Tag: Indian summer

Turkish stuffed eggplants (vegetarian)

This is the vegetarian version of my previous recipe, the Turkish stuffed eggplants (karni yarik). I tried to keep the recipe’s Turkish authenticity but otherwise it is my creation. I replaced the meat with lentils, eggs and cheese and used oregano in the place of mint. I also used more tomatoes to keep the mixture moist. All these ingredients are used in Turkey and hope you will like it as much as I did.

I can’t help but notice the abundance of goods at the farmers’ market. The tables are filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. In fact, it is the time of the year when they have the most varieties available. For today’s post I picked eggplant.  

We associate eggplants with the Middle East but it actually originated from India and has also been popular in other Asian countries for a long time. Today, it is used all over the world.  In Europe, it was a staple until potatoes arrived from the New World. The Turkish have certainly created many recipes with it and believe that they have the best eggplant dishes. The Spanards had brought it over to the Americas in the 1600′. Eggplants have been used in the United States; however, earlier, people didn’t really know what to do with them. Many just used them for decorations only.

Eggplants come in all kinds of shapes and colors. Shapes can be round or more elongated and the colors can vary from white, green to purple.  In the United States, the rounder, purple, more oblong eggplant is usually available in stores. For this recipe, try to buy these medium sized, fat, purple eggplants that I have pictures of. Also, make sure they are about the same size because different sizes will vary their cooking times. Also they should be nice and firm.

Eggplants belong to the night shade family along with tomatoes and potatoes. It is a cooling bitter plant that is highly nutritious with vitamins A, B, C, K1, E and minerals manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc. An interesting fact is that we often believe that it is a vegetable but in fact it is a fruit. Also, it is thought to be aphrodisiac.

In addition to its nutritional values, people have been using eggplants for other health benefits too. Asians like to use them for their cooling property. It is good for digestion, particularly for stagnation and heat. It is beneficial in clearing heat that accumulates during the warmer months but it is still a valuable plant now, during the Indian summer as it can take out heat that may have been trapped in during the summer. In addition, its antioxidants can protect the liver from toxins.

It is also associated with fertility from its ability to unblock stagnation in the liver and the womb. In China, brides were supposed to posses 12 eggplant recipes before they got married. By the same token, pregnant women are advised to limit the consumption of eggplants because of the possibility of miscarriage. 

List of my other eggplant dishes

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of cooked rice (about half a cup raw)
  • about 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 4 medium, equal sized purple eggplants. Try not to get different sizes because they need different cooking times.
  • 1 cup of cooked lentils (about 1/2 cup uncooked)
  • 4 oz mushrooms, I used crimini
  • 2 lightly beaten eggs
  • 1 finally chopped yellow onion
  • 1 finally chopped peppers (green, red, yellow-your choice)
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp cumin
  • 1 Tbsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp paprika powder
  • 1/4 tsp of hot red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp of salt or to taste
  • 6 fresh plum tomatoes or other tomatoes (canned is fine too)
  • 1 cup of hard cheese + more for the top
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup of flat leafed parsley

Direction

  • Soak the lentils for a few hours if you have time.
  • Cook lentils.
  • Prepare rice with bay leaves. Use 1/2 cup of rice with 1 cup of water.
  • Bake eggplants. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Wash eggplants and put them on an oiled baking sheet. Prick them with a fork in 6-8 places, half inch deep to prevent them from exploding in your oven. Coat them with some olive oil with a brush. Bake them for 45-60 minutes or until they are nice and soft, so you can put the blade of a knife through easily. You don’t want them to be hard but they shouldn’t collapse either. Once they start becoming soft, keep an eye on them. If you’re using larger eggplants, you will have to cut them in half lengthwise. Oil the top and proceed like you do with the smaller ones.
  • When ready take them out and let them cool..
  • Prepare the stuffing. Sauté the onion in the oil. When onions are soft but not brown, add the green pepper pieces and continue sautéing the for about 10-15 minutes. Add spices (oregano, cumin, paprika), crushed garlic and stir. Then add tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes are well cooked and there is a nice sauce. Take off the heat.
  • Put mixture into a bowl. Add rice, lentils, eggs, salt, ground black pepper, hot pepper flakes and graded cheese (I used 1 cup). Mix.
  • Sautee mushrooms and add to the prvious mixture. Mix.
  • Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Gently cut a slit in the middle down from the top of a whole eggplant making sure you don’t cut through the skin on the bottom. Take out the seeds. You can use the seeds to make babaganoush or just simply discard them.
  • Just like its Turkish name, karni yarik, splitting belly suggests, stuff the inside of the eggplants, their bellies with the stuffing. You can put a little graded cheese and a thin slice of tomato on the top. Put eggplants in a baking dish. Pour boiling water into dish about 1 inch deep. Place dish into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Take them out when top is brown. Let them cool.
  • Cut off the ends before serving them.
  • Serve warm with cucumber yoghurt sauce.

Yoghurt Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of yoghurt
  • 1 longer English, slicing cucumber
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp of vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp of dried mint
  • fresh mint

Preparations

  • Peel and slice the cucmber. Place the slices in a bowl, salt and let it sit for 15 minutes. Salting is optional. Strain, squeeze out and discard the liquid.
  • In a separate bowl mix together all the other ingredients, stir well. Put in the cucumbers and gently stir mix them in.
  • Garnish with fresh mint. Serve with the eggplants.

enjoy!

Sources

  • Paul pitchford: Healing with Whole Foods
  • Sally Fallon: Nourished Traditions
  • Nancy Harmon Jenkin’s Mediterranean Diet cook book.  

Text, recipe and photo by twincitiesherbs.com.

Turkish stuffed eggplants with lamb (Karni Yarik)

I can’t help but notice the abundance of goods at the farmers’ market. The tables are filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. In fact, it is the time of the year when they have the most varieties available. For today’s post I picked eggplant.  

We associate eggplants with the Middle East but it actually originated from India and has also been popular in other Asian countries for a long time. Today, it is used all over the world.  In Europe, it was a staple until potatoes arrived from the New World. The Turkish have certainly created many recipes with it and believe that they have the best eggplant dishes.  The Spanards had brought it over to the Americas in the 1600′. Eggplants have been used in the United States; however, earlier, people didn’t really know what to do with them. Many just used them for decorations only.

Eggplants come in all kinds of shapes and colors. Shapes can be round or more elongated. The colors can vary from white, green to purple.  In the United States, the rounder, purple eggplant is usually available in stores. For this recipe, try to buy these smaller, medium sized, fat, purple eggplants that I have pictures of. Also, make sure they are about the same size because different sizes will vary their cooking times. Also they should be nice and firm.

Eggplants belong to the night shade family along with tomatoes and potatoes. Eggplant is a cooling bitter plant that is highly nutritious with vitamins A, B, C, K1, E and minerals manganese, magnesium, copper, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc. An interesting fact is that we often believe that it is a vegetable but in fact it is a fruit. Also, it is thought to be aphrodisiac.

In addition to its nutritional values, people have been using eggplants for other health benefits too. Asians like to use them for their cooling property. It is good for digestion, particularly for stagnation and heat. It is beneficial in clearing heat that accumulates during the warmer months but it is still a valuable plant now, during the Indian summer as it can take out heat that may have been trapped in during the summer. In addition, its antioxidants can protect the liver from toxins.

Eggplants are also associated with fertility from their ability to unblock stagnation in the liver and the womb. In China, brides were supposed to have 12 eggplant recipes before they got married. By the same token, pregnant women are advised to limit the consumption of eggplants because of the possibility of miscarriage. 

My recipe is the Turkish Karni Yarik that means ‘splitting belly’. If you look at the picture, this will make more sense. You basically stuff the inside, the belly of the eggplant. The warming lamb meat pairs nicely with the cooling eggplant with a hint of mint.  When I was in Turkey, I remember this dish was always on the menu and I really liked it. Please see my next post for its vegetarian version if it interests you.

RECIPE

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of rice (about half a cup raw)
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 4 medium, equal sized purple eggplants. Please see description above.
  • 1 lb of ground lamb
  • 1 finally chopped yellow onion
  • 1 finally chopped peppers (green, red, yellow-your choice)
  • 1 Tbsp cumin
  • 1 Tbsp dried peppermint (You might not have mint in your pantry. People usually use mint in teas and don’t cook with it. It can be found at the spice section of a grocery store or at herb stores).
  • 1/2 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika powder
  • 1/4 tsp of hot red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp of salt or to taste
  • 3 fresh ripe plum tomatoes or canned
  • hand-full of hard cheese (optional)
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • fresh mint to garnish
  • 1/2 cup of flat leafed parsley

Preparation

  • Cook 1/2 cup of rice in 1 cup of water. You can add bay leaves if you wish.
  • Bake eggplants. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Wash eggplants and put them on an oiled baking sheet. Prick them with a fork in about 6-8 places, half inch deep to prevent them from exploding in your oven. Coat them with some olive oil with a brush. Bake them for 45-60 minutes or until they are nice and soft, so you can put the blade of a knife through easily. You don’t want them to be hard but they shouldn’t collapse either. Once they start becoming soft, keep an eye on them. If you’re using larger eggplants, you will have to cut them in half lengthwise. Oil the top and proceed like you do with the smaller ones.
  • When ready take them out and let them cool. Set aside.
  • Prepare the stuffing. Sauté the onion in the oil. When onions are soft but not brown, add peppers and continue sautéing for about 10-15 minutes. Add spices (mint, cumin, paprika), crushed garlic and then the tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes or until tomatoes are well cooked and there is a nice sauce.
  • In a separate pot, warm up some oil and sauté the lamb quickly for about 7-10 minutes. If lamb is not fatty enough, you might have to add more olive oil.
  • Take off heat. Put the stuffing mixture into a bowl. Add rice, lamb, meat, salt, pepper, parsley and hot pepper flakes. It is optional but I also added graded cheese (I used 1/2 cup). Mix. (The stuffing can be made a day ahead).
  • Preheat oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Gently cut a slit in the middle down from the top of a whole eggplant making sure you don’t cut through the skin. Take out the seeds. You can use the seeds to make babaganoush or just simply discard them. Just like its name suggests, stuff the inside of the eggplants, their bellies with the stuffing. You can put a little graded cheese and a thin slice of tomato on the top. Put eggplants in a baking dish. Pour boiling water into dish about 1 inch deep. Place dish into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  • Take them out of the oven when top is brown. Let them cool.
  • Cut off the ends before serving them.
  • Serve warm with cucumber yoghurt sauce.

Yoghurt sauce (cacik)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups of yoghurt
  • 1 longer English, slicing cucumber
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp of vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp of dried mint
  • fresh mint

Preparation

  • Peel and slice the cucmber. Place the slices in a bowl, salt and let it sit for 15 minutes. Strain, squeeze out and discard the liquid.
  • In a separate bowl mix together all the other ingredients, stir well. Put in the cucumbers and gently stir mix them in.
  • Garnish with fresh mint. Serve with the eggplants.

enjoy!

Sources

  • Paul pitchford: Healing with Whole Foods
  • Sally Fallon: Nourished Traditions
  • Nancy Harmon Jenkin’s Mediterranean Diet cook book.  

Text, recipe and photo by twincitiesherbs.com.

Hungarian spaghetti squash stew (tökfözelék)

Some like it white, some like it red … others use flour, some others don’t … and could be served hot or cold …  Well, I like it red with flour and served hot. This is one of my favorite recipes and I believe it would make a nice transition into the late summer days as well.

This dish is based on the Hungarian tökfözelék recipe. The sweet spaghetti squash definitely is the main ingredient. It is growing right now and I believe is perfect for the end of the summer. The other important ingredient that everybody uses regardless of other preferences is dill. Dill is a unique sweet plant that gives the zesty, tangy flavor with slightly bitter undertones. It helps digestion and calms the mind. I like to balance the sweet flavor with pungent flavors, in this case, the onions and the garlic will do that. Of course we also have the sour, acidic flavor from the vinegar and the Hungarian staple, sour cream. At the end, we add the salt to create this pleasant sweet and sour dish.

RECIPE

Ingredients

  • vegetable oil (sunflower)
  • 1 larger onion, chopped, or graded
  • 1 Tbsp flour
  • 1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika powder
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1/2 cold water
  • 1 smaller spaghetti squash (about 1 lb) (Not exactly what we use in Hungary but it is a perfect substitute).
  • water or meat stock
  • 4 dill springs, (about a hand-full)
  • sour cream
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 red pepper flalkes

Preparation

chopped dill

Using the large hole grater
grated squash

  • Prepare the spaghetti squash. Peel, and grate through the larger holes of your cheese grater.
  • Optional: Soak in 2 tsp salt for 20 minutes. Squeeze water out. This step will make the squash less watery.
  • Chop the onion fine or you can grate too.
  • Have a 1/2 cup of cold water ready.
  • Sauté the onion with a pinch of salt in a little oil until soft but not brown. When you can smell the aroma of the onion, add paprika powder and garlic, stir and after 30 second add the cold water quickly that you set aside earlier. Stir.
  • Cook the onion for 15 minutes.
  • Add the squash meat, stir in and cover with water or stock.
  • Bring to a boil and then turn down to medium heat and cook covered for 15-30 minutes.
  • Chop dill, only the leaves though, discard the stem. Add the dill to the pot.
  • Also mix 1 Tbsp of flour with cold little water and add a little hot liquid from the dish. Whisk well and add it to the dish.
  • Bring the dish to a quick boil, cook for a few minutes and turn heat off.
  • Add vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir. Take off heat.
  • Let the dish cool and but at least for 6 hours so the flavors can settle.
  • Serve with a dab of sour cream and some protein (egg or beef dishes would go well). I also serve mashed potatoes.
  • I served it with my Eggplant Parmesan dish. The bitter eggplants complemented this sweet and sour dish nicely.

Enjoy! Jó étvágyat!

Text, photos, recipe by twincitiesherbs.com

Lacto-fermented pickles (kovászos uborka)

Pickles are so easy to make and are so good for you. It is just a win-win situation so why not give it a try? Fermenting fruits and vegetables has a long history and today it is more popular than ever. I remember my relatives had their pantries filled with jars of pickled vegetables. One vegetable that they made regularly was cucumbers or more exactly pickling cucumbers.

Our ancestors used fermentation to preserve fruits and vegetables so they could eat them all year along. It is hard to imagine today but they had no freezers or canning machines. To supply food for their families they had to rely on the process of lacto-fermentation. So let’s look at what this process is. Lactic acid producing bacteria that is abundant on roots and leaves of plants converts starches and sugars in vegetables and fruits into lactic acid. Lactic acid acts as a natural preservative preventing the formation of putrefying bacteria.

The salt also aids this process creating an alkaline environment that helps destroy the bad bacteria and the good, probiotic ones to thrive. This environment will help keep the bad bacteria out. Using whey can also aid this process.

In addition to its preserving ability, lacto-fermentation also has health benefits for people. Today, these benefits are well known as it is living its renaissance … but for the records, here it goes. Eating smaller amount of fermented foods helps our digestion as it particularly helps revive the beneficial bacteria in the intestinal flora by improving the growth of healthy Lactobacillus acidophilus. So the same substance that was responsible for the preservation of the foods is also beneficial for our digestion. They create enzymes and are antibiotic and anti-carcinogenic as well. In fact, historians believe that pickled vegetables were one of Cleopatra’s beauty secrets for a good reason.

It is easy to make but you will need to get fresh pickling cucumbers. I find farmers’ markets to be the best place or even better if you can grow them yourself. It is crucial that the cukes are fresh and firm as they spoil within a week after they had been picked. Ideally, they should be made within a day of picking. If you can’t make them within a day, you need to keep them in the refrigerator. Also, if your cukes became soft, I found a trick – hehe obviously I have done it many times before. Soak the cukes in cold water and they will become nice and firm again. You need to do this step anyway because soaking will remove the dirt.

Another consideration is size. Any size works great, there are smaller ones and bigger ones. I personally prefer the tiny cucumbers (gerkins) because they are crunchier and have a stronger skin. Some people like the bigger ones. They tend to have larger seeds and are softer. Size also makes a difference in how you process them. If you get bigger ones, you will need to cut them up into four parts or make four slits inside. You do not have to cut the small ones.

So what else will you need besides the pickling cucumbers? You need sterilized large mouthed bottles, salt, water, and spices. This is fairly easy process and should not be skipped. Just boil the bottles in water for 5-10 minutes and that is it. Or you can sterilize them in your dishwasher if it has the ability to sterilize.

I personally prepare my pickles the European way. My favorite combination is dill, mustard seeds, cayenne peppers, horseradish roots and garlic. Of course this list is endless and you can use whatever your heart desires. My great-grandmother also put in grape wine and leaves to enhance the health benefits but you can put other leaves in as well like cucumber, white oak, raspberry, mugwort leaves etc. Oh speaking of health benefits, I always add a slice of sourdough bread. Sourdough is highly nutritious and added to the pickles will further enhance its intestinal flora promoting property.

Once ready, taste the unique tangy flavor that is produced with the lacto-fermentation process. It will not be over-powering like the pickles that are made with vinegar but it will have a refreshing, mild flavor. If the pickles are still raw, just leave them in the jar and try them the next day.

Also, as we eat the pickles, I always try to drink the liquid, the brine that pickles were processed in. It is also beneficial for digestion, so don’t throw it away… and I believe it makes a fabulous summer drink. Once you make it yourself, you will never want to buy pickles at the store again.

Pickling cucumbers

Recipe is for a quart of water

  • Sterilized wide- mouthed mason bottles (3 pint or 1.5L)
  • about 15-20 pickling cucumbers
  • 2 Tbsp salt for every pint of water used or use 4 tsp of whey instead of the salt
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
  • 3 flowers of fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill. I prefer the larger pickling dill but the dried one works too.
  • Small piece of Cayanne pepper
  • Small piece of horseradish root
  • 1 grape leaf and its top or other leaves like cucumber, white oak, raspberry or mugwort would work great too.
  • sour dough bread (To prevent the bread from getting mushy, I use the dried out crust or rolls).

Directions

  • Sterilize the bottles. Put the bottles in a big pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for 5 more minutes.
  • Meanwhile soak cukes in cold water for at least 1/2 hour.
  • Boil water. When done turn off heat. I let it cool a bit for about 5 minutes before I pour it on the pickles so it can heat to the right temperature on its own.
  • Meanwhile, I put all the seasoning on the bottom of the jar except the sour dough bread that I put on the top.
  • Rinse the cucumbers well. Cut the bigger ones like I mentioned above. Cut off the blossom end of the cucumbers. Tightly place them in the jar in a vertical position. It is important that you put them tightly into the jar because you will be able to fit more in and also you want to make sure that they don’t move around and are covered with water.
  • Pour in the water. You want to make sure the water covers everything including the bread on the top as well. Put a plate on top and let it sit for 3-7 days in a warm place. (In Hungary, you can see pickle jars ‘brewing’ in window seals all over the place. It is quite impressive how creative people can get who live in small places). The time will depend on the amount of heat it is exposed to. It will take 3 days on hot days but can take up to 7 days if it is cooler. You will see bubbles while the brine is ‘cooking’. Avoid direct hot, direct sun.
  • Check the bottles everyday and add more boiling water if needed.
  • Do a taste check after 3 days or when you think they are ready. They are ready when they don’t taste raw but are not mushy either.
  • When they are done put them in the refrigerator. This stops the process of lacto-fermentation that would make the cucumbers too soft if continued too long.
  • Now it is ready, enjoy!

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Sources