Saturday, October 26, 2013

Celery Salad


This is a very easy and healthy recipe.

Note: This recipe is for 4 people, as a side dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 celery heart
  • 1/4 cup of crushed walnuts
  • 2 cups of plain yogurt (Greek is better)
  • Olive oil
  • Mint and oregano

Preparation

Chop celery and put in a food processor, then take it into a large bowl. Add crushed walnuts, yogurt and a little bit olive oil, stir. Take it to a service plate and put the leaves of celery, dry mint and oregano on top of it to decorate. Enjoy!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Dolma (Grape Leaves)






Dolma is a Turkish meal, which means 'stuffed'. It has spread to Eastern Europe during Ottoman Empire. Now, it is a well known dish especially in Europe and USA. Originally it is stuffed with ground beef and rice, but in some places meat is not used in recipe. I prefer not to include meat to the recipe as well.

Note: This recipe is for 5-6 people










Ingredients

  • 2 cups of white rice
  • 1 jar of grave leaves
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 small tomato
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dry mint
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 lemon juice
  • Water

Preparation



Put olive oil in a pot, add chopped onions and cook them until they change color. 


Wash rice with the help of a strainer and then add it into the pot and cook couple of minutes. Then add the ingredients with this order while cooking; mint, oregano, black pepper, cinnamon, sugar, chopped tomato, lemon juice and salt. Then add warm water, close the lid and cook until all water is gone. You do not need to add a lot of water, it should be a little bit higher than rice.



Take grape leaves out of jar and boil them in hot water couple of minutes and then strain the water. After they  get cold, take a cutting board and put one grape leaf on it. Put about 1 dessertspoon fill on the grape leave like a line and start rolling.  

To do that first you close the bottom part, then two sides and then start to roll. They need to be tight so, be careful while rolling. 

Line all the rolls in a flat pan tightly, then put some lemons on top. Add some cold water, like 1/2 inch higher than rolls, close the lid and cook 1 hour on low heat. If it still has some water after one hour, you need to cook more. You can serve it with lemon and yogurt. Enjoy!


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Eggplant salad


I took this recipe from a friend. I guess this is a traditional salad in Eastern Europe.

Note: This recipe is for 4-5 people, depending on how you serve it.










Ingredients

  • 1 medium eggplant
  • 2 cups of yogurt
  • 1/4 cup of crushed walnuts
  • 2-3 slice garlic
  • Fresh dill
  • Canola/vegetable oil

Preparation



First peel and chop eggplant in small pieces. 


Take them into a medium saucepan, add some oil, close the lid and cook them until they get really soft. You may need to stir occasionally to do that. If you do not want to fry, you can broil the eggplant 20 minutes in the oven.

It is best if you use the yogurt you made at home, but the trick is yogurt should be a little bit solid. In order to have that kind of yogurt, you can strain it from a clean cloth. Take the yogurt in a glass pan, first add the cooked eggplant and stir. Then add garlic and fresh dill. Lastly, add crushed walnuts.

The salad is ready. Enjoy!