Turkish pilaf with raisins and pine nuts

   There are many types of pilaf, also in Turkey people love pilaf: it might be with different ingredients. This one is very popular, because of raisins and pine nuts. Amazing taste and nice composition.

   You'll need rice, raisins, pine nuts, butter and water. That's all!

                                         Add to the butter handful of pine nuts

                                          Then raisins as you wish

                                          2 glasses of rice for 5 persons

                                          3 glasses of water

     After boiling the water close the lid, reduce heat and wait until the water evaporated

                                          Try the rice, it should be soft

And close with paper towel for the good quenching pilaf (it is Turkish way) for 10-15 mins

                                             It is splendid garnish for any dish

Tea time: Quince fantasy

    Once upon time my great friend Yulya brought me a jar of quince jam made by her grandma. When I've tasted I understood that it is more then jam. It was fantastic taste, and I thought it is really fantasy of quince. Most of people can not eat quince, they prefer desserts from it: baked it in the oven or boiled compote, even in Uzbekistan we stuffing the quince with minced meat and cooking in steamer (double boiler). But that is another recipe, which I'll try to post someday :) So, here is recipe:

    You'll need 1 kg quince 1 kg sugar, but I prefer put 700-800 gr of sugar, cause sometimes quinces are so sweet.  For 1 kg sugar 1 glasses of water. 

      Making sweet syrup:

                                                      Boil the syrup

                                              Cut the quince into small cubes

  Add to syrup, do not boil it together for this moment, leave it in the dark place for 6-8 hours

         Boil it for 5 minutes and again leave in the dark place for 6-8 hours, repeat it twice

                             

                   The third time add walnuts and lemon, then boil it for 15-20 minutes

Turkish dish: Karniyarik

   This is again recipe from eggplants. You'll need: 4 eggplants, 100 grams of minced meat, 1 large onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tomatoes, 2 peppers, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, vegetable oil for frying.

   Cut off the tails and cut the strips of peel eggplant, make a few cuts, salt and cover with water for 20 minutes. We do this so that eggplant came out of bitterness. 

   For the filling finely cut onions. Remove skins and cut tomatoes. Finely crumbled garlic. 

  Fry in small amount of oil the onion until light golden brown, add ground beef, tomato and garlic. Salt, pepper and fry for 5 minutes.

  Wash eggplants, squeeze and dry. Fry eggplant until golden brown in a large amount of oil in the pan, turning occasionally, or in a deep fryer. Sop excess oil with paper towels.

  We spread eggplant ready for bake ware with low bumpers. Make a longitudinal incision on each eggplant, but not all. Put stuffing. Dilute tomato paste with hot water and pour this sauce eggplants.

   Bake in a preheated oven 200 C on the bottom shelf for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Home made pizza

      I am sure that every one has own pizza recipes, this is mine :) we love pizza very much. But sometimes we don't have an opportunity to order it. I'll share my own way of baking pizza, and hope you'll like simplicity of it.

     For the dough: 1 tablespoon active dry yeast, 1.5 cups of warm water, 3.5 cups of (500 g) flour, 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, pinch of salt. The temperature in the kitchen should be around 20–24 C for the dough to properly rise.

     Pizza sauce: Tomatoes, 2 soup spoons of tomato paste, olive oil, garlic and dried spices including oregano, basil and rosemary.

          Until the dough rises, you can prepare sauce, fry all ingredients in olive oil: garlic, tomatoes, spices.

                       We love too much cheese, so I put even inside of the dough

Shrimp hot pot

      I tasted it at a small restaurant in Bursa, Turkey. That time I was pregnant, and counting every calorie. Especially I was trying not to eat much bread. But when waiter presented hot shrimps in the pot - still smoking and smelling appetizing - I forgot about the calories of the bread, because the sauce was tasting particularly better if you dip your bread in it.
      So you'll need frozen shrimps, mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes, garlic, butter, vinegar, spices and salt.

 

                        I prefer to add one soup spoon of vinegar for the better taste

     As I noticed this dish "ask"s much bread to dip and take pleasure from food juice, that's why I prefer bread with bran...