Yasemin's Kitchen

Mediterranean Recipes with a Turkish Flair

Simple and Delicious Green Lentil Salad with Herbs – Maydanozlu Yeşil Mercimek Salatası

by Leave a Comment

 Green Lentil Salad with Herbs

My friend Zinnur, ever so busy, somehow always finds time to get the friends together at her house. This salad was everybody’s favorite at the last dinner party she had. Simple, yet delicious lentil salad. Cumin gives the salad its authentic Middle Eastern flavor and of course as a natural remedy for gas and indigestion, it goes very well with lentils as it does with beans. Cumin also has antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-diabetic properties. So, enjoy the flavor and feel good about eating this salad.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup green lentils
  • 1 tea spoon salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 table spoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
  • 45-5 green onions (about 1/2 cup), finely chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Bring water to a boil in a pot over medium high heat. Add rinsed lentils and a teaspoon of salt, stir. When it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer until lentils are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain, do NOT rinse lentils; place them in a bowl. Add olive oil while lentils are still hot. This allows lentils absorb the flavor. Wait until lentils cool down to room temperature. Taste the lentils, if they need salt, add salt to your taste. Add all other ingredients, gently stir with a spoon. Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with a few sprigs of parsley. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Afiyet olsun! Bon Appetit!

Dry Green Lentils
Green onions, parsley and cumin
Green Lentil Salad ready to be tossed
Green Lentil Salad with Herbs

 

Roasted Bell Peppers in Lemon Garlic Sauce – Tarator Soslu Közlenmiş Biber

by 1 Comment

Tarator is a garlic-olive oil based sauce that is commonly used in summer salads in Western Turkey. Cooked long string beans (börülce), zucchini, peppers of all kinds are transformed into zesty salads simply by adding the tarator sauce to them. If you were to make it the old fashioned way, here’s what you do: First garlic and salt are made into a paste with a mortar and pestle. Then in a bowl, as you continuously twirl this garlic paste in the same direction, you ever so slowly add small amounts of olive oil. This mixture slowly starts to thicken and starts looking like a creamy mayonnaise. When it is “just the right consistency”, you add lemon juice and water to the sauce. Knowing when to stop adding olive oil is the tricky part. Because if you add more than you should, then the oil and garlic will separate and it will no longer look creamy. Back in the day, in our neck of the woods, this used to be a measure of how good a cook a woman is. Nowadays, one no longer has to master this craft thanks to blenders and food processors,

The sauce can be prepared in advance and can be stored in the refrigerator like any salad dressing.
If you like, you can roast fresh peppers and make it more authentic, however, roasted peppers that come in a jar work well since the sauce add plenty of flavor. Enjoy!

Roasted Bell Peppers with Walnuts in Garlic Lemon Sauce

Roasted Bell Peppers in Lemon Garlic Sauce – Taratorlu Kozlenmis Biber
Ingredients:
  • 1 19oz jar or roasted bell peppers
Dressing:
  • 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • juice of 1-2 lemons
  • ½ cup water
  • Salt to taste

Garnish:

  • ¼ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Rinse and drain the roasted bell peppers, pat dry with a paper towel, cut into bite-size pieces, arrange them in a serving dish.
To prepare the dressing, mince garlic with a garlic press. Place garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and salt into a food processor or a blender. Blend until it is smooth. It will thicken as it emulsifies. Taste to see if you need to add more lemon juice or salt. Add water and mix again.
Pour dressing over the roasted bell peppers. Garnish with chopped walnuts. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
 

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Ingredients
Roasted bell peppers cut into pieces
Roasted Bell Peppers in Lemon-Garlic Sauce




Red Beet Green Apple Salad

by Leave a Comment

Red Beet Green Apple Salad

I don’t believe there are any Turkish recipes that use raw beets. Typically in Turkish Cuisine, beets are cooked before they are added to salads or mezes. That said, when I was visiting my family in Izmir in April, one of our long time family friends, Yildiz abla made us a beet salad to die for. Simple, yet delicious, a bright colored, zesty salad made with raw beets, green apples, herbs and walnuts. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
  • 1 large or two small red beet
  • 1 large green apple (Granny Smith)
  • ¼ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup walnuts, chopped
  • 2 green onions, finely chopped (optional)
  • ½ cup fine bulgur
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 table spoon pomegranate paste/molasses (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • A few sprigs of parsley or dill for garnish
Directions:

Peel the red beet, wash and grate using the fine side of the grater. Place it in a large bowl.
Wash and grate the green apple using the coarse side of the grater. Add it to the bowl.
Place bulgur in a separate bowl. Add boiling water to it. Stir with a spoon, let it sit for a couple of minutes allowing bulgur to soak the water in. Using a strainer, drain excess water. Add bulgur to the bowl, mix with a spoon.
Finely chop dill and parsley.  Add the herbs and chopped walnuts to the bowl. Mix gently with a spoon. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, pomegranate paste (optional), salt and pepper. Stir with a spoon. Cover the bowl and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes allowing all the flavors to come out.
Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with fresh parsley or dill leaves.
Bon Appetit! Afiyet Olsun!
Peeled beet, green apple, dill and parsley
Finely Grated Beets
Coarsly Grated Greeen Apples
Chopped dill and parsley
Bulgur soaked in hot water
Chopped walnuts
Red Beet Green Apple Salad

 

 

Cauliflower Tabule Salad

by Leave a Comment

Cauliflower Tabule (Tabbouleh) Salad – Karnıbahar Kısırı
 
Tabule (Tabbouleh) is a traditional Lebanese salad made with fine bulgur, finely chopped herbs, seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice. Turkish version, called “Kısır”, has less green herbs, sometimes with added chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. My friend Semra suggested that I try using cauliflowers instead of bulgur. Hesitantly I gave it a try and the result was a delicious salad with less calories and no gluten.
Enjoy!
 
Cauliflower Tabule Salad
 
Ingredients:
  • 2 cups cauliflowers
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh dill, finely chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh mint, finely chopped
  • 1 cup tomatoes, chopped
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • A few sprigs of mint for garnish
Directions:
 
Remove cauliflower florets from the cauliflower head, discarding the stems. Wash and drain. Place in a food processor and chop until florets turn into small particles. Place cauliflower in a large bowl.
Finely chop all herbs. Cut tomatoes into small pieces. Add all into the bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Mix well with a spoon. Cover the bowl and let it chill in the refrigerator allowing flavors to mix.
Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Bon Appetit! Afiyet Olsun!
 
Finely Chopped Cauliflowers
Finely Chopped Herbs
Chopped Tomatoes
All ingredients mixed
Cauliflower Tabule Salad

Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing

by Leave a Comment

Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing
Ingredients:
  • 6 cups baby kale
  • 1 medium green apple, sliced
  • 1 medium orange, peeled
  • 1 small avocado, diced
  • 2  Tbsp hemp seeds (optional)
  • 2-3 Tbsp raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • 1/2 cup oranges
  • 1/2 small sweet onion, thinly sliced (optional)
  • black pepper to taste

Dressing:

  • 2 1/2 Tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
  • 3 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon avocado or grape seed oil
  • 1 tsp pomegranate molasses

Directions:
For dressing, mix together all ingredients with a whisk or by shaking in a bottle. Taste and make adjustments to your taste. I usually at least quadruple the recipe and save the left over dressing in the fridge for future use with other salads. Set aside the dressing.

 
Wash and drain kale. Remove any stems that are sticking out. 
 
Cut apple into slices and then cut each slice across in thin triangles.
 
Peel oranges with a knife, exposing the juicy orange part. Cut oranges in half lengthwise. Place on the flat side. Cut each half again lengthwise, then slice across.


 Combine kale, apples and oranges in a large bowl. Add thinly sliced onions (optional). Add enough dressing to cover the leaves. Toss well to make sure the dressing is evenly distributed. Add hemp (optional) and pumpkin seeds, avocados and gently toss again. Transfer to a serving dish, serve chilled.

Bon Appetit! Afiyet Olsun!

Baby kale
Baby kale stems removed
Kale Salad ingredients
Kale Salad ready for tossing
Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing

 

 

Connect

Yasemin Ari

I love cooking, especially cooking with friends and family.

I believe that some of the best conversations take place around the kitchen counter... [Read More]