Turkiye

The 21st country in our Eating Around the World Adventure is Türkiye.

Now I was excited by this one as we used to have a Turkish restaurant one minute walk from my house in Bondi called Pashas, it was fabulous. Although the meat was great there, you honestly went there for their dips, and their sides, these people know how to cook vegetables. I don't love carrots for instance, however I loved Pasha's carrot dip, it was so good, I am forever trying to find a recipe for it. There wasn't a side dish that I didn't love there. And pomegranate, who knew how exciting pomegranate can make a simple tomato and cucumber salad. Or who thought to put currants into rice, I don't even like currants, but I love it with rice, it just works.

So I have a few Turkish cookbooks, so I had access to many recipes, now with everything I wanted try, I knew I couldn't do this in a week, so Türkiye will get a month.

Turkish food is a fusion of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European Cuisines. They have absolutely taken the best of these regions and turned it into amazing, flavourful food. What they do with vegetables is truly amazing. I find they do meat really well, but what they serve with meat, is not just a side, it's a flavour combination that equals the meat.

Turkish food is worth trying, you will not be disappointed.
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So for Türkiye I decided to make:

Cilbir
Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa
Alcati Borek
​Pide Bread
Bazlama-Flatbread
Flatbread/Pizza Dough-Gozleme
Turkish Pickled Vegetables
Lahmacun
​Chicken and Orzo Soup
Tarhana Soup
Turkish Red Lentil Soup
Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad
Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes (Kapuska)
Ali Nazik-Lamb Stew
Ali Nazik-Lamb Mince
Ottoman Lamb Shank Stew with Pilaf
Turkish Vegetable and Beef Stew with Pasta
Light Chicken Stew with Spring Onions and Turkish Rice
​Sebze Guvec-Vegetable Stew
Oven Roasted Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate Molasses and Chilli
Charred Sumac and Oregano Chicken Wings
Classic Spoon Salad
Green Beans in Tomato Sauce
​Blackened Cauliflower
Turkish Spiced Pilaf
​Turkish Rice

If you can't see a written recipe below, just click on the title of the recipe and it will take you to the recipe page.

Cilbir: This ones an interesting one, I made this for my son and he actually liked it. It does need to be spicy, so we added more spice, but I would have this again. You can fry the egg if you prefer, I did it both ways and once mixed with the yoghurt, you couldn't tell. You can add mashed avocado to this, just add under or on top of the yoghurt, it works well.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

100g Greek style yoghurt, loosened with 1 tablespoon milk or water
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Vinegar, for poaching
15g butter
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
Pide, to serve

​Melt the butter and add the chilli flakes.

Mix the yoghurt, garlic and salt together and divide between 4 plates or bowls.

Poach the eggs in simmering water with a splash of vinegar for 3-4 minutes.

Top each bowl of yoghurt with a poached egg and drizzle over the spicy butter.
Serve with Turkish bread.
Enjoy!

Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa: This is a great lunch idea, the hot salty halloumi with the fresh salsa, yum!. I have reduced the pomegranate molasses from the original recipe as it made the salsa too sweet for me, so add it to taste. My preferred choice, when in season, would be to replace the pomegranate molasses with fresh pomegranate seeds. If you don't like mint, leave it out.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

​1/2 red onion, finely chopped
150g cherry tomatoes, quartered, or diced
a handful finely chopped flat leaf parsley
a handful of roughly chopped mint leaves
seeds of 1 pomegranate or 1/2 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
4 tablespoons olive oil
a pinch Turkish pepper flakes
500g halloumi, cut into 5mm slices
salt and pepper, to taste

Put the onion, tomatoes, parsley, mint, pomegranate seeds (or molasses), 2 tablespoons of the oil and pepper flakes into a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly, seasoning to taste.

Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to develop.

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the halloumi for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden.
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Place on a serving dish and top with salsa.
 Enjoy!​

Alcati Borek: We enjoyed these, the mince filling was tasty and we felt they are far better than store bought 'pastizzi'. Definitely a make again dish.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon olive oil
250g lamb mince
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
a handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
250g ricotta cheese
5 sheets filo pastry
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon seasame seeds
sea salt

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the lamb and onion for 2-3 minutes until the lamb is just cooked through.

Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Remove from heat and tip into a mixing bowl. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then add in parsley, black pepper, Turkish pepper flakes, ricotta and a good pinch of salt. Mix everything together well.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Cut each of the filo sheets into 3 long strips. Place walnut sized filling in one corner of a filo strip. Fold the pastry across the triangle. Keep folding the triangle-shaped filling up the strip until it is used up. Seal with some of the beaten egg. Place on your baking tray. Repeat until all the mince is used up.

Brush all your triangles with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crispy. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Enjoy!

Pide Bread:-I love baking bread, it's fun and I just love the end result. This pide bread is so easy to make (especially if you have a strong free standing mixer) and the dough is so beautiful to work with. I also love that you can have bread ready in about and hour and half, so it's a great recipe when you don't have bread in the house and you don't want to go to the shops just for bread. It was a great side to the Ali Nazik as it was a great vessel to mop up all the sauce.

Bazlama-Flatbread: This bread was easy to make and very soft and delicious. It's made with yeast and yoghurt, I used Greek yoghurt as it is easy to find in shops. We loved this as a side to many dishes like stews, dips, anything really. You can also use it as a wrap or a pizza dough. It was even great the next day. You can make them thicker, thinner, bigger, smaller, roll them how you like them.

Flatbread/Pizza Dough: This dough I used to make Gozleme and it was delicious, slightly thicker than my normal gozleme dough (as it is a yeast dough, it puffed up a little while cooking, so I should have rolled it out thinner), but it was fabulous. But what's even better is I think this would be an amazing dough to use for pizza or for calzones. This dough is amazing and will get a page all to itself soon, once I have made calzones and pizzas with it also. For the filling I used one that we love, but I think Turkish people would tend to use lamb mince.

Here is how I made it: 

Makes 4 large, 8 small or 60 mini flatbreads/pizzas

Makes 4 Gozleme
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500g bread flour
7g sachet fast acting yeast
pinch sugar
10g salt
275ml lukewarm water
60ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

For the filling:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g pork and veal mince
3/4 cup Feta cheese
2 cups baby spinach
8 button mushrooms, sliced, sauted (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lemon, cut into quarters​

You can make this by hand, just knead for 10 minutes, until you get a soft, elastic dough. You may need to add a little more flour if too sticky to knead. I however, do it in a strong freestanding mixer with a dough hook.

Place the flour in a large bowl of a freestanding mixer, add the yeast, sugar and salt. I tend to not put the salt directly on the yeast, but on the edges of the bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the water and olive oil.

With a dough hook attachment, on slow speed, bring the dough together and mix for about 5 minutes or until you get a soft, elastic dough.

Place in clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile make the filling: Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion and garlic, saute for 3-4 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add the mince, break up lumps, season with a little salt (as feta is being used and can be salty) and pepper, to taste. Cook until well browned. You want the mince to be cooked at this stage. Cool for 10 minutes.

Add the feta cheese and spinach to the mince and mix well to combine.

Divide the dough into 4 even portions (remember you are rolling the pastry out only as large as your frying pan).

Shape the portions into balls, roll out one ball of pastry as thinly as you can get it, about 2-3mm thick, you need it to hold the filling without tearing too easily.

Top half the dough with 1/4 of the mince mixture, leaving a 1-2cm border. If you are using mushrooms, scatter them over the filling now. Carefully flip the side with no filling over the filling and press down the edges to seal the filling in.
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Repeat with the remaining dough and filling, until you have four gozleme.

(If by chance you have over filled the first few gozleme, and you don't have enough filling for your last one, and you have leftover dough, fill it with nutella or nutella and strawberries for a quick dessert gozleme).
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Heat the frying pan on medium heat and add about 1 tablespoon oil. Carefully lift one of the gozleme and place it in the frying pan. I immediately press down the edges again, get them as thin as you can, as thick edges don't cook properly. Fry the gozleme on one side until golden brown, then flip it over and fry until also golden brown. 

Slice into wedges and serve hot with lemon wedges.
Enjoy!

Turkish Pickled Vegetables: These pickles can be serves alongside grilled meats, fish or even put in sandwiches. Use vegetables that you like. I don't like fennel, but the original recipe adds it. To sterilize the jar, place the jar with the lid next to it in a preheated 140C/120C oven for 30 minutes.

Here is how I made it:

Makes a 1 litre jar

For the vegetables:
650g total weight of any of the following vegetables:
Carrots, cut in half lengthways and widthways
Radishes, halved
Spring Onions, trimmed
Zucchini, halved lengthways and widthways
Fennel bulb, sliced, I did not add this
Cauliflower florets, sliced
small handful fennel herb, I used dill instead

For the pickle:
250ml water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
250ml white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 red chilli, sliced, seeds in

1 litre sterilized jar

In a small saucepan bring the water to the boil, then dissolve the salt and sugar in it. Add the vinegar, coriander seeds and red chilli, bring it back to the boil. Turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, ​pack the vegetables into your sterilized jar with the fennel herb/dill.

Pour the vinegar mix over the vegetables in the jar and seal. If by chance your vinegar mix did not fill your jar, you can add a little boiled water to fill. Turn your jar over onto it's lid. Leave two minutes. Turn back over and store for a few weeks before eating.
Enjoy!

Lahmacun: are spicy lamb flatbreads, like a Turkish Pizza. The dough is amazing, and the topping was good but once I added some spices to it, it was delicious. It needed some freshness so I added tomatoes and cucumbers to it on top after baking. 

Here is how I made it:

Makes 12

For the flatbread:

500g bread flour
7g sachet fast acting yeast
pinch sugar
10g salt
275ml lukewarm water
60ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

For the topping:
500g lean minced lamb
1 medium onion
1 red capsicum, stalks and seeds removed
1 green chillii, stalk removed
1 garlic clove, crushed
small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1½ teaspoons Aleppo pepper flakes
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
1/2-1 teaspoon ground paprika, to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
200g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed
Salt, to taste

Flat-leaf parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, to serve
Diced tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion, to serve
Greek yoghurt, to serve

​Make the dough: You can make this by hand, just knead for 10 minutes, until you get a soft, elastic dough. You may need to add a little more flour if too sticky to knead. Or you can do it with a freestanding mixer. I've done it both ways.

Place the flour in a large bowl of a freestanding mixer, add the yeast, sugar and salt. I tend to not put the salt directly on the yeast, but on the edges of the bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the water and olive oil.

With a dough hook attachment, on slow speed, bring the dough together and mix for about 5 minutes or until you get a soft, elastic dough.

Place in clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

For the topping: Roughly chop the onion, capsicum, green chilli and garlic, put them into a food processor and process, using the pulse button, until finely chopped but not to a pulp. Tip into a sieve set over a bowl and press out the excess liquid. In a large bowl add the minced lamb add the capsicum mix, chopped parsley, Aleppo pepper, tomato paste, chickpeas and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together, being careful not to crush the chickpeas to a pulp. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C fan forced.

Punch back the flatbread dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead once more until smooth. Divide the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out very thinly, 3mm in thickness, on a lightly floured surface into oval shapes. Place on baking paper lined baking trays. You will bake these in batches.

Using your fingertips, spread one twelfth of the lamb mixture evenly over each base, taking it right up to the edges because the mixture shrinks as it cooks. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the dough is lightly browned.

Serve straight away.

The traditional way to do this is to add on a few parsley sprigs down the centre of the  flatbread, squeeze over a little lemon juice and roll it up, much like you would a wrap.

But we liked the addition of greek yoghurt, diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Diced red onion would be great to. 
Enjoy!

Chicken and Orzo Soup:-We really liked this one. It was lemony and really tasty. I have never made a soup this way, completely different ingredients and method to my usual soups. My family all want this again. I added vegeta, which is a vegetable stock powder as I like it in soups, but it is optional. If you can't find the Turkish red pepper paste, use ajvar, although it has eggplant in it, it serves a similar purpose in this soup.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 8

1 whole chicken, I used a medium sized one
½ lemon, plus the juice from 1½-2 lemons
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 garlic bulb, cut off roots, cut in half horizontally
a handful of flat leaf parsley, leaves and stalks
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
½  teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegeta, optional
100g butter
3 tablespoons red pepper paste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
300g orzo
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the chicken in a large saucepan. Add the ½ lemon, onion, garlic, parsley, peppercorns, salt and vegeta, if using. Cover with 3.5 litres of cold water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 1½ hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Reserving the cooking liquid (stock), remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Pull off the breasts (you won't need them for the soup, save them for another use-salad or sandwich). Remove the skin and shred the rest of the meat, discarding the bones, and set aside.

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the red pepper paste and tomato paste, stir for about a minute. Whisk in a little of stock to loosen (I just put a fine mesh sieve over my new pot, to strain the stock first before adding onto the pastes), then slowly pour in all of your stock (again strained through a sieve) and stir to combine. Add the lemon, keep adding it, tasting as you go, until you are happy with the flavour. Taste for seasoning. Bring to the boil and add the orzo, simmer for 10 minutes or until the orzo is tender. Add in the shredded chicken, mix to separate the meat, simmer for 2 minutes to reheat the chicken.

Remove from heat, cover and leave for 3-4 minutes, then serve immediately. 
Enjoy!

Tarhana Soup: This is a flavourful soup, if you love capsicums and tomatoes you'll love it. My kids loved it, it's thick, hearty and tasty. My husband pretended to not love it, just to annoy me, but confessed later on that he to loved it. With the mint, I'm not used to adding mint to food, so if you are like me, you can leave it out, the soup is great without it. Or you can add it only to the butter, then if you don't like the flavour, you just don't add it, it's easy to remelt some more butter.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 4

​3 red capsicums, deseeded and quartered
4 red onions, halved and each half quartered
6 garlic cloves
6 tomatoes, halved
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoons dried mint (optional)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
100g Greek yoghurt
250ml boiling water
25g butter
​1 teaspoon dried mint, extra
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Put the capsicums, onions, garlic and tomatoes on a roasting tray. Pour over 4 tablespoons of the oil and the dried mint (if using), the oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of the Turkish red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and mix together well.

Arrange the vegetables so that the tomatoes are sitting at the top, cut side up, and drizzle over the remaining oil. Roast for 35-40 minutes until soft and a little golden. Leave to cool.

Tip the roasted vegetables into a food processor (or blender) and make sure to scrape out all the lovely oil and juices. Blend for 4-5 minutes until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan and stir in the yoghurt and a good pinch of salt. Add the boiling water and mix together. Cover and heat over a low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lovely and hot.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until bubbling. Add the extra dried mint and remaining Turkish pepper flakes. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle the infused butter over the top. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Turkish Red Lentil Soup: I really liked this soup, I found it had great flavour. It wasn't my families favourite soup. But I would definitely make it again for myself.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced, divided
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium russet potato, peeled and small diced or chopped
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons tomato paste
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 teaspoons Aleppo pepper, divided
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon coriander
1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 large lemon, cut into wedges

In a large cooking pot, heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, 2 minced garlic cloves, carrots, and potatoes. Season with a good dash of kosher salt, and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables have softened (about 5 to 7 minutes).

Add the tomato paste and toss to coat the vegetables with the paste, then add the broth 1 teaspoon of Aleppo-style pepper and the rest of the spices. Add the lentils and stir.

Allow the soup to come to a rolling boil for 4 to 5 minutes, then lower the heat and cover the Dutch oven with the lid leaving a small opening.

Let the soup simmer on the lowest heat setting for about 15 to 20 minutes or until the lentils and the vegetables are completely tender. (Check occasionally and give the soup a stir as needed. If it is getting too thick, add a little bit more vegetable broth about ½ to 1 cup more).

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully blend the soup using an immersion blender until smooth and creamy. I like to leave it a little chunky as my family like it that way.

To finish, in a small frying pan, warm about 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the remaining Aleppo pepper and minced garlic and cook briefly until the garlic is golden brown and the oil has taken on a red hue from the Aleppo pepper. Remove from the heat and pour the warmed oil all over the soup.
Serve with lemon wedges to the side.
Enjoy!

​Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad: This salad was loved by some of us and just liked by others. For me salads can be a dinner, my husband didn't think so. I would add more chicken next time to bulk up the meal.

Here is how I made it:

​Serves 4

250g cooked pearl barley
200g red cabbage, finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
a handful of roughly chopped flat parsley leaves
a handful of roughly chopped mint leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
300g roast chicken, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing:
100g Greek yoghurt
50g mayonnaise, I like Thomy
juice of 1/2 lemon

Lemon wedges, extra, to serve

Put the pearl barley, cabbage, carrot, onion, parsley and mint into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix well.

Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl along with 2 tablespoons of cold water and season with salt and pepper. Whick together to combine.

To serve, spread the barley mix onto a large serving plate. Arrange the shredded chicken over the top and drizzle over the dressing. Serve immediately with extra lemon wedges on the side.
Enjoy!

Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes (Kapuska): This dish is so easy to make. My whole family loved this, there was nothing left, some wished I had made more. Turkish people just know how to make vegetables shine.

Ali Nazik-Lamb Stew:-We loved this. The stew was aromatic and delicious and the eggplant and yoghurt base was absolutely delicious with it. This flavour combination was so good. I served it with homemade Pide Bread.

Ali Nazik-Lamb Mince: so if I had to choose, we loved the version above more than this one. But this to, was very good. The smoked eggplant yoghurt compliments this dish so well. I served it with the bazlama flatbread I posted above. Turkish food never disappoints.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 4

2 eggplants
200g Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
500g lamb mince
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2½ teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
½ teaspoon dried oregano
30g butter
a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
bazlama flatbread, to serve

Prepare the eggplants: In the meantime, prick the eggplants using a knife or fork. Place the egg plants directly over flame–stove, barbecue or grill, and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side. You want the skin to be charred and black, and the eggplant will be soft. If by chance your eggplants are not soft and the skin is black, just pop them on baking paper lined baking tray and place in a preheated 180C oven for about 10-20 minutes until cooked through. Undercooked eggplant is not good, make sure they are cooked through. Set aside for 10-20 minutes until the skin has softened. This can also be done in advance.
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An hour before needed, peel the eggplant and mince it using a knife. Mix it with the yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Leave out of the fridge.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the lamb. Fry for 8-10 minutes until golden. Add the tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of the Turkish pepper flakes, the oregano and a good pinch of salt. Mix together and then remove from heat.

Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat for 1-2 minutes over a medium heat until bubbling. Add the remaining Turkish pepper flakes and mix well. Remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes to infuse.

To serve, spread the eggplant dip onto a serving platter. Spoon over the lamb and scatter over the parsley. Drizzle over the red butter and serve immediately with flatbreads.
Enjoy!

​Ottoman Lamb Shank Stew with Pilaf:-This dish is fall off the bone meat, so soft, so delicious, cooked with minimum effort, but giving maximum results. As the meat is not fully submerged in the sauce, it gets a roasted feel to it as well as a stew vibe. The sauce is delicious, full of flavour, it's just a great dish.
I served it with Pilaf, a rice dish with onions, currants and pine nuts, it worked really well with it. 

​Turkish Vegetable and Beef Stew with Pasta: This stew is for those that love vegetables, there are so many vegetables in this dish, the meat is just a small addition. From the moment the aromas started wafting through my house, I knew this would be great. The flavours of this dish are great, the vegetables are cut into chunks so they don't get lost in the stew. I served it with tagliatelle, which some in my family loved, while others would have preferred it with polenta.

Light Chicken Stew with Spring Onions and Turkish Rice: When I first picked this dish to cook, I never thought it would taste as good as it does. It was way to simple to be great. But this sauce is so good, it was perfect with the rice. We loved it. The recipe said to use 30 spring onions, I used 20, as I thought it was enough.

Here is how I made it:

20-30 spring onions, trimmed
40g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, cut into 2cm chunks
4 small sticks celery, cut into 2cm lengths
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 heaped tablespoons tomato paste, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper, to taste
1 whole chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed into 6-8 pieces
300ml chicken stock
Turkish Rice, recipe below, to serve

Heat up the butter and oil in a large flameproof casserole pan over high heat, brown the spring onions. Remove from pan, set aside.

Now brown the carrots and celery, add the garlic, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, oregano, salt and pepper, mix well. then add the chicken pieces. Return the spring onions to the pan, pour over the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with Turkish Rice.
Enjoy! 

Sebze Guvec-Vegetable Stew: This was very flavourful, one of my kids loved it, he said the cumin gave it mexican vibes, everyone else although really liked it, said they preferred some of the other dishes without cumin more. But I would definitely make it again.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
500g baby potatoes, halved and quartered
2 zucchini, halved, roughly chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
80g pitted black olives
2 tablespoons Turkish red pepper paste
2 teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
a pinch saffron
300ml boiling water
a large handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until soft.

Add the potatoes, zucchini, capsicum, garlic, tin tomatoes, chickpeas, olives, red pepper paste, pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, saffron and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in the boiling water and mix everything together well. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the lid, mix well, cook for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce thickens to your liking. Stir in the parsley, mix together and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

​Oven Roasted Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate Molasses and Chilli: My favourite way to roast chicken is to spatchcock it, this way the breast does not dry out. The chicken was juicy and tasty.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 6

1 whole chicken (about 2kg)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

For the marinade:
2 tablespoons sumac
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all the marinade ingredients together.

Butterfly the chicken: ​Turn the chicken over so the breasts are down and you're looking at the back. See the backbone in the middle, cut along both sides of that backbone to remove it. Flip it over so that the breasts are now facing up. Use the palm of your hand and press firmly down on the breast meat, right over the breastbone. You should hear a little bit of crunching. The goal here is to flatten this area so that the breasts and the thighs are basically at the same level.

Rub the marinade well all over the chicken, both sides and leave for 1 hour.

Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

​Put the chicken, skin side up on a baking paper lined oven tray. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil and scatter over sesame seeds. Roast for 50-60 minutes.
Enjoy!

Charred Sumac and Oregano Chicken Wings: Chicken wings are always popular in our house and I love trying them with new flavours. These I did in the oven, but I think they would be great on the barbecue also. If the chicken wings come with wing tips, remove them and freeze to make a stock another day.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1kg chicken wings, each wing cut into 2 pieces

​Marinade:
2 teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt, to taste

Put the marinade ingredients in a bowl, mix together to combine. Add the chicken, mix well to combine, cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Take the chicken out of the fridge one hour before baking them.

Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Place wings in a single layer skin side up on your prepared tray. Place in the oven and roast for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Classic Spoon Salad: This salad is just perfect, if pomegranates were in season I would have added the seeds as it would make it even better. This is a great side for meat dishes. When we had it at Pasha's it was a finely chopped salad, I'm a little impatient for that.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

​1 red onion, finely chopped
150g cherry tomatoes, quartered, or diced
1/4 cucumber, deseeded, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded, finely chopped
2 handfuls finely chopped flat leaf parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
seeds of 1 pomegranate
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Put everything into a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly, seasoning to taste.

Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to develop. Serve.
Enjoy!

​Green Beans in Tomato Sauce: Now this recipe can in all honesty also be Italian, Greek, Croatian etc. The flavours are Mediterranean and it's delicious, and you will find variations of this recipe in cookbooks from any of these countries. I served this as a side for a chicken dish I made and my family loved this more than the chicken.

Blackened Cauliflower: Now this one is not traditionally Turkish, but it has the flavours of Türkiye. I regularly bake broccoli, but this was my first time baking cauliflower to a blackened state. It is delicious and I love it with the yoghurt.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1 cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
150g Greek yoghurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon tomato paste
salt and pepper, to taste
​
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

Put the cauliflower florets into a mixing bowl and add the oil, half the pepper flakes and good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and tip onto a baking tray. Roast for
40-45 minutes until charred and tender. Set to one side to cool.

Meanwhile, put the yoghurt into a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Mix well.

Put the butter, tomato paste, the remaining pepper flakes and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan. Mix together and heat over a low heat until melted.

To serve, spread the yoghurt onto a serving dish. Place the cauliflower over the top and drizzle over the hot butter. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Turkish Spiced Pilaf: This is a flavourful rice dish, that I did not photograph, but will do so next time I make it. It can be served with stews or with meat dishes as a side.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

300g basmati rice or long grain rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, halved, sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
white pepper, to taste
450ml water
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons currants

Soak the rice in plenty of cold water for 30 minutes, then drain.

In a saucepan with a lid, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and fry the onion for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add the rice and toast in the oil. Add the ground cinnamon, salt and pepper and stir in the water. Bring up to the boil, then immediately turn down to a gentle simmer and put the lid on the pan. Cook for 10 minutes or until the water is just absorbed.
Turn off the heat, keep the lid on the pan, and leave to rest for 5 minutes before stirring through the parsley, dill, pine nuts and currants. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

​​Turkish Rice: This can be served with any stew really, it's easy to make and we enjoy it. The vegeta just gives it extra flavour.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1½ tablespoons butter
60g orzo pasta
200g medium or long grain rice
500ml water
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegeta, optional
2 tablespoons currants, optional

In a saucepan with a lid, heat the butter and lightly brown the orzo, then add the rice and water, vegeta to, if using. Bring up to the boil, then immediately turn down the heat. Add the salt, put the lid on the pan and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave, still covered, for 5 minutes. Stir through currants, if using. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

There is so many more recipes I wanted to try, but I ran out of time. As I make them in the future, I'll add them on.

​​Now to add another sticker to my world map.

Next stop: Colombia