with your palms.

Enjoy it.

Broccoli With Yoghurt

I went to cinema the previous day with my husband. The film finished at late hours. We arrived home at late hours too. Because of going to cinema just after my work we were very hungry. So we wanted to eat more food but this was unhealty. Because of this reason we decided to eat  a light dish. A wonderful idea came to my mind: Broccoli!

Broccoli is my favourite vegetable. we like to eat broccoli because of its flavour. We eat broccoli with yoghurt and we call this dish Broccoli With Yoghurt. Another reason of consuming  broccoli is health. Broccoli also contains vitamin C (high degree),vitamin K, multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties and soluble fiber. Broccoli reduces the risk of prostate cancer. After all broccoli is eaten raw because if the broccoli is boiled it it reduces its anti cancer feature so you should eat broccoli raw.

We make Broccoli With Yoghurt by mashing garlic. And garlic is also a medicine storage. Garlic protects us from heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

 In fact we can say that we make a medical dish

Ingredients :

• 250 gr broccoli
• 5-6 tbsp yoghurt
• 3 cloves garlic
• A pinch of salt

Broccoli With Yoghurt recipe:

Wash broccoli perfectly and dry it. Put broccoli pieces in a mixer and press the button. Wait until it bacomes small pieces. Peel the cloves of garlic and mash it in a bowl. Add yoghurt and a pinch of salt in it then stir it with adding broccoli until it gets smooth. You may also use this dish as a  hors d’oeuvre.

 Enjoy it.

You may wonder which film we watched. The name of the film was : Frost/Nixon 

Sauted Liver

Sauted Liver is an appetizer by drinking raki but in Turkey most people eat it as a main dish. There are a few kinds of cooking style  a few kinds of liver like  calf liver, sheep liver and lamb liver.

Today we saute calf liver.   

Ingredients:

• 500 gr liver
• 3-4 cups water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of black pepper
• A pinch of cumin

 

Recipe:

Chop the liver, wash and drain the water. Put a pan on fire. After it gets hot put the liver in it. Saute it until it boils down. After boiling down put 3 tbsp olive oil on it then stir and saute for a few minutes. Put 3 cups of hot water on and cook until boiling down. After boiling down check the liver. If not cooked enough add some extra hot water and cook.

You should add salt finally. Sprinkle a pinch of salt, cumin and black pepper then, stir and saute it for a few minutes.

Serve it after maturing for  about 5 minutes.

 Enjoy it.