Hatice's Chicken Curry (Biryani)

Ingredients:
For Chicken Curry
1 whole Chicken -cut up or 4 leg quarters
1 1/2 onion
2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
3 cloves garlic
3/4 cup whipped yogurt
3-4 tomatoes
3 cardamom
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 tbsp. corriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp paprika
1 1/2 tbsp cumin (seed or powder)
Chili, spice mix, salt
For Rice
3 cups basmati rice
1 small onion
1 tbsp cumin seed
3 bay leaves
3 cardamon
1/2 stick cinnamons -broken
1/2 packet peas (small petite)
2 cloves
Salt

Preperation:
Fry the chopped onions until golden brown. Add the chicken and fry for 5 minutes. Add garlic ginger and all the spices. Put the tomatoes bring to boil, and then the whipped yogurt slowly. Let it boil until chicken is cooked.
Fry the onion with vegetable oil until golden brown. Add the spices, peas, 3 cups of rice, and 4.5 cups of water. Cook the rice. When everthing is cooked garnish the dish with chopped cilantro. Enjoy your meal!

1st.Kids Craft Day - 03.26.2008

Cross Stitch

Sule`s cross stitch fruits look beautiful.

Punch Needle Day

Nezahat finished the seashells. Her bathroom picture is ready.















Sule`s little flower.


Seyda and I have done the colorful flowers. Ready for framing.

Borek With Tortillas

Ingredients:
9-10 American big size tortillas
3 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup liquid oil
1 cup white feta cheese

Preperation:
Mix milk, eggs and oil in a shallow bowl. Put the tortillas into the mixture one by one and wait for 2-3 min. Then take out them. Put the cheese in it and wrap it as a roll. Place in an oven tray. Pour the rest of the mix onto the tortillas. Wait 10 minutes and heat the oven 330 F. Bake until the top gets golden. Cut into small pieces and serve.

Sarma Day

Ingredients:
1 lb. grape leaves
2 cups rice
1 large onion- chopped
1 tomato- diced well or grated
1 green pepper- chopped
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 large lemon
1 tbsp dry mint
1 tsp red pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
a pinch of black pepper
Salt

Preperation:
Sautee the onion with ½ cup olive oil well. Add tomato and green pepper and cook for 5 min. Add tomato paste and cook 1-2 min. Then put the rice. Add 1 cup of water and the other all spices . Stir until no water is left and turn off the heat. Put the filling to the washed grape leaves and roll them one by one.

Place them to the cook pot. Cut some lemon slices and put them onto the rolls or squeeze a half lemon and pour the left olive oil on the top of the rolls. Fill water right the surface of the rolls. Onto the rolls, put a porcelain plate or a `sarma` stone which is used in some regions of Turkey. This stone is used to make pressure so as the rolls not to get loose. Close the lid and cook on the middle heat.
When the all water finished in the pot turn off the heat and take the pot from stove. Let it cool at the room temperature and serve.

Sarma

Malzemeler:
Yarim kilo uzum yapragi (1 lb.)
2 su bardagi pirinc
1 buyuk sogan- dogranmis
1 adet domates- ince dogranmis veya rendelenmis
1 adet yesil biber- ince dogranmis
2 yemek kasigi salca
1 adet limon
1 yemek kasigi kuru nane
1 tatli kasigi kirmizi biber
1 cay bardagi zeytinyagi
Bir tutam karabiber
Cam fistigi ve kusuzumu (istege gore)
Tuz

Hazirlanisi:
Sogan yarim cay bardagi zeytinyagi ile iyice kavrulur. Domates ve yesil biber eklenip 5 dak. daha pisirilir. Salca ilave edilir. 1-2 dak. daha kavrulup pirinc konulur. 1 su bardagi su ve diger tum baharatlar eklenerek suyunu cekene kadar karistirilir. Suyu tamemen cekince alti kapatilir. Yikanmis asma yapraklarina sarilarak, pisirilecek tencereye dizilir. Sarma islemi bitince, uzerine yarim limon kesilerek konur veya sikilir. Kalan zeytinyagi uzerine gezdirilir ve sarmalarin ust hizasina kadar tencere su doldurulur. Uzerine porselen bir tabak veya bazi yorelerimizde kullanilan sarma tasi konulur. Bununla sarmalarin gevsememesi icin agirlik yapilir. Kapagi kapatilip orta sicaklikta pisirilir. Tenceredeki su tamemen bitince tencere kenara alinir. Oda sicakliginda sogumasi saglanip servis yapilir.
Afiyet Olsun!

Cemile`nin Balik Plakisi- Bati Afrika Usulu

Cemile biz gelmeden baslamis baligi hazirlamaya. 2-3 saati alan bir yemek, fakat ailecek tam bir ogun. Yaninda bir salata ile yemek hazir. Baligi zaten cok severim ama bu bir baska oldu. Alistigim balik plakilerinin tamamen disinda... Hele de hic kullanmadigim sebzeleri gorunce neticeden endiselenmedim degil. Fakat netice bir harikaydi! Afrika usulu bir aksam yemegi icin buyrun;
Malzemeler:
1 buyuk Somon veya levrek (yaklasik 2kg)
Baligin ici icin:
1 demet maydanoz
4 adet yesil sogan-dogranmis
1 taze kirmizi lulebiber-acisindan
Bir tutam karabiber
Tuz

Balik Tepsisi icin:
2 yerelmasi (tatli patates)
3-4 buyuk boy havuc
½ beyaz lahana
1 kucuk kasava veya yuka koku
4-5 adet kuru demirhindi meyvesi(tamarind)-soyulup dogranir
1 kizartmalik siviyag
½ kucuk kutu domates salcasi
1 sogan -dogranmis
3 su bardagi pirinc

Hazirlanisi:
1. Balik ici icin yazilmis malzemeler dogranip blenderda iyice ogutulur.
2. Balik buyuk parcalara ayrilir ve her parcanin icine delik acilarak bu karisim icine iyice sikistirilir.
3. Bir buyuk tencereye siviyag konulur ve baliklar icinde rengi iyice sararana kadar kizartilir.
4. Diger tarafta bir kap icine salca, sogan, tamarind ve biraz tuz eklenir. Bu karisima kizarmis baliklar konulur ve 5 dakika pisirilir.
5. Balik baska bir kaba alinir.
6. Tenceredeki salcali sosa 4 bardak su ve irice dogranmis diger sebzeler konulur. Sebzeler bu sosla iyice pisirilir.
7. Bir borcama once sebzeler uzerine baliklar gelecek sekilde konulur.
8. Pilavi icin pirinc yikanip suzgecte veya 2-3 dakika mikrodalga firinda tutularak pisirilir. (Istenirse normal pilav gibi de pisirilebilir)
9. Sebzelerin pisirildigi tenceredeki sos pilavla iyice karitirilir.
10.Buyukce bir servis tabagina once soslanmis pilav, uzerine sebzeli baliklar gelecek sekilde konulur. Sicak servis yapilir.
Afiyet olsun! Yemegin ardindan sindirimi rahatlatmasi acisindan yesilcay tavsiye edilir.

Kuaybe`s Fast Twisted (Burmali)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. Phyllo dough (#4)
1,5 cups liquid oil
1 lb. unsalted butter-melted
3 cups grounded walnut
2 thick number knitting needles
For syrup:
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
½ tsp lemon juice

Preperation:
First boil the syrup ingredients in a pot. Then simmer for 10 or 15 minutes to have a better thickness. Turn the heat off and leave the syrup to be cold. For twisted,lay down 2 sheets one over the other and spread the 1,5 tbsp liquid oil over the sheets. Sprinkle the walnut to every place of the sheets. Hold the peaks of the knitting needles near as in the picture and place them to the edge of the Phyllo. Roll the Phyllo slack .Shirr from two sides through the middle .Take off the knitting needles and place twisteds to the oven tray. Fill all the tray like that. Pour melted butter over the twisted. Be careful not to pour the dregs of the butter. Bake it at 330F until the color of the dough becomes brownish. Pour the syrup onto the hot twisted that just cooked. Serve cold.

Tortillali Borek

Kuaybe yine en kolay yoldan Turkish style borek yapmanin yolunu buldu. Hem cok kolay hem de nefis bir borek. Ani misafir mi gelecek, 10 dakikada borek firinda. Deneyin!

Malzemeler:
9-10 adet American buyuk boy tortilla yufka
3 yumurta
1 su bardagi sut
1 cay bardagi siviyag
1 su bardagi beyaz peynir veya herhangi bir ic

Hazirlanisi:
Sut, yumurta, siviyag yayvan bir kapta cirpilir. Tortillalar tek tek icinde bekletilir. Herbirinin icine istenen ic konulup rulo seklinde sarilir. Tepsiye dizilir. Kalan sivi uzerine dokulur. 10 dak. bekletilip, firina konur. 330F da kizarana kadar pisirilir. Cikinca kucuk dilimlere bolunup servis yapilir.
Afiyet olsun!

Seyda`s pancake with cabbage

Ingredients:
For pancake;
2 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Enough salt
Filling:
1 small white cabbage-separate leaves and scald
2 cups grated planed mozzarella cheese
½ cup white cheese- crumbled
1 bounch parsley
1 tsp red pepper (chili powder)

Preperation:
Mix all pancake ingredients well. Pour one ladle and cook each side well.
Make it as thin as possible. In another place, salt the scalded cabbage leaves
and spread over each pancake.
Lay the mixture of mozzarella cheese, white cheese, red pepper and parsley through the center of each leaf and firmly roll it over as in the picture.
Then cut each roll into 2cm. pieces and place them on a tray. Scatter planed mozzarella cheese over the pieces and cook them until the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!

Chebujen (West African Famous Fish)

Jamila taught us a wonderful recipe for her famous fish, but it makes us panic when we have to try it on our own. It takes 3 hours to prepare, but is well worth the effort.
Ingredients:
1 large Salmon or Red Snapper (approx 3lbs)
For fish filling:
1 bunch parsley,
4 chopped green onions
1 habernaro pepper
Pinch of salt and black pepper

For fish tray:
2 Sweet potatoes
3-4 large carrots
½ Chinese cabbage
1 small Cassava or yucca root
4-5 pieces dried Tamarind (peeled and washed)
1 liter vegetable oil for frying
½ small can tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
3 cups Jasmine rice (washed)

Preparation:
1. Chop parsley, green onions, harbernaro pepper, salt, and pepper in food processor (blended mixture)
2. Make a whole in the fish and stuff with the blended mixture
3. In a large 5 quart pot heat vegetable oil and fry the stuffed fish until golden.
4. Remove fish from pot.
5. In a bowl, mix ½ small can of tomato paste, chopped onion, tamarind, and a pinch of salt. Add to pot that fish was fried and let simmer 5 minutes.
6. Add fish back to pot. Add 4 cups water and all the other vegetables (chopped large) and bring to boil. Let it cook until vegetable are tender.
7. Remove fish and vegetables and place on a serving tray.
8. In a microwavable bowl, add the rice and water to cover the rice. Microwave 2-3 minutes uncovered. Remove from microwave and drain the water. Add the rice back to the pot with sauce and let cook.
9. Add rice to tray with fish and vegetables
10. Enjoy! And do not forget to drink a cup of African style green tea with bubbles.