Semizotu, Soğluk, Pirpirim or Purslane

Purslane at the Bazaar

Semizotu, Soğluk and Pirpirim are the names given to Purslane.  Why there are 3 names for the same weed in the same country beats me.  I was confused when I ate a semizotu salad and it resembled soğluk, I asked the hostess and she said no no its semizotu.  Depending on where you come from depends on the name you know it by.  


I first ate this when my mother in law came back from her garden with a few handfuls of it.  She waved it in my face and said yemek, yemek (food, food). I wasnt so keen on it then but after making it myself and tweeking her recipe it is one of my favourites.


There are 2 simple salads that are both equally delicous and easy to prepare.  Also both are great for the Meze table.

Purslane yogurt salad 


500gr purslane
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt
500gr yogurt
1tbsp dried mint


Chop the purslane up very finely and place into a bowl.  Add in the yogurt and rest of the ingredients and beat well until everything is mixed in.  Place onto serving dish and serve.

Purslane with olive oil

500gr of purslane

3 cloves garlic, minced

salt

olive oil

1 lemon

Finely chop the purslane and place into a bowl.  Add in the minced garlic, pinch of salt and the juice of half a lemon or full lemon, depending on your taste.  Stir very well and kind of mash it at the same time or use your washed hands and mix and squeeze at the same time.  Splash in a bit of olive oil and serve.

Green Beans Two Ways

I love the way the Turks cook green beans.  During Summer when they are in season we eat these a couple of times a week.


Again very easy to make and a different way to eat beans if you are growing them and just dont think you can face another steamed bean.


There are 2 ways you can cook these as well.  The photo above has more liquid and is good for a main meal.  You can also have these without the liquid and eaten cold as a side is great addition to any Summer table.  Also great for Meze, this comes under the term of Olive oil dishes which are all eaten cold.


500gr green beans
2 onions
2 tbsp sweet pepper paste/tomato paste
oil
salt
water
mint
garlic


Top and tail the beans.  Chop into halves or thirds. Put aside.  Finely chop the onions.  In a saucepan add some oil and cook the onion until clear.  Add in the beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.  While the beans are cooking stir.  Add in enough water to cover and cook until the beans are cooked.  


If you like garlic can be added when you start cooking the onions and also mint when you add in the water.


To cook these as a side instead of using the tomato paste grate 2 or 3 tomatoes.  Cook the same way but cook the beans until the liquid has gone, also using less water. One glass should suffice but check the water level so the beans dont burn. Serve cold as a side.

Hummus

My favorite food actually isn't Turkish, its Asian.  What has this got to do with Hummus? nothing but Hummus and falafel are probably nearly on equal footing as Asian food or a very close second.  I don't know what it is about Hummus maybe its just the taste, the texture who knows.  Turkish people do eat this and whilst it is not eaten everywhere or even known throughout Turkey you can find this in Antakya and Hatay.  Alot of Turks would even say its not a Turkish dish, the Arabs would say its theirs the Israelis claim it as well.  The fact is that alot of the Middle Eastern food is very similar with some of the dishes crossing over boarders and Hummus is one of them.  As a result many countries will claim this divine dish as their own.  Speaking about Divine I happened across a blog devoted just to Hummus and they have an excerpt on there from Israeli writer  Meir Shalev who says he can prove it is Israeli as its origins can be found in the Bible, the old testament.

The first time Ruth and Boaz had met in Bethlehem, he offered her some humus: “And at meal-time Boaz said unto her, Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar” (Ruth 2-14).

This is a mistranslation of course. The original word in ancient Hebrew, is “Hometz”. Which not only sounds a bit like “Humus”, but also resembles the word “Himtza”. The Hebrew name of chick-peas.

True, “Hometz” in modern Hebrew is vinegar. But you don’t really think Boaz was so rude as to offer Ruth to dip her bread in vinegar, do you? Got to admit it’s more reasonable to think it was Humus.


Not only are the origins of Humus ambiguous but so is the recipe or should I say recipes!  As people are very different, recipes also change and are different depending on where you come from. Syrians might like more tahini whilst I have heard Jordanians like more lemon so therefore the recipe is slightly different depending on where you come from.  Most of us have probably bought a tub from the fridge section in the local supermarket and so have a basic idea on what is involved in the final product.  I have given you the recipe for this in my Meze post before.  I thought it deserved another honourable mention when I saw a few videos about Hummus on youtube.


This first one shows the whole eating experience for those who haven't yet partaken of this dish, but as you will see on the video it is also a staple for some. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXPJUyFGMgE&feature=related


This second one will show you how to serve it perfectly for your next dinner party or lunch. The guy dresses it up with pine nuts but I really think it would be much more appropriate to serve it with a few boiled chickpeas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvvtD4rdx3E&feature=related

Dandelion Greens

I had grown up sitting on the lawn trying to find a 4 leaf clover and making dandelion necklaces and bracelets for myself or my sister or my little neighbour but never saw myself weeding them out to make a salad.  When we were little, one time I remember we had gone somewhere on a picnic and my mother saw alot of dandelions and she got us picking the leaves and the roots saying the we could eat them and what a good source of free food.  When we got back home it didnt live up to her expectations and she was never tempted again to out to our lawn and partake of these delights.  Dandelion Greens are very healthy and they make a nice side dish or can be used as a meze.

I lived in Konya for 2 years and one thing I noticed was the women picking weeds.  I took a closer look and saw it was dandelions.  These dandelions were all  a bit different from the normal ones I had seen growing in our lawn.  All different shapes and sizes but all Delicious.  The women told me they ate them as a salad by themselves or mixed in with a salad but  no one  ever gave me a specific recipe.  I remembered when I had lived in Adana that I went to my friends house and she had made a dish.  Dandelion salad, at first I was a bit tentative to taste it as I had remembered my mothers experiments with it.  After the first bite I was taken, such a lovely dish but I had never made it as I hadn't been anywhere where I could find enough of them to make a meal out of.  After 2 cold years of living in Konya we moved to Gaziantep where we still are.  Guess what I saw at the local Bazar? Dandelion greens for sale and 1 lira a kilo.  I bought half a kilo even though the woman was pushing that I buy 2.  I recreated my friends recipe and we have been hooked ever since.  Half a kilo is enough for a family meal or for my husband and myself 2 times.  

Ingredients: 

500grams dandelion leaves

juice of one lemon

garlic to taste or 4 cloves

salt

oil

Instructions: 

Wash the dandelion leaves well and chop roughly.  Put into saucepan and just cover with water, boil for about 5 minutes.  Drain the leaves.  İn a fry pan saute diced garlic cloves for a couple of minutes then add the dandelion leaves and continue for about another 3 minutes.  Take off the heat and place into serving bowl, pour the lemon juice over the leaves and chill. I usually mash the oil, lemon juice and salt into the leaves for a couple of seconds to bring out the flavours. This salad tastes nice if left a few hours before serving.

(for this recipe İ am generous with the oil, İ usually cook with no oil or very little for this İ would probably use 3 tablespoons of oil)

I have a Dandelion Soup recipe here.

Meze

Meze is probably my favorite way to eat.  Little plates of everything. During summer is the time when we mainly eat like this.  I like to have a few containers in my fridge will all these delicacies ready for an easy meal. Meze can be really anything that is in season and served cold, I have not yet seen a hot meze here in Turkey.  They can range from salads to any veggie put into garlic yogurt to a plate of watermelon.

What can you find on a Meze tray if you come to Turkey? 

Slices of Turkish style fetta cheese drizzled with olive oil and served with olives.
Stuffed vine leaves, usually just with rice
Any of the olive oil dishes
Green salads
Coban salad-tomato and cucumber based salad
Potato salad
Tomato Ezme - like a hot tomato salsa
Slices of Pastirma - turkish style salami
Various pickles
Mucver - zuchinni puffs
Fruits in season
Fried vegetables with garlic yogurt
Fried or pickled fish
Cigara Borek - filo pastries filled with a cheese similar to the continental cottage cheese
Cold bean dishes
Carrot salad
Eggplant salad
Beetroot salad
Hummus
Cacik - cucumber salad
Fried liver
Kısır - tabouleah type salad
Bowl of plain yogurt
ETC....

All of this is usually washed down with alcohol if eaten at a restaraunt.  What are your favorite Meze dishes?  Want the recipe? Let me know and you can be making wonderful Meze tables at home.