Green Beans in Olive Oil

Zeytinyagli Yesil Fasulye

This is a very much loved dish, and one of the most common ways of cooking vegies in olive oil. Do not shy away from using plenty of good quality olive oil in this dish. It is a great side dish, or a dish on its own when served with rice. In summer, it is often served cold, at times straight from the fridge. It can be made a day before.

Frozen green beans can be used, but fresh beans are always superior. Frozen version is quicker to prepare and cook, and also an option when green beans are out of season. One of the best green beans I recall using were straight from the garden patch of Isthmus Retreat (off Wilson's Prom, great owners, great spot).

Abla's restaurant serves also a very similar dish (see recipe in 'Lebanese Kitchen'). The recipe below is just an approximation of what I do - once you get used to this dish, no need to use a recipe. It's simple and variations in amount do not matter really (as long as there is enough olive oil, and not too many tomatoes).

One could replace onion with two garlic cloves. Add paprika or black pepper (or herbs, e.g., fresh parsley at the last minute, or dried mint). It also works if you have run out of tomatoes (or a tin of tomatoes) - just omit it, or one tablesp tomato paste could be used.

Try it also dropping some garlic yoghurt on to it before serving (mix crushed garlic with plain yoghurt, and adjust taste for salt).

1 tablesp olive oil
1 onion, diced up small
1/2 kilo green beans
2 diced tomatoes
1/3 cup additional olive oil
1 teasp salt
1 tablesp sugar
1/2 cup water

Use a medium sized pot with a lid. Gently fry the diced up onion in 1 tbsp olive oil. Once onion is soft and starts to turn colour, add the pre-washed and trimmed green beans, stirring a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes, additional olive oil, salt and sugar. Stir. Add water, cover. Cook for 30-45 minutes over low heat.

When cooked, the beans will have changed colour, turning into almost khaki green (if looking bright green still, add a tablesp of water, and continue cooking). The beans should not be crunchy, but feel soft and moist.

Pilav with Bulgur

Bulgur Pilavı

Bulgur is a traditional ingredient for making pilav or pilaf in Turkey (burghul in Arabic). Turkish often accompany main meals with pilav either of rice or bulgur. I have had this dish so often as I was growing up, and my mum often diced up fresh and really tasty tomatoes on top of it. I often make bulgur pilavi at home, and not always alongside Turkish food - it goes well with food from other kitchens as well. This recipe is for this weekend's herb blogging event hosted by Foodblogga.

Bulgur pilavi often includes onions diced and lightly fried. There are various versions, for example, with different vegetables or green lentils. The one in the photo has got capsicum and tomatoes lightly stir-fried with onions.

There are two types of bulgur, fine and coarse. To make pilav, you need the coarse type. The fine bulgur is used in salads or dishes such as red lentil balls. I wouldn't attempt pilav using fine bulgur, which might reveal a soggy kind of mash.

Preventing bulgur to stick in the pot is sometimes a challenge, better to use a deep non-stick pot.

But recently, I discovered that rice-cooker makes excellent bulgur pilavi! You need to prepare onions etc. on stove-top, and add in the rice-cooker after bulgur and water.

For a different taste stir through your favourite herbs in the end, and a teaspoon of butter.

1 onion, chopped

2 tablesp olive oil

2.5 cups of water

1 cup of bulgur

1/4 teasp salt

1 tbsp butter

Pre-rinse the bulgur using a strainer.

Lightly brown the onion in olive oil. Pour in the water, and bring to boil. Add bulgur and salt, cover and cook over high heat. When water begins to boil, lower the heat. After water is absorbed, place a thin cloth (or a clean teatowel) over the saucepan and let it rest.

Stir in the butter, and some herbs to your liking.

Note 1: As I previously wrote, it is a challenge to obtain well-absorbed bulgur pieces that have not stuck to the bottom of the pot. So for the rice-cooker method, first lightly brown the onion in a frypan on the stove-top. Then use your rice-cooker as you would for rice (i.e., add rice and water according to instructions), adding the browned onion in the cooker before starting it.

Note 2: If using rice-cooker, follow the amounts given for rice. My rice-cooker has a small cup, and requires at least two cups of rice/bulgur. After adding bulgur, adjust the water amount again according to the rice-cooker requirements. The size of the onion (small v. large) is left to preference.

Turkish Meat Balls

Köfte

Weekend herb blogging #79 is hosted at What did you eat?, and dried mint and lemon myrtle take their part in these Turkish meat balls.

Meat balls are one of the most common ways of eating meat at Turkish homes. They are especially liked by children. Spices can vary from person to person, but cumin and black pepper are the main ingredients. Dried thyme is also popular.

I always use cumin and dried mint, and may add quite a few other spices according to my mood. My recent additions are a North African spice mix called the Ras-el-hanout, and the Australian herb lemon myrtle (online order available at Spice Bazaar). I often make a big batch, and freeze some. Ask for double-minced lamb from your butcher, if you are after nice textured meat balls.

Meat balls are often served with rice, and often a tomato-based salad. This time, I served with Italian firm polenta, spicy tomato chutney, and beetroot salad.

1 kilo double-minced lamb

1 large brown onion, chopped finely

2 slices of bread

2 tablesp dried mint (& 1 teasp lemon myrtle, if using)

1 teasp, each of salt, black pepper, cumin and sweet paprika

1/2 cup fresh parsley (optional)

other spices (optional)

vegetable/olive oil for shallow-frying

Place bread in a bowl and cover with water. Once it soaks the water, squeeze the bread well to get rid of the water.

Press on the chopped onion to get rid of extra liquid. In a large bowl, add onion, bread, spices and herbs; and mix well. Add meat, and knead well. Make small patties.

Shallow fry in a pan in vegetable or olive oil, initially on high heat, and then at lower heat, until well-cooked.

P.S. If the lamb appears to have too much fat, add one egg to the ingredients.

Turkish Vegetable Omelette

Menemen

This dish is simply eggs scrambled with vegetables. Rather than breakfast, it is served at lunch, or dinner as a light summer dish.

1 medium brown onion, finely diced

3 tablesp olive oil

2 green peppers or 1 capsicum, finely diced

3 tomatoes, finely diced

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 teasp salt

Lightly brown the onions in olive oil. Then add the pepper, and stir occasionally until soft. Add the tomatoes, stir once, and close the lid of the pan. Once the tomatoes are well-cooked, add the eggs and salt to the vegetable mixture. Stir for a few minutes. Serve with fresh bread.

TURKISH RED LENTIL BALLS

This week's herb blogging event is hosted by Tomato, and coincides with the Australian Day weekend. My dish, red lentil balls, uses flat-leaf parsley together with green onions.

Kırmızı Mercimekli Köfte

These red lentil balls originate from eastern and south-eastern regions of Turkey. They are easy to make, and are delicious, especially when wrapped in lettuce leaves. Serve warm as a nice vegeterian dish; or cold, as a salad or side dish. Do not hesitate to adjust the amount of spices and herbs to your liking (e.g., exclude cumin, add cayenne pepper, etc.).

The bulghur variety in this dish is the fine version (as opposed to the coarse one) - available at Middle Eastern shops. You may also try this dish with green lentils, but they take longer to cook, so will need more water.

2 cups water
1 cup red lentils
1/2 cup fine bulghur (cracked wheat)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon of tomato paste (optional)
1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup fresh, chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup green onions (scallions)

Bring two cups of water to boil in a pot, and add the lentils. Cook in low heat until the water is absorbed, and the lentils are mushy. Turn off the stove, and stir the bulghur into lentils. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes to allow the bulghur to soften and expand.

In the meantime, fry the finely chopped onion and minced garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Add tomato paste at the last minute, stir and turn off the stove.

Add the fried onion and garlic into the lentil mixture along with the spices and salt. Lightly knead until the ingredients are mixed. Taste, and adjust salt and spices. Add the parsley and green onions, and lightly knead. Shape the mixture into egg-shaped balls. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve with lettuce leaves.

Herb Zucchini Fritters (Mücver)

These fritters are one of my favourites, from my mum. She serves them as is. This version is served with garlic yoghurt following a recipe from one of my cookbooks. You could even top it up with a tomato-garlic based homemade sauce. It can be served as a side dish, or starter. It is just as nice served cold, and makes a light main dish in summer.

5 eggs
2 medium-sized zucchinis, peeled
4 tablesp. white flour
1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
1/2 bunch of dill, finely chopped
4 tablesp. oil

Sauce:
Mix one cup of Greek yoghurt with a clove of crushed garlic.

1. Break the eggs in a deep bowl.
2. Grate the zucchinis. Squeeze the water off. Add the grated zucchinis to the eggs together with the parsley and dill. Mix all using a fork.
3. Add the flour, continue mixing. Add the salt.
4. Heat the oil in a shallow non-stick pan. Add spoonfuls of mixture into the heated oil. Cook until pink on both sides.
5. Transfer to a plate. Serve warm topped with garlic yoghurt.

Alternative: For a lighter version, spread the mixture in a shallow oven tray (greased and dusted with flour), and cook in 180 degrees. Slice prior to serving.

Potato and Carrot Dish

Potatoes cooked with vegetables is a typical Turkish vegeterian dish, with many variations. This version is from one of my best used Turkish cookbooks. The combination of potatoes, carrots and green peppers is great, and feel free to play with the amounts below. You may add spices to your liking towards the end of cooking time (e.g., black pepper, ras el-hanout, nutmeg).

4 tablesp. olive oil
2 onions (preferably red)
3 or 4 carrots
3 or 4 tomatoes
3 or 4 green peppers (or 1 capsicum)
5 or 6 potatoes
1 teasp. white vinegar
1/2 teasp salt
3 tablesp flat-leaf parsley

1. Chop onions, green peppers and carrot. Lightly stir-fry with olive oil in a pot.

2. Add diced, or grated tomatoes, until simmering point.

3. Add diced potatoes, salt, vinegar along with water until the top level of vegetables. Cook in medium heat, until potatoes and carrots are well-cooked, occasionally stirring. The cooking time is approximately an hour.

4. Divide into individual bowls, and sprinkle with chopped parsley prior to serving.

Red Kidney Beans: with mince, or in olive oil

Kıymalı Barbunya, veya Zeytinyagli Barbunya

Pulses/ legumes have a central place in Turkish kitchen, among these are the beans! In Turkey, white and borlotti bean varieties are common, while red kidney beans are less well-known. In Melbourne, red kidney beans are abundant, tinned or dried. I have gotten used to them over the years, and buy them more often than the whiter versions. This dish is typically made with roman or borlotti beans, I have just replaced them with red kidney beans.

I was surprised to find out that raw, undercooked red kidney beans can be toxic. So make sure you precook the beans well.

Turkish cook dried beans in two ways: 1. Olive oil; 2. with meat. The one in the photo is the meat version. I used mince, but it can easily be replaced by diced lamb. Although I prefer the olive oil version, the meat version was because it might have been more appealing for my six year-old daughter. I was wrong, but we enjoyed them with rice and yoghurt (there is often a dollop of natural yoghurt alongside Turkish dishes).

I cook 1 kilo of dried red kidney beans in advance, and freeze them in small portions. It is then a matter of defreezing them on the day of cooking. You can easily substitute tinned (canned) beans, less nutritious but practical and works well. Worth trying different brands, as some are tastier than others.

The recipe below is for the mince version. Stroll down for the olive oil variation. They taste quite different.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic (optional), diced
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper paste (optional)
1/2 cup of lamb minc, precooked (or diced lamb, if you prefer)
2 tomatoes, crushed (or 1/2 tin of tomatoes)
2 cups of precooked red kidney beans (or 1 large tin)
2 cups of water
salt and black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried mint

Cook chopped onion in olive oil until lightly browned. Add garlic, stir. Add tomato and red pepper paste, stir until the onion is coated. Add precooked mince meat and tomatoes, stir until well-heated. Add red kidney beans with water. Add salt, pepper and mint. Put the lid ajar, and cook in low-medium heat until the beans are well-heated, and the sauce is boiling (about 20 mins).

Serve with rice and yoghurt. The rice in the photo is cooked with risi pasta.

Precooked mince allows for shorter cooking-time for the red kidney beans. I cook 1 kilo of mince meat, divide into portions, and place in the freezer. I use the portions for red kidney beans, other dishes and spaghetti bolognaise!

Red kidney beans in olive oil:

In the above recipe, increase the amount of olive oil to 6 tablespoons, dice a carrot, and add right after the onions. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar together with the salt. Omit the meat.