Chickpea Salad

Nohut Salatasi

A similar version of this chickpea salad is in Claudia Roden's The book of Jewish food (under Sepphardic entries). I love chickpeas, and this is quite a nice salad. And the salad dressing is great to dip bread into.

For instructions on how to cook chickpeas, see steps 1 & 2 under humus.

2 cups of cooked chickpeas
1 or 2 roma tomatoes, diced
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teasp cumin
1/4 teasp paprika (sweet or cayenne)
1 garlic clove, crushed
some fresh parsley, some dried mint, sprinkled

Mix all, serve and enjoy.

Black-eyed Bean (Pea) Salad

Kuru Börülce Piyazı

Black-eyed beans are consumed both fresh and dried in Turkey. I love the former, but have found out about the latter only recently. During my mum's short visit early this year, we were inspecting the numerous dried pulses in our corner Pakistani shop. My mum spotted these beans and told me that they were dried "borulce". So we bought a big packet. I placed the dried beans in a large bowl overnight, and boiled them in the morning (beware, cooking time is shorter than it is for some other beans such as chick peas). I placed some in the freezer, and made a nice black-eyed bean dip (which was more Moorish than Turkish). This week, I took out another batch and made this Turkish salad, as my mum said the black-eyed beans made excellent "piyaz" (dried bean salad). The more common beans for piyaz is white beans, which is the version I know, although the black-eyed beans also made a very tasty salad.

1 cup boiled black-eyed beans

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

1 teasp dried mint

salt and pepper to taste

juice of half a lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup red-wine vinegar

Mix the beans and vegetables. Add the parsley, dried mint and seasoning. Mix the dressing and pour over the salad. Gently mix, and serve.

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.

POTATO SALAD

Patates Salatası

This salad is full of potatoes, but very tasty and light - common home Turkish cooking, yet rarely served at restaurants. The recipe is from Ayla Algar's Complete book of Turkish Cooking. (Her books, if you don't mind the lack of photos, are among the best Turkish cookbooks). Her recipe does not have sumac, which I always add following my mum's method.

1/2 kilo potatoes
1 red onion
1/2 bunch of parsley or dill, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil (or less)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dry mustart
sea salt and black pepper, to taste
1 dozen black olives
1 tablespoon sumac

1. Half the onion lengthwise, then slice paper-thin. Rub with sumac.

2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender. Peel and slice very thin into a salad bowl (I prefer dicing). Cool. stir in the onions, dill or parsley. (Alternatively, for a quicker version, wash, peel and rewash the potatoes. Dice them, and cook for five minutes in microwave oven set on high, covered and with a few tablespoons of water.)

3. Combine the oil with the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Blend well. Pour enough dressing over the salad to moisten; mix thoroughly. Adjust the salt and add more vinegar if necessary. Garnish with black olives. Serve at room temperature. 6 servings.

Note. Ayla Algar's book above is out of print. I had purchased mine on biblio.com. Her more recent book Classical Turkish Cooking is quite similar, and available on amazon.com.

Note2. I have recently come across with a very similar version by Bill Granger in one of the delicious. magazines. I suspect it was a slightly altered version of this Turkish salad.

Beetroot Salad with Yoghurt

This beetroot salad recipe is from the Turkish section of Claudia Roden's Arabesque. Roden provides great Turkish recipes in her book and a comprehensive preface on Turkish kitchen, though, I must say with incorrect translations of titles (i.e., incorrect use of grammar). Not ever having tried this salad, and having recently roasted some beetroots in the oven (a la Stephanie Alexander), I decided to use some of the beetroots on this recipe. I loved the chunkiness of beetroot with garlic yoghurt and with good quality olive oil. On another occasion, tinned beetroots also worked well.

For a richer flavour, make the salad at least two hours prior to serving. The recipe below gives Roden's instructions. The amount of ingredients can be reduced at least by half (I used one third). The garlic is optional, but unless you are against garlic, do not leave it out.

1 kilo beetroot

2 garlic cloves, chopped (optional)

500 gr strained Greek style yoghurt

2 tablesp lemon juice

6 tablesp extra virgin olive oil

salt

handful of chopped mint, or flat-leaf parsley

For the beetroots: Cut the stems and leaves about 2 cm above the beetroot.

TO BOIL, cook them in plenty of boiling salted water until tender - small ones will take about 30 mins, larger ones about 1,5 hours.

TO ROAST, put them on a sheet of foil on a baking sheet, cover them with foil, and roast in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees (400 F/ gas 6) for 2-3 hours, depending on their size, until one feels tender when cut right through with a knife.

You could cut them in half (lay them cut side down) and reduce the cooking time considerably (my note: cutting prior to cooking bleeds the beetroots - so better not to). When cool enough to handle, peel the beetroots.

For the salad: Cut the beetroots into 1 cm rounds or half-moon slices. Wear rubber gloves to avoid staining your hands. If using tinned beetroots, buy sliced beetroots.

Beat the chopped garlic (if using) into the yoghurt and spread the mixture on a serving plate. Arrange the beetroot slices on top. Beat the lemon juice with the oil and a little salt, stir in the mint or parsley, and spoon over the beetroot slices.

Variation: A Lebanese version uses 1 1/2 tablespoons of tahini beaten into the yoghurt.