Karnıyarık (meat mixture stuffed whole fried eggplants)

karnıyarık means “split belly.” Karnıyarık is one of the best known and loved dishes by almost every single person,
in every part of Turkey. Eggplants, you are going to use for this dish are supposed to be tiny
or small Italian ones which is the closest eggplant variety to Turkish eggplants.

Preparation

Peel eggplants leaving lengthwise stripes. Dry well and fry them as a whole in a deep pot with oil until golden brown.
Place them on a platter lined with paper towel to drain.

In a  frying pan, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Add finely chopped onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add green peppers and sauté another 4 minutes. Stir in ground beef and cook until ground meat soaks all the juice. Add diced tomatoes and mix well. When tomatoes are done, turn the heat off. Add chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.

Place eggplants in an oven dish. With the help of a spoon, slit the eggplants into two. But leave the tops and bottoms attached. Stuff eggplants with ground beef mixture. Place a slice tomato and half of a fried green pepper on top of each split belly eggplant.

Pour 1 cup of hot water or the juice of meat mixture on top and bake them in preheated oven at 200 C until green peppers are done. 

Serve with rice and salad.

Menemen

Menemen is commonly eaten for breakfast and served with bread.

Ingredients:

8 tbsp olive oil

2 long green peppers halved, seeded and finely chopped

2 large succulent tomatoes peeled and finely diced

4 large eggs slightly whisked

pinch salt

pinch red pepper flakes

pinch dry thyme

Preparation:

Warm up the frying pan and transfer the olive oil to heat up.
Add chopped long green peppers and cook until the peppers start softening (about 3 min).
Stir frequently to prevent burning. Add the tomatoes into the pan and let simmer for about 5 min,
or until most of the moisture evaporates. However, do not allow the tomatoes to dry out completely
– you want some of that tomato moisture in your menemen.

Eventually fold in eggs. Stir gently now and then to fasten the cooking:
your menemen will be done in 2 minutes. You don’t want to overcook it to get dry crumbles.

If you want you can add Turkish meat products such as sucuk (a spicy sausage)
or pastırma (thinly sliced dried cured beef) to menemen.

                                        Enjoy your meal!

                  TURKISH QUINCE DESSERT

4 quinces

4 glasses of sour cherry juice
2 cups of brown sugar
A piece of cinnamon stick
A piece of clove
A spoon full of starch
200 ml cream
Some nuts

Preparation :

Peel the quinces,cut them into two pieces and take out the seeds

Put the quinces and some of the seeds in a pan.

Add sugar, cinnamon stick, clove and the sour cherry juice and cook in medium heat until the quinces become soft and pink.

Leave it to cool down.

Stir the cream in a mixer until it gets thicker.

Take out the quinces  from the pan when they are coo.l

Melt the starch with the rest of the sauce in the pan.

Put the quinces in a big plate and pour jelly souce of starch on it.

Put the cream and some nuts on the quinces.

Now you can serve your dessert.

Enjoy your dessert!