TURKİSH CUİSİNE

Samsun, one of Turkey’s important port cities, charms visitors with its cuisine as well.

FRIED PICKLED GREEN BEANS
Ingredients
2 eggs, 2 medium onions, 150 g pickled green beans, 150 g pickled carrots, 150 g pickled cabbage, 4 tablespoons vegetable oil.
PREPARATION
In a frying pan, heat the oil and cook the finely chopped onions until caramelized. Add the small cubed pickles to the onions and continue to sauté for a few minutes. Beat the eggs thoroughly in a bowl and add to the pan. Continue stirring over medium heat until the eggs are cooked. Since the pickles are already salty, there is no need to add salt.

BAKLAVA WITH HAZELNUT FILLING
Ingredients:
250 g butter, 1 pack ready-made phyllo sheets for making baklava, 250 g vegetable oil, 500 g hazelnuts.For the syrup: 1 liter water, 1 kg granulated sugar, a few drops of lemon juice.
PREPARATION
While you could follow the instructions on the packages of ready-made phyllo sheets easily available in the markets, I hope that my method will also bring you joy. Carefully lay out the sheets on a greased oven tray. Drizzle a modest amount of oil over the sheets every three layers. Sprinkle coarsely grated hazelnuts every fifteen layers.After laying out the final layer of sheets, cut into diamond-shaped, square, or rectangular shapes. Drizzle melted butter evenly over the leaves. Bake until golden in an oven pre-heated to 180°C. Mix water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add a few drops of lemon to the boiling syrup. Wait a few minutes for the syrup to cool and pour the warm syrup over the cold baklava. Serve cold.

Artvin, the easternmost province of Turkey’s Black Sea coast, is a magnificent place where different shades of green and blue meet. TTea, hazelnuts, rice, corn, kale, and hamsi (European anchovy) are the foremost elements of Artvin’s tastes. Traces of both the Black Sea and Caucasian regions can be found in these dishes, each of which is more delicious than the other.In Artvin, the taste of cornbread competes with the taste of tandoori bread.

KUYMAK
Ingredients:
100 g “dil” cheese, 100 g “çeçil” cheese, 150 g butter, ½ cup corn flour, 2 cups water, salt
PREPARATION:
Melt the butter in a deep pan. Add cornflour and fry until pink. Add water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. When the water is absorbed and the mixture starts bubbling, add shredded cheese. Melt cheese; add salt to taste, and serve.

In the fertile lands of Çukurova, where the Eastern Mediterranean meets with the Taurus Mountains, fruits and vegetables are ample. All you need to do is cook them up and put them on a plate beside the tender lamb that feeds on the thyme in the pfrairies.

Tarsus has always been an important region in Anotolia, wich has been host to manydifferent cultures. This diversity , which continues to exist in Mersin today and is reflected in its cuisine. The cuisine of Mersin can sometimes be as simple as karsambaç, a dish prepared with rosewater, honey and natural ice brought in from the peaks of Taurus, or as co plex as hummus and sini köfte. Found on every table along with such meals are condensed yogurt, ayran and turnip juice. The people of Mersin have a special love for hummus and in Tarsus especially, restaurants that only sell hummus are abundant. In the Tarsus cuisine of Mersin , chick peas are not only used in the making of hummus, but in a vafriety of other dishes, such as casseroles.Lahmacun is also unique in Tarsus, small and baked as a side dish. Cezerye, derived from the word jazar which means carrots in Arabic, is dessert specific to Mersin and Tarsus.

Antalya is one of the most beautiful Turkish cities where green blends in nicely with blue. Unmatched underwater beauties compete with the wonders on the land. Antalya, with its moderate climate and fertile land, allows for the cultivation of all kinds of vegetables, especially legumes. Besides meeting its own needs for nourishment, with its greenhouses, it supplies food to all of Turkey. In fact, the fruits and the vegetables Turkey exports are grown here at the highest possible quality. Naturally, such fertile land bears some products native to the region. Antalya has all the jams you can—and maybe even can’t—imagine. Perhaps the first time you try certain kinds of seafood will be in Antalya. The local cuisine is well established and very rich. Some of its most famous and distinctive dishes worth tasting are “yahnera,” “okka” squash, “papulena fava,” “labada,” “arafaşı,” “borani,” “göce” soup, “şakşuka,” lentil ice cream, “zerde,” “pelize,” “çivirdik,” and all sorts of fruit leather and jam.
ZERDE
Ingredients
1 cup rice, ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon turmeric,5 cups water.
PREPARATION
Put the water and sugar in a pan and stir until dissolved. Add the washed and drained rice. When the rice softens, in a separate cup, mix a cup of water with the starch and the turmeric. Add this mixture to boiling rice. When the mixture has the consistency of rice pudding, remove from heat and transfer to serving cups. Serve when cool. If desired, you may decorate the zerde with raisins, almonds, cinnamon, and ground coconut.

ŞAKŞUKA
Ingredients
1 large eggplant, 1 large grey squash/zucchini, 1 large potato, 7- 8 hot green peppers (sub. green Anaheim peppers), 3 large tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, ½ liter vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon vinegar, salt to taste.
PREPARATION
Peel the eggplants roughly, leaving strips of skin lengthwise, then chop them into cubes or slices and keep in brine for half an hour. Set aside half a cup of oil and use the rest as needed for frying. Cut or peel the squash and potato the same way as the eggplants. Drain the eggplants well and fry them in a deep fryer together with the squash and potatoes. After the vegetables are fried, put them on a plate with paper towels between each layer and sprinkle with salt. In a separate pan, having cut the green peppers into thick rings, fry them. Add grated tomatoes, crushed garlic, salt, and vinegar. Pour over the fried vegetables—which have been arranged in a serving dish—and serve.

LENTIL ICE CREAM
Ingredients
1 cup red lentils, ½ cup rice, 1 medium size onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1½ liters water, 1/8 cup olive oil, black pepper, red pepper flakes, cumin (if desired), and salt.
PREPARATION
After washing and draining the rice and the lentils, place them in boiling water and add salt. Stirring occasionally, keep boiling them until they acquire a mushy consistency. On a serving dish, spread a thin layer of the mixture, leaving a big hole in the middle. In a separate pan, brown the finely chopped onions and garlic in the olive oil, adding the herbs and salt to taste. Simmer for a while and pour over the mashed mixture. After the onions are chilled too, serve

BITTER ORANGE JAM
Ingredients
1 kg bitter orange, 4 cups granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon citric acid, 4 liters water.
PREPARATION
Peel the skin of the orange into eight equal pieces with a knife. Remove the white parts of the skin. Roll the skins and thread them with a needle. When threading is completed, tie the ends of the thread together. Repeat until all the skins are threaded. Place the threaded skins in a large pan and cover them with approximately one liter of hot water. With the lid of the pan closed, boil for half an hour, then discard the water. In order to get rid of the bitterness of the oranges, repeat this procedure three to four times. Finally, add a liter of water, four cups of granulated sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of citric acid. Boil until it becomes semifluid. Pour into jars, firmly cover their lids, turn the jars upside down, and store away.