Recipes in English

Have I told you that my blogging skills are very limited? Well, now you know. So I had to figure out a way of reaching out to the non-Turkish speaking audience. I could not let anyone suffer in the hands of GoogleTranslate, as it does not really help much with the so-called 'exotic languages' such as Turkish. 

The best solution I could think of was to publish the recipes under this tab after I translate them. This means I will publish the recipes in English with a little bit of delay but I still think it is better than some translation software.

Enjoy!

p.s.: Please find all recipes in English under the 'Recipes in English' tab at this link: http://herlezzetbirmucize.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

Pumpkin Soup 

   

This is a simple recipe and it's one of my favorites. I hope you'll like it.

Ingredients:

5 slices of pumpkin,chopped
1 mid-size potato,chopped
1 mid-size onion, finely chopped
1/2 glass milk
4 1/2 glass water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Fresh green dill branches &  heavy cream to garnish

Directions:

1-  Saute onions in hot oil until soft. Add chopped pumpkins and potatoes and saute all for 5 minutes. 

2- Add enough water to cover and cook until pumpkins are soft. 

3- Puree the pumpkins and potatoes using a blender. 

4- Add the milk and the water as well as the spices and blend it all together. 

5- Bring to boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 10 minutes, uncovered.

6- Pour into soup bowls and garnish with a branch of dill and a teaspoon of heavy cream. 

Saganaki

Cheese saganaki is a great dish from Greek cuisine. It is basically pan-seared cheese served with a wedge of lemon. 

Sagani(sahan in Turkish) refers to the pan with two handles in which the cheese is seared. 

Although it is a very simple recipe, there are a couple of tricks that you have to know. First of all, you have to choose the right kind of cheese. My favorite is kefalotyri but in case you cannot find kefalotyri, you can also opt for graviera, kasseri, and if you are too desperate, even halloumi. 

Another trick is to get the oil really hot before frying the cheese. 

And don't forget to squeeze a wedge of lemon over the cheese before you serve it.

Ingredients:

1 slab of cheese, 1/2 inch thick

1 egg, lightly beaten

All-purpose flour for dredging

Olive oil for frying

Wedge of lemon

Insructions:

1- Dip the cheese into the egg mix and dust with flour. Repeat.

2- Heat  the olive oil in a frying pan.

3-  Sear the cheese until golden brown on both sides. 

4- Serve hot with a squeeze of lemon. 

Enjoy! Kalh oreksh!

Notes: 1- You can as well moisten the cheese in lukewarm water instead of the egg mix before you dredge it in flour.

2- If you want to serve flaming saganaki, add a shot of ouzo to the already seared cheese and ignite with a lighter, but with caution.