Yasemin's Kitchen

Mediterranean Recipes with a Turkish Flair

Diced Zucchini with Scrambled Eggs

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Diced Zucchini with Scrambled Eggs

This is a common dish from the rural areas of the Aegean region of Turkey where I grew up. When I was a little girl, especially during summer months, I used to pop in and out of our neighbors’ homes. I used to play with their kids most of the time. One of my favorite neighbors was aunt Bedriye, a sweet lady whose kids were grown and already out of the house. She used to live by herself. Although she had no young kids to play with, I remember visiting her often because I always felt happy and welcomed in her house. This giggley woman would tell me little stories all the while she did the daily chores of her house, like cooking, sweeping her yard, painting the old tin olive oil containers to plant flowers in them. I have many fond memories of her. One of the things I learned from her was this zucchini dish. It is very easy and quick to make. It has simply, healthy ingredients. It is a vegetarian dish, yet the egg you add to it adds a bit of protein, making it a healthy, light and delicious dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 5-6 zucchini, peeled and diced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup fresh dill, finely chopped (optional)

Directions:

Wash, peel and dice zucchini about 1/4 inch size. Peel and finely chop the onion. Wash and remove the seeds of the bell pepper. Dice it finely. In a large pan, saute onions and bell peppers in olive oil over medium heat, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini, add paprika, salt and pepper and stir. Cover the pot and reduce heat to slow. Let it cook until all vegetables are tender, about 10-12 minutes.

In a small bowl, scramble the egg. Add it to the pot, stir gently until the egg is cooked, about 1 minute. Add finely chopped dill (optional) and stir to mix it in or sprinkle over the dish. Transfer to a serving dish, serve hot.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Chopped onions
Cubed zucchini and bell peppers
Chopped fresh dill
Onions and bell peppers sautéed in olive oil
Zucchini is added to the pot
All vegetables are sautéed stirring occasionally
All vegetables are cooked, ready to add scrambled eggs
Diced Zucchini with Scrambled Eggs ready to be served

Creamy Vegetable Soup – Kremalı Sebze Çorbası

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Creamy Vegetable Soup – Kremalı Sebze  Çorbası

Ingredients:

  • 2 stalks of leeks, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots, chopped
  • 2 zucchini, chopped
  • 1 cup cauliflower florets
  • 1 bunch Swiss Chards, chopped
  • 1 medium to large potato, peeled and cut to pieces
  • 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
  • 4 cups water or chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:

  • 2 table spoons butter
  • 1 table spoon all purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Wash, coarsely chop all vegetables. Combine water (or chicken stock) and vegetables in a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, let it simmer over medium heat until all vegetables are cooked. Using a hand blender, puree vegetables in the pot until the mixture is smooth. Add salt to taste. Set aside. (If you don’t have a hand blender, you can also use a regular blender to puree the vegetables. You may need to do it in 2 batches, but it works just fine).

For the creamy sauce, melt butter (or oil) in large pot over medium heat. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly over medium heat about 4-5 minutes. Slowly add the milk and cream (optional) and salt to taste. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Slowly add the vegetable puree to the pot, stirring constantly to avoid lumping. If the soup is too thick, add more water (or chicken stock) to it. Bring it to a boil over medium to slow heat . Add pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Creamy Vegetable Soup – Kremalı Sebze  Çorbası

Zucchini Fritters – Mücver

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Zucchini Fritters – Mücver

Who knew zucchini tasted so good? Start with zucchini, add a bunch of herbs, add eggs and flour, then fry them to make these delicious fritters. Dip them into garlic yogurt and take a byte. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how good it tastes. This is one of my husband’s favorite dishes. They are best when they are hot, but you can even eat them cold as left overs right out of the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

  • 5 small zucchinis
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup Italian parsley (flat leaf), chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
  • 3-4 green onions, finely chopped
  • 1 cup feta cheese, grated or crumbled
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup olive oil for frying

For garlic yogurt:

  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:

Wash, peel and grate zucchinis. Place grated zucchinis in a bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the zucchini. Let it stand for about 10 minutes. Zucchini will release its juice. Squeeze in your hand and place it in a large bowl.

Zucchini
Zucchini peeled and grated
Grated zucchini sprinkled with salt in bowl
Juice squeezed out of zucchini
Discard zucchini juice left in bowl

In a small bowl, whip eggs with an egg beater. Add beaten eggs, chopped greens, feta cheese and paprika to the zucchini in the large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix with a spoon. Slowly add flour, stirring with a spoon. It should be a lumpy batter. Depending on how juicy zucchini is, if the batter feels runny, you may have to add up to 1/2 cup more flour.

Use fresh parsley, mint and dill
Fresh cut herbs, green onions, and grated feta cheese
Zucchini batter before flour added
Zucchini batter after flour added

Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Drop a scoop of the batter in hot oil. Add more scoops to the pan, but make sure they don’t touch each other. Fry them on both sides until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Place them on paper towels to drain excess oil.

Tablespoon full of batter dropped in hot oil to fry
Place fried patties on paper towel to get rid of excess oil
Dry fried patties on paper towel to get rid of excess oil

Serve them hot or at room temperature with yogurt or garlic yogurt.

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Stuffed Zucchini & Peppers – Kabak ve Biber Dolmasi

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Dolma means “stuffed” in Turkish, referring to stuffed vegetable dishes. Best known dolma by far is the stuffed grape leaves. Other vegetables that are used in making dolma are peppers, eggplants, zucchini, tomatoes, cabbage, Swiss chards and onions. There are two versions of dolma. One with meat filling, other meatless. Both are made with a grain like rice or bulgur, onions and different herbs and spices depending on the version. Recipe below is made with ground beef and rice. Meatless recipe to follow at a later time. Dolma is great comfort food, tasty and satisfying. Like many Turkish dishes, it is usually served with yogurt on the side.
 
Ingredients:
  • 6 medium zucchini
  • 1 lb mixed red/orange/yellow small peppers
  • ½ lb lean ground beef
  • ½ cup rice, washed and drained
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 table spoon paprika
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 cup boiling water
Directions:
Cut the tops of the peppers, remove seeds, wash, set in a pot.
Peel and wash the zucchinis. Cut the top 1/3 of the zucchinis. Using a melon baller and a small tea spoon, remove the inside of the bottom parts of the zucchinis (see picture). Save the top portions and the pieces that come from the inside. You can make zucchini dip (see recipe dated Feb 20,2012) using the leftover zucchini pieces. Sprinkle paprika inside the zucchini shells. Set them also inside the cooking pot.
peppers ready to be filled
peeled zucchini
zucchini ready to be filled
peppers and zucchini in the pot, ready to be filled
In a bowl, place ground beef, rice, onions, dill, olive oil, salt & pepper. Mix well with a spoon. Fill the peppers and the zucchini with the filling.
filling for the dolmas
pepper and zucchini dolmas ready to be cooked
In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste with boiling water. Add this sauce to the pot. DO NOT pour it over the stuffed vegetables, Gently pour from the side, letting the sauce go to the bottom of the pot. Otherwise the dolmas may get mushy. Start cooking over medium heat. When the sauce starts to boil, reduce heat to slow. Let it simmer until the rice is cooked and the peppers are tender, about 30-45 minutes.
Dolmas ready to be served
Serve hot with yogurt on the side or with salad.
Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Zucchini Dip with Garlic Yogurt

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Zucchini Dip with Garlic Yogurt
This is a “meze”, an appetizer, usually served as one of the side dishes that accompany a typical “raki dinner table” where many appetizers accompany the anis based Turkish drink called Raki. For this recipe I thank my friend Guner. Each time we have a pot luck dinner at a friend’s house we ask her to bring this as one of her specialties, “garlic yogurt zucchini meze”. It looks and taste just like one that is made with eggplants. Eggplant version requires fire roasted eggplants, thus much more labor intensive. This one is simpler, yet delicious.
Though zucchini does not have much of a taste by itself, when it is mixed with other vegetables or spices, it becomes a very appetizing dish. Garlic and yogurt add a lot of flavor to this one in particular. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
  • 2 lb zucchini
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 cups yogurt
  • Salt to taste
  • ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
Directions:
Wash and peel the zucchini, cut them in 1 inch thick pieces, place in a pot. Add olive oil and salt.
Peeled zucchini
Zucchini cut and placed in a pot with olive oil and salt
Without adding any water, cook over low heat. Zucchini releases its juices. It will look watery at first. Cook for about 30 minutes or until the zucchini is tender and no longer watery.
Add the flour and stirring with a spoon, cook for another 5 minutes. Using a fork, mash the zucchini.
Add garlic and yogurt, mix well with a spoon. Place it on a serving dish. Garnish with chopped fresh dill. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
Zucchini cooked until soft and not watery
Flour added and cooked a bit longer
Garlic yogurt added, garnished with fresh dill

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

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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]