kitchen adventures

Peach Tart

Here is the last recipe for this weekend.

For the crust:

- 4.5 or 5 cups flour

- 250 gr. butter

- 2 eggs

- 1/4 pouch vanilla powder

- 1.5 cup confectioner's sugar

- 1 lemon zest

(I got the recipe for the crust from the section where Selim Ileri explains the tailor's daughters' tarts.)

Sieve the flour into a wide mixing bowl. Make a hole in the middle and put in thinly sliced margarine with a knife. Knead it until you can't see the margarine anymore. Put a damp cloth over the mixing bowl and let it sit for an hour. Spread oil and flour onto the inside of a tart pan and spread the dough over it. Make slits in the dough so that it won't rise. Bake it in a 175°C (347 F) oven until golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it cool.

For the chocolate sauce:

Cook one packet of powdered chocolate sauce with half a liter of milk. Mix it while it cools. When it does, pour half of it on the tart crust.

To decorate:

Boil 4 large peaches in 3 cups of water and 1.5 cups of sugar. After they've been boiled, drain out the water with a strainer. After they've cooled, stick grapes in the holes.

For the jelly:

Mix a packet of jelly with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Boil it in a cup of water and let it cool. Afterwards, pour it over the peaches and grapes, starting from the middle. Pour the remaining chocolate sauce over the peaches. Let it cool and serve.

Mini Pizzas and Breakfast Salad

I made two different things for breakfast this weekend; homemade pizza and a salad. They're both very easy to prepare. For the pizzas, you mix any toppings you may have, like sliced olives, chopped tomatoes, green peppers, grated cheese, and spices. Afterwards, spread olive oil on slices of bread and spread the mixture on top. Cook it in a 180°C (356 F) oven for 5-10 minutes and you're done! The second recipe is for the salad. I had extra grated cheese, and since I didn't have breadcrumbs at home, I decided to use them in making a salad. Add chopped cucumbers and tomatoes to the cheese. Season it with salt, olive oil, paprika, and oregano. Delicious!

Seasoned Yogurt

Yesterday I made a seasoned yogurt. The recipe is very simple; cover the inside of metal strainer and put in as much yogurt as you want. Place a container underneath the strainer so that all the water will drain out. Wait for a day. The next day, take spoonfuls of yogurt and layer them on top of each other in a jar with a lid. You may put any mixture of spices you want in between the layers. (I used paprika, mint, and rosemary.) After you finish all the layers, put enough olive oil until the top is completely covered. After letting it rest for a day, your seasoned yogurt is ready.

Honey Brownie

Monday night, I decided to make honey brownies when I realized that I had no fruit in the house.

Ingredients:

- 1.5 cups sugar

- a little more than 5 tblspns melted margarine

- 2 eggs

- 2/3 cups honey (you can use less if you don't want it to be too sweet)

- 1/2 pouch vanilla powder

- 1/3 cup cocoa powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1.5 cups flour

- 1/4 packet baking powder

- 2/3 cups chopped walnuts


topping:

- powdered sugar

- cocoa

Beat the melted margarine and sugar, then add the eggs. After beating some more, add the honey and vanilla and keep beating. Then, mix in the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa. Pour the mixture into a well oiled baking pan. Bake it at 170 °C (338 F). After it cools for a bit, put it on a flat plate. You may decorate the brownie by sprinkling powdered sugar and cocoa over a flower cutout to make an interesting design.

sesame rings with melted margarine

Ingredients :

1 cup of margarine – 250 gr. (melt)

4 tablespoons of oil

1 egg

4 tablespoons of yogurt

1 teaspoon teaspoons of salt

1 package of baking powder

Flour as much as it can get

Yolk of an egg and sesame

Put all the ingredients in to a pot except the flour and the margarine. Melt the margarine and put it in to the center of ingredients’ pot when it is hot. And stir all of them with a hand mixer for a few minutes. Then add flour to make a soft dough. (dough should not be sticky). Give a shape of a ring to each small dough , place them on a tray and put sesame on them after smearing yellow of egg on each. Adjust the oven to 375F (200C) temperature before you start to prepare the second tray. By the time you finish it the oven will be ready. Put 2 trays into a 375F(200C) heated oven to be baked for 5-10 minutes until the rings become pink and then dicrease the heat to 350F (175C). Hardly recommend eating them hot with a cup of tea. You will like it.

cookie with blackberry

Ingredients :
1 cup of margarine
3 table spoons of castor sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lemon or orange planed skin
1 egg yolk for the dough
1 egg white
Flour as much as it can get
Nut which is pulverized
Blackbeery or sour cheery jam.

Mix all the ingredients except the jam and make a dough. Take small pieces from dough and make cookies. Make small holes in the center of each cookie with your finger and cover them first with white of an egg and then with pulverized nut. After baking them in a 350F (175 C) heated oven , put the jam in the center of each cookie.

Sekerpare

Ingredients :

For Sekerpare :

1 cup of unsalted butter (in room temperature)

1 cup of caster sugar

4 tablespoons of semolina

2 tablespoons of coconut

2 eggs

4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 teaspoon of baking powder

For Sweetened Juice:

3 cups of sugar

4 cups of water

Half lemon juice

Also:Nut

Preparing Sekerpare :

1. Mix 1 cup of margarine, 1 cup of caster sugar, 4 tablespoons of semolina, 2 tablespoons of coconut, 2 eggs, 4 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of baking powder and make a soft dough. (add flour little by little)

2. Take small pieces from dough like making a cookie , round & flatten them and put them on a tray after placing 1 nut at the center of each cookie.

3. Bake them in a preheated oven.

Preparing the Sweetened Juice :

1. Boil 3 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water in a pot. 5 minutes after boiling add the lemon juice and let it boil another few minutes.

2. Let the liquid get warm some time.

3. After the cookies are baked, wait for 3 minutes after you take them out from the oven. After 3 minutes drench the cookies with warm liquid (the vital spot is ; the cookies have to be hot, liquid has to be warm)

4. Close another tray onto the top of the cookie tray and make them wait until you serve.

Pastry with feta cheese

Ingredients :

2 cups of warm milk

1 cup of warm water

1 cup of olive oil

5 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 package of active yeast(42 gr)

A bunch of parsley

By adding all these ingredients (except feta cheese&parsley) , make dough and leave it for fermentation for 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes, you mix your cheese and parsley to put in the dough and spread oil on the surface of your table. (It is troublesome but it really worths). Divide your dough into 5 pieces. Open the first piece in a round shape with the help of a rolling pin in 30 cm diameter. And then divide this dough into 8 equal pieces. Put cheese onto the tip of each piece and roll it like cigarette pastry. Apply this for all other dough. Wait for 45 minutes to have them puffy before you put them in an oven. Put them into a 325F (160C) heated oven after smearing yellow of an egg on them. (You will have 2 trays of this pastry)

cookie with tahini

Ingredients :
1 glass of powder sugar
1 glass of tahini
200 gr.margarine
1 egg
1 package of vanilla
4 glass of flour
1 table spoon of walnut

Stir 1 glass of powder sugar with 1 glass of tahini with the help of a mixer. Add 200 gr.of margarine which is kept in a room temperature to get mixed easily. And add 1 yellow part of an egg , 1 package of sugary vanilla and make a strong dough by sifting 3.5-4 glasses of flour on to these ingredients. Make balls in a size of a walnut and flatten them. Plunge them first into white part of an egg then into walnut which is already pulverized.

Bake them in an oven which is already heated at 350F (175C) for about 15-25 min. (I have dicreased the temperature down to 100 C after 20 min. And baked them some time more)

carrot cake

ingredients:

5 eggs
1,5 cups of sugar
1 cup of grated carrot (washed and peeled off)
1 cup of largely chopped walnut (if walnut is absent hazelnut may also be used)
2 cups of flour
1+1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of baking powder
powdered sugar

Preparation:
1. put the eggs in a wide and deep pot. Add in 1,5 cups of sugar and stir at the highest rate of mixer until it melts completely.
2. add in the cups of grated carrot and chopped walnut and go on stirring.
3. add in flour and cinnamon and stir until they get pure.
4. add in the baking powder and stir 2-3 times at the lowest rate.
5. warm the oven up to 350F (175C) for cake baking. Oil the inner surface of a baking pan thoroughly with the liquid oil using a brush. (i used my * cake pan.)
6. pour the mixture into the pan. Bake it until inside of the cake is cooked completely. Wait for it cool a little bit to take it out of the pan or it may stick at the bottom. scatter the powdered sugar after it cools or the sugar melts.

plum jam with cornelian cherry

dad’s paternal aunt nemide came to our summer house at the weekend. We had a nice chat with this circassian woman despite the difference of 43 years. Aunt nemide told me how to make plum jam with cornelian cherry while visiting a little village bazaar at Yalova. Wash 5-6 kilos plum, divide into two and take out the seeds. Soften it in a saucepan cooking with its own juice slowly. Mash those softened and pass through a fine sieve, only the peels should remain. Do the same for the cornelian cherries. Then add on sugar and water, and boil. City children like me are left open-mouthed in case of such recipes without any measures. I insisted on the quantity of sugar and water as kilograms but could get only the answer: “just decide depending how mildly sour you like.” Anyway, she had told the quantity of plums.
She also gave an interesting hint for jam cooking. After the sour cherry or peach jam is cooked aspirin is put into the saucepan proportioned to the fruit used. (1 aspirin/kg fruit) it is both health giving and protects the jam.

strawberry jam

after i wrote strawberry marmalade recipe for eda and sebnem on friday, i have cooked strawberry jam with the strawberries at home. if you want to make a marmalade, you may use the same recipe and sift the strawberries.

Ingredients:

1 kg strawberries,
1 kg sugar (4 cups)
½ lemon juice

Preparation

1. wash the strawberries a few times transferring from one pot to another. Snap off their stalk, put in a deep saucepan and pour 4 cup of sugar on them.

2. close the cover of the saucepan and wait for 1 ½- 2 days. (at the end of this period, sugar should be completely melted and the strawberries should be floating on the water.)

3. after this period put the saucepan on a medium temperature flame and boil the jam for 30-45 minutes. (to understand if it’s cooked put a drop of jam on a porcelain and tilt it. If it does not flow than it’s ready.)

4. add lemon juice after jam is ready and bring it to boil for a couple of times. Take the bubbles with skimmer. Put the jam into the jars and cool it.

Triangle bun with feta cheese

Ingredients

For dough:

• 30 gr wet yeast


• 1 kg flour


• 1 cup sunflower oil


• 1 cup yoghurt


• 1/3 tablespoon salt


• margarine

For bun ingredients

• 1 piece of feta cheese,crushed
• 1 bunch of parsley, cut into small pieces

On the top of buns

• 1 yolk of egg


• black cumin

1- Dissolve the wet yeast in a small cup with lukewarm water.

2- Mix 1 kg of flour, 1 cup of oil, 1 cup of yoghurt, dissolved yeast and salt in a large bowl to make a soft dough.

3- Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough very thin. (Dough is greasy so it is easy to roll out. )

4- Grease the melted margarine on the top of the dough. Obtain a square by folding a thin sheet of dough like a pack.

5- Mix cheese with parsley. Put ½ tablespoon of cheese ingredients on each corner of the square. Join the corners of square at the center so that you have 4 triangles.

6- Repeat this process for the other 11 pieces of dough. And after then place the buns on the tray. Cut the triangles from the folds. Brush the top of the buns with yolk and spill black cumin.

7- Bake in preheated 200 degrees oven till the buns become red.

Note: folding like a pack: fold one corner of the dough, which is greased with margarine, to the 2/3 of the other corner. Grease margarine only to this side. Close the other corner to the folded part. Do it to the remaining parts without greasing with margarine.

Poppy Bun

Dough:

• 2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1 packet wet yeast
• 1 cup oil
• 4 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 yolk
• Flour

Filling:

• 1 bowl of poppy


• 2 tablespoon oil

1- Dissolve one packet of wet yeast with 2 cups of lukewarm milk. Mix the dissolved yeast with 1 cup of oil, 4 tablespoon of powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt and flour how much it takes to make dough. After then, wrap the dough with a clean cloth and let it rest for 1.5-2 hours until doubled in size.

2-When the dough fermanted, divide it into three equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough with a diameter of 25 cm by hand. Among the doughs, grease with the inside poppy ingredients and put them one on the top of the other. Divide the 3 floors of dough in half. Cut each half of doughs with parallel pieces with a thickness of 2 finger. The 3 floors of dough pieces that u cut wring like a ring-shaped and wrap them around.

3-Place the buns in a tray, but previously brush the tray with oil. Also, brush the top of the buns with yolk. Bake in preheated 170C (375F) oven for 30 minutes.

Winter vegetables soup

Ingredients

• 1 onion


• 4 potatoes


• 2 cabbage leaves


• 3 carrots


• 2 leeks


• 3 tablespoon oil


• 1,5 or 2 lt water


• 1 tablespoon flour


• salt

First of all, wash all the vegetables and then chopped in small cubes. Roast onion with oil a little bit and add the flour. Mix 1 or 2 times and put all the vegetables except potatoes. When the vegetables are near to cook, add the boiling water. As the vegetables become soft put the potatoes and salt. Wait until the mixture boils, after then pass through the blender and garnish with mint and serve it.

Stuffed Vine Leaves (Dolma) with Olive Oil

Stuffed vine leaves is one of the important honor of the religious festival days for us. My mother shows honour to the guests filling 1-2 saucepans with stuffed vine leaves a couple of days before each festival... Several years ago, we had cooked stuffed vine leaves with my elder sister at eve night so that keeping on this custom while my mother and father were staying abroad during a festival. Now, whenever I see this meal, I remember making the stuffed vine leaves with my sister...

ingredients:

4-5 onion

1/3 cup uf olive oil 

1,5-2 spoon of pine nut

2 cup of rice 

1 spoon of dry mint 

2-3 g black pepper 

2 g cinnamon 

2 piece of sugar 

2 spoon of currant

½ lemon 

1 cup of minced parsley 

5 g salt 

1/3 cup of boiled water 

½ kg pickled vine leaves 

2 spoons of olive oil 

2 cups of boiled water

Preparing:

1. Cut into pieces 4-5 onion, roasted with 1/3 cup of olive oil and 1,5-2 spoon of pine nut  (till the pine nuts turn pink).

2. Wash 2 cup of rice and add the onions. Roast 1-2 more minutes. Then add into the saucepan turn in order; 1 spoon of dry mint, 2-3 g black pepper, 2 g cinnamon, 2 piece of sugar, 2 spoon of currant, ½ lemon’s water and 1 cup of minced parsley and mix them. Add in the pot 5 g salt and 1/3 cup of boiled water. Steep on very low fire till the rice absorb the water. When the rice absorb the water turn off the fire and cool them.

3. At the other side, wash ½ kg pickled vine leaves by warm water - changing water 4-5 times. Take out the leaves from water pressing between palms of your hands. Take each leaf in your palm, put on its centre 1 teaspoon of ingredient. Wrap the leaf cylinder style.

4. Spread some leaves bottom of the pot that you use for cooking (so that the pot’s bottom is not burnt). Arrange in a row the stuffed vine leaves top of the leaves. At the end, put one more row leaves at the top and pour 2 spoons of olive oil. (If you would like sour, you can also add ½ lemon water)

5. Cover a plate on the leaves and add 2 cups of boiled water. Put the pot on the fire. When water starts boiling, reduce the fire and cook 30 minutes. After cooking, cool them and row on the service plate. Serve decorating with lemon slides and parsley leaves.

Pastry with Feta Cheese and Hatık

Another meal that we cooked on Saturday was the pastry with cheese according to my aunt’s recipe. Now that the paste was too much, my mother cooked hatık which is a traditional pastry with remain of paste.

ingredients for paste:

½ litre warm milk

1 package (as much as match box) wet yeast

1 package melted butter (or margarine)

1 cup of liquid oil

1 cup of yoghurt

2 egg yolks

3 egg whites

5-7 g salt

Flour as much as you need (about 1,5 kg)


ingredients to fill

1 bar of feta cheese

1 egg white

½ bunch of parsley

If you wish sausage, salami, etc.

Also

2 egg yolks

Preparing of Pastry:

1. Separate 1 bowl from ½ litre milk. Melt the yeast in the milk.

2. Mix melted yeast, milk, 1 package melted butter, 1 cup of liquid oil, 1 cup of yoghurt, yolks of 2 egges, white of 3 eggs, 5-7 g salt and flour as much as you need. Make a soft paste.

3. Cover a moist cotton material on the paste and keep it in a cool place for an hour.

4. Pick a piece as big as egg from the paste. Roll out dough this piece in palm of your hand. Put in the centre its ingredient containing cheese or salami, gather its mouth like pitta bread. (Leave gap their centre because the pastries open during cook.)

5. Oil two trays. If you have oily sheet, spread over the tray which you would put on bottom layer. (oily sheet obstructs burn on the bottom layer because it infects the heat longer period) Apply yolk on the pastries and arrange them in a row on the tray.

6. Cook at 200C (375F)

Preparing of Hatık:

1. Pick the pieces bigger than egg from the paste that you’ve prepared for pastry.

2. Make them like a cylinder with your hand on a smooth ground. Wrap each piece as little plaits and put them on a oily tray.

3. Apply yolk on them and cook at 200C (375F) till their upper side get roasted.

40 pastry and 7 hatık

lentil soup

I cooked lentil soup yesterday evening. My father’s first reaction was: “how did you do that?”. So i said "Why? Is it bad?", he replied: "no, it’s delicious!”. Luckily I had decided to cook this soup at last minute. I used; 1 cup of red lentil, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 2 spoon of olive oil, 1,5 litre water, 1 spoon of flour and extra 2 broth tablet. If there is not tablet, you needn’t use. I put the onion and olive oil in a saucepan and roasted them. When the onion turned pink (that I even burnt a little while I was talking with my aunt), I put 1 spoon of flour and mixed a little. Then, I added lentil and the carrot which I peeled and cut into square pieces before and then mixed again. After added the tablets, I put the water and cooked until the carrot and lentil completely pasted. When the soup cooked, I added it’s salt and mixed with blender. It’s very delicous with lemon...

fresh beans with olive oil

one of the meals that we’ve cooked last Saturday was fresh beans with olive oil...


ingredients:

½ kg fresh beans

2 carrots

1 spoon of extra virgin olive oil

2 onions

3-4 tomatoes

1 cup of boiled water

5 g salt

1. Clean and slice the beans. Peel the carrots’ shells and cut them same style.

2. Cut into pieces the onions. Take them into saucepan with 1 spoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add the carrots and roast till the onions are cooked.

3. Add the beans. Roast mixing till the beans’ colour is changed (about 10 minutes)

4. Peel the tomatoes and cut as big as nut. Add them into the pot and go on roasting.

5. Add the pot 1 cup of boiled water and cook till the beans are cooked (about 45 minutes). Lastly add 5 g salt. Cover the pot’s cover. As the beans get warm, take the meal to the service plate. Serve as cold.

chocolate cake

A few months ago, -if I am not mistaken- Ms. Candan had sent two cake recipes which she makes at her own cafe to one of the mail groups. I run into these recipes while I was cleaning the files in my computer on Saturday. After note down on a piece of paper, I put it in my bag. That evening I tried one of these recipes. There was hazelnut in Ms. Candan’s recipe but I used walnut because there was walnut at home, and I added extra baking powder...

ingredients:

1. for cake:

160 g bitter chocolate

150 g margarine

4 eggs

2/3 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of hazelnut / walnut (broken into pieces)

2/3 cup of flour

1 package of vanilin

3/4 package of baking powder

2.for the top:

Sauce with chocolate (1 package of ready sauce + 1/2 litre milk)

1 cup of hazelnut / walnut (broken into pieces)

1. Melt 150 g margarine as benmari style. Then, add 160 g bitter chocolate to the melted margarine and melt also chocolate by same way.

2. While the chocolate still hot, take it in a deep pot. Add yolks, sugar and walnut and flap completely. Add flour and vanilin, go on flapping.

3. In another pot, flap the white of eggs till foam. Adding into cake mixture slowly, mix at low speed. Add baking powder into the mixture and mix 1-2 times.

4. Turn on 220ºC the oven. Put the cake mold on oily sheet and draw a circle. Put this sheet on base of the cake mold. Oil the mold’s edges by brush with sunflower oil. (Thus, your cake’s base will be very smooth.)
5. Spread the mixture in mold and cook 20 minutes in hot oven.

6. While the cake is being cooked, prepare the sauce according to its package’s recipe. (Maybe one package of sauce will be too much. So, you can do less than one package.) When the sauce become warm as room warmth and your cake cool enough, get it out from mold and turn it reverse on a plate. Spread the sauce on the cake as thin layer (as flow from edges). Sprinkle walnut on it and decorate with season’s fruits. Serve immediately.

Celery Soup

Ingredients:

1 celery, chopped in small pieces

1 carrot, chopped in small pieces

1 potato, chopped in small pieces

3 tablespoon olive oil

3 cups water

1 cup milk

3/2 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 bunch coconut, grated

salt and paper

1 lt water ( in this recipe water isn’t included, but i add it.)

Put 3 cups of water , potato, celery and carrot in the saucepan and boil it. After boiling, reduce the heat and cook until the vegetables become soft. When the mixture becomes a little bit cold, puree all in blender .
Heat the olive oil in an other saucepan, add flour and when the colour gets a little pink add milk slowly.
During that time, add 1 lt of hot water on the vegetables which become puree and boil them. After boiling, take 1 or 2 tablespoon from the soup and add to the flour-milk mixture. Mix the mixture till it becomes smooth. Pour the flour-milk mixture into the boiling soup by mixing rapidly. Add salt, pepper and coconut and boil 4-5 minutes.

Source... Mevsimlerle Gelen Lezzetler by Tijen Inaltong

autumn soup

Ingredients


2 onions, chopped in half rings

2 potato, chopped in small pieces

3 pieces garlic

½ spoon tomato sauce

¼ cup thin vermicelli

2 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1 carrot

2 red pepper, chopped

1 sweet pepper, chopped

2 or 3 pinch dry bay leaf

2 tablespoon olive oil

water, salt and grinded black pepper

In a big saucepan, put 8 or 10 cup of water, olive oil, bay leaves and tomato sauce which is crushed with little water. While water is boiling, chopped all vegetables and put them in the saucepan. Reduce the heat and wait until the vegetables become soft. When the vegetables are near to cook, put vermicelli, salt and black pepper. After 10 minutes close the heat and garnish with parsley.

hunkar begendi (roasted eggplant puree with meat)

When cooked to Mom's recipe, the eggplant sauce may come as too much. If you don't want to use all of the eggplant, you can serve it with a squeeze of lemon as eggplant salad the next day.

1. Bechamel Sauce ingredients

3-4 eggplants

3 spoonfuls of flour

4 spoonfuls of butter

2 glasses of milk

1 dessert spoonful of salt

2. Meat ingredients

Half a kilo ( or 1 kilo if you like) lamb. Cut intp thin strips.

2 clovers of garlic, chopped

1 spoonful of flour

1 spoonful of tomato or pepper paste

salt

black pepper

Preparation of the sauce

1. Wrap the eggplants in aluminum foil and grill over the stove. Then peel them and smash them into a paste.

2. Brown the flour in butter inside a pan

3. Add the milk very slowly into the butter-flour mix, stirring in the meantime.

4. Add the salt

5. Mix the eggplant paste with the sauce

6. Put the mixture in a deep bowl.

Preparation of the meat

1. Put the meat strips in a pan and cook them in vegetable oil until they release and then absorb water.

2. Add the flour.

3. After adding the garlic and tomato or pepper paste, season with salt and pepper

4. Put the meat in a glass bowl.

While serving, first put the sauce in the plate, then place the meat over the sauce so that it will go right in the middle.

Recipe for 4 people

Soup with meatballs and chickpeas

Sometimes i believe that i can cook just same as mum without her directions. But once she starts explaining the recipe, it turns out that this is not the case at all. The recipe for Soup with meatballs and chickpeas falls in to this category. While she was dictating the recipe yesterday she gave me so many details that probably I wouldn't figure out any of them if I had been on my own.

We start the soup preparation with the chickpeas. We take a glass full of chickpeas, put them in a bowl and add enough water to cover them and leave them overnight. So we have to start one night before the day of cooking. The next day we cook the chickpeas until tender and peel them and leave to rest.

For the meatballs, half a kilo of mincemeat, half a glass of fine bulgur (they are sold a "bulgur for meatballs"), a dessert spoonful of black pepper, a dessert spoonful of red pepper flakes, a dessert spoonful of salt, 1 egg, 2 spoonfuls of olive oil are needed. After mixing all the ingredients, you should knead the mixture for 10 minutes. Then form the mixture into balls the size of hazelnuts and place them each over finely chopped parsley.

Time to cook. Take a medium size onion, chop it and give it a stir in 1/6th of a cup of vegetable oil until the onions are transparent. Add a spoonful of tomato paste - or half a spoonful of red pepper paste and stir them together. Add one and a half liters of boiled water, half a dessert spoonful of salt. Add the meatballs and chickpeas and stir with a wooden spoon only once. Cook for 15 minutes (or until the meatballs are cooked).

Mom says, to see if the meatballs are cooked, you should take a meatball, cut it into half and check the inside. If it is not pink inside, it must be cooked. She also added it as the chef's note that I can prepare the meatballs beforehand and put them in a covered bowl or freezer bag and keep them in the freezer, the same for boiled chick peas, so I can take them out and use them when I need it.

Pumpkin dessert

Pumpkin dessert is the harbinger of autumn in our family. I don't know why but according to me, my mom's recipe tastes beter than the ones I have eaten elsewhere. Mom says the secret of her recipe is in the amount of sugar. She uses 2 kgs of pumpkin, 1/6th cup of water and 1 kg of granulated sugar. She peels the pumpkin shells with a knife, cuts the pumkin into large slices, puts them in a deep pan, sprinkles the sugar on them, adds the water, puts a lid and cooks over medium heat until the pumpkins are tender. In the mean time, she is always in the kitchen watching over the dessert so that it will not boil over.

Stuffed vegetables with mincemeat

One of the dishes that my sister made for us during our stay with her. In order to make this dish we need the following ingredients: half a kilo of sun dried eggplants and bell peppers, a glass of rice, 5-6 medium size onions, 200 gr mincemeat, vegetable oil, mint(dried), parsley, black pepper, salt and 1 spoonful of tomato paste. First blanch the sundried eggplants and bell peppers in hot water so that they become soft enough. Chop and dice the onions and mix well with the rest of the ingredients to make the filling. Stuff the softened vegetables with this mixture. Make sure not to overstuff, because the rice will absord water. Place the vegetables in a large, shallow pan in an erect position. Add the tomato paste to hot water and fill the pan with hot water up to half the size of the stuffed vegetables. Close the lid and cookover medium heat until the rice is tender.