Sütlü Çorba - Milk Soap

Ingredients:

1 c rice
1 lt milk
Salt

Pick over and wash the rice, and cook in 3 cups of water. Add the milk and cook, stirring, till the soup has reached the desired consistency.  Add salt and serve.

Düğün Eti - Wedding Meat

Ingredients:

10 kg cubed meat
1 kg onion
3 T pepper or tomato paste
1 package butter or margarine
Salt, red pepper, black pepper to taste
1 bunch finely chopped parsley

Wash the meat in cold water to rid it of the blood. Place into a large pot, add water to cover, salt and margarine and cook on a low fire until soft. If it foams, remove the foam with a spoon. Add the finely chopped onion and spices and cook till well done. Serve over fried potatoes.

Akıtma - Crepes with Chicken

Ingredients:

3 c flour
1 egg
Water to make a thin batter
1 free-range chicken
2 onions
¼ c vegetable oil
Salt, red pepper

Mix flour, water and salt to make a batter (like thin pancake/crepe batter)

Heat a griddle or lightly greased Teflon pan, and pour the batter into rounds 15 cm wide and 2 mm thick.  Allow the cakes to cool slightly, then stack them by six and cut them into 2-cm squares. Place the cut crepes side by side on a serving plate

Cut up the chicken, and brown with the chopped onions. Add pepper, salt and a little water. Wet the dough squares with the broth, arrange the chicken over the top and serve.

The crepes may also be rolled and cut.

Ciğer Sarması (Darplı) - Liver Sarma

Ingredients:

1 lamb’s liver
1 piece of caul fat
1/3 c rice
2 onions
3 scallions
2 tomatoes
1 T vegetable oil
1 T tomato or pepper paste
Salt
Black pepper

Either chop the liver finely or run it through a meat grinder. Put the oil in a pot, add the onions and the liver and sauté lightly. Add the finely chopped tomatoes, scallions, salt, black pepper and washed rice.

Place the caul fat in warm water, then spread it out. It will be like a network of thin fat veins over a thin membrane. Cut this into 15x15 cm squares, and distribute the liver mixture among them. Gather the four corners into the center, and place them on a baking dish, folded side down. Dissolve the tomato paste in a little water, and spread over all the pieces. Bake in a medium oven until the rice is done.

Tavşanlı Börek - Rabbit Börek 

Ingredients:

For the yufka: 

3 c flour, 
Water
Salt

For the filling:

500 gr rabbit meat
1 ½ c bulgur wheat
2 T butter or margarine
1 egg
¼ c vegetable oil
Salt
Pepper

Mix flour and salt with enough water to make a dough of “ear lobe” consistency. Let rest.

Allow the rabbit to stand in cold water, changing the water several times, in order for all the blood to leave the meat.

Place in a pot and add enough water just to cover and salt to taste, and cook till tender.

Remove the rabbit from the broth, then add the washed bulgur and cook, covered, till done (till all water is absorbed). Chop the meat finely, and add the bulgur, which should have absorbed all the water.

Roll the dough out into three very thin sheets and with one, line an oiled baking dish. Put half the filling in to the pan, and cover with the second sheet, then the rest of the filling, and top with the third sheet. Spread a little oil over the top, cut and seal the edges and cook either over the fire, or in a medium oven

Kaşnika - Cornbread with cheese and leeks

Ingredients:

4 eggs
10 gr baking powder
3 T yogurt
½ c vegetable oil
3 c corn meal
150-300 gr feta cheese
3 medium leeks, chopped finely
½ lt milk
Salt, thyme, red pepper

Heat oven to 150 C (300 F).

Grease a 35-cm deep round baking pan.

Mix all the ingredients and pour into pan, bake till the top is brown.

Lokma (Gombaldak) Tatlısı - Fritters

Ingredients:

Fritters:
1 kg flour
1 lt water
1 t salt
7 T vegetable oil
25 gr fresh yeast

Syrup:
4 c water
4 c sugar
½ lemon

Oil for frying

First, boil the sugar, water and lemon juice together, allow to cool. Put the oil into a deep pot.

Mix the ingredients for the fritters, to make a soft dough, beating well. Leave in a lukewarm place to rise.

Heat the oil in the pot. Take some of the batter in one hand and squeeze between the thumb and curled forefinger, then push the resulting ball of dough off with the edge of a spoon and allow to drop into the hot oil. Repeat until there are several balls in the oil, and fry, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon, until they are light golden brown. Remove from the oil, drain, and put into the cold syrup while still hot. Remove from the syrup and serve, sprinkled with cinnamon if desired.

Tavuklu Lahana Sarması - Cabbage Rolls with Chicken

Ingredients:

1 free-range chicken breast
½ c vegetable oil
2 onions
2 tomatoes or 1 T tomato paste
1 c rice
Salt, black pepper, thyme, powdered red pepper
Boiled cabbage

Simmer the chicken breast, cool and shred the meat. Finely chop the onion and sauté in oil till transparent. Add the chicken, tomato or paste, washed rice and chicken broth, and cook until the rice has absorbed the water. Remove from heat and add the seasonings. Separate the leaves of the cabbage, and roll them around the filling, starting by folding one end over, then folding the sides in, and roll to the end. Arrange tightly in the pot, add salt and oil, and warm water just to the level of the rolls, and cook on low heat till done. Can also be made with goose.

Düğün Pilavı - Wedding pilaf

Ingredients:

5 kg rice
1 kg boiled chickpeas
1.5 kg butter
Salt, black pepper to taste

Pick through and wash the rice, and allow to stand in salted water for 2-3 hours, then wash carefully. Boil the rice in a large amount of salted water, then remove from the water with a wide wood-rimmed flour sifter [or any other strainer with a handle] and pour into colanders to drain. Mix the cooked rice with the cooked chickpeas in a large pot. Melt the butter in a pot without burning it, drizzle over the rice and chickpeas, mix carefully with a slotted spoon and cover to keep warm until it is served.

Kırıklı Helva (Nişasta Helvası) - Wheat Starch Halvah

Ingredients: 

4 c wheat starch
1 c granulated sugar
3 c water
1 c vegetable oil

Mix the wheat starch with the sugar and water in a bowl.

In a pot, heat the oil, then add the cornstarch mixture and cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until it turns white and breaks into small grains.

* Teacher of food technology and presentation, Zonguldak Alaplı Trade School / Researcher of Culinary Culture