Recipes:

Dovga

Ingredients:

1 1/3 c yogurt
1/3 c cream
1 egg
1 T rice
1 T flour
Salt to taste
250 gr spinach
½ bunch cilantro
½ bunch dill
½ bunch chives

1. Mix the yogurt, cream, egg, flour and rice in a saucepan. Add water, and heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
2. Add the finely chopped spinach and herbs to the boiling soup, and cook for 10 minutes more.
3. Allow to cool, add the salt and serve. Dovga is served last at a meal, and is considered to aid digestion.

Note: Dovga can also be made with the addition of small meatballs. In this case it is called etli dovga (dovga with meat). For this, knead 400 gr fatty ground lamb or mutton with finely chopped onion, turmeric, black pepper and salt. Form in to walnut-sized balls and cook in meat broth. Add the cooked meatballs to the cooled dovga.
 

Şeki Pitisi

Ingredients:

160 gr lamb or mutton breast, neck and back meat
25 gr tail fat
1 T chickpeas, soaked overnight
5-6 chestnuts
1/6 large quince
5-6 sour black plums (fresh or dried)
¼ T saffron, ground and steeped in hot water
Salt to taste
1 pinch black pepper
½ t dry mint
¼ c chopped onion

1. Divide the meat into 2-3 pieces and place in the güveç (small clay casserole). Over this place the tail fat and the chickpeas. Add half a liter of water, cover tightly and allow to come to a boil on very low heat.
2. Before it comes to a boil, remove the scum. When it boils, add the onion, skinned chestnuts, plums, quince and salt. When done, add the saffron, black pepper and mint.

Notes: The amounts given above are for a single serving. Serve with scallions or sections of onion. The dish is eaten as follows: Bread is cut into a deep bowl, and the broth from the casserole is added. This is eaten as soup. The meat in the casserole is separated from the bone, and put into another plate; the chickpeas, quince, chestnuts are added and the whole mixture is mashed/pounded. Thus piti is eaten as two different dishes.

It should be followed by tea with lemon.

Nahçivan Gürzesi

Ingredients:

400 gr fatty ground mutton or lamb
2 c flour
2 onions
½ bunch each of cilantro, dill and mint
1/8 t cinnamon
1/8 t black pepper
Salt to taste
1 c yogurt
4 cloves garlic
½ c melted butter

1. Mix the ground meat well with the finely chopped onion, salt, black pepper, and half of finely chopped herbs.
2. Seperately, make a stiff dough out of the flour, water and salt, and knead well, then roll out to 1 – 1.5 mm thick.
3. Cut into 5-cm rounds. In the middle of each round place some of the prepared meat mixture. Fold over and seal well, crimping the edges.
4. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the finished dumplings and cook till tender, remove from water and drain.
5. Top with the remaining herbs and cinnamon, and serve with the yogurt, mixed with the crushed garlic. Top with melted butter.

Karışık Nevruz Salatası
Mixed Nevruz Salad

Ingredients:

3 medium beets
2 eggs
1 clove garlic
1 small bottle of mayonnaise
1 cucumber
10 small red radishes
2 medium carrots
1 T sour pomegranate kernels
1 bunch each of parsley, cilantro, dill and mint?
Salt to taste
1 t black pepper

1. Boil the beets till tender, hard boil the eggs. Grate them finely along with the garlic, and mix with a little over half the mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
2. Put this mixture in the middle of a serving plate, and pipe the remaining mayonnaise over it.
3. Place the sliced vegetables around the mixture, and sprinkle on the pomegranate kernels, then the herbs. 

Kara Erikli Sarımsak Turşusu
Pickled Garlic with Black Plums

Ingredients:

500 gr garlic
500 fresh black plums
4 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
2 t salt
Vinegar to cover
3 sprigs dill
3 cloves

1. Separate and peel garlic cloves. Prick the plums a few times with a needle.
2. In the bottom of the jar, place the black peppercorns, bay leaves, salt, dill and cloves, followed by the garlic and plums. Pour in vinegar to cover and seal, let stand for 15 days.

Note: If you are unable to find sour black plums, you may make it with garlic only. In this case, allow the entire head of garlic to stand in salted water (1 lt water, 3 T salt) for three days before beginning, and pickle them whole.

Şekerbura

These cookies are always made at Nevruz.

Ingredients:

3 ½ c flour
1 c butter
1 c whole milk
2 eggs
1 t yeast
½ t salt
1 ½ c hazelnuts or almonds
1 ½ c sugar
¼ t ground cardamom
¼ t ground nutmeg

1. Prepare the filling ahead of time: Blanch the hazelnuts or almonds in hot water to remove their skins, then allow to dry well. Grind fine, add the sugar, cardamom and nutmeg and mix well. You may also add 1 T egg white to bind it together.
2. Heat the milk to 30-35 C. Add the yeast, salt, eggs, melted butter and sifted flour, and knead into a dough. Let rest for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
3. Divide the dough into walnut-sized pieces, and allow to rest again. Roll each piece into a 2mm thick round. Place some of the filling on one side, and fold the other half over, seal the edges, crimping them with your fingers. You may also cut decorative shapes on the tops.
4. Place on a pan and bake for 5 minutes or so in a medium oven. Do not brown the tops, only the bottom should brown slightly.

Source: Kamil Toygar-Nimet Berkok Toygar: Sister Cuisines, Examples from the Turkic World – Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uzbek, Turkmen, p. 222. Takav Pres, Ankara, 1997.