Recipes from Turkey and the Balkans
A selection of quick recipes for favorites of Turkish cuisine, including dolmas, kebabs, pilaf, and Imam bayildi.
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From Recipes of All Nations by Countess Morphy, 1936.
Turkey and the Balkans
The ancient Byzantine cookery still survives in many parts of the Balkans, and the influence of the cookery of Western Europe has been negligible. We find that extensive use is made of mutton, oil and vegetables, and the Turks introduced rice from Persia.
In Turkey, mutton is put to many uses — one of the favourite methods being to cut it in small pieces and roast or grill it on skewers; it is used for pilaf, for a stew, with small marrows and spinach, and all kinds of forcemeats are made with it. One of the most famous of all Turkish dishes is pilaf. Take 1 cup of rice and wash it thoroughly in cold water and drain on a sieve. Put an iron saucepan on a moderate fire, with 1 tablespoon of butter, the pulp of 1 tomato, and season with a little salt. When the butter is hot, add the rice, and stir for a few minutes till the rice is slightly coloured. Then add 2 cups of water, season with a little more salt, cover the saucepan, and simmer till the rice has absorbed all the water. This will take from 15 to 20 minutes. Stir lightly with a wooden spoon, and wipe the inside of the cover of the saucepan to remove all moisture. Let it stand on a very slow fire till quite dry and flaky. The rice should be very white and each grain separate.
This plain Turkish pilaf is eaten with kebabb— small pieces of fat breast of lamb, on skewers, highly seasoned and roasted over or in front of a charcoal fire. Sometimes small tomatoes are put on each end of the skewer. The pieces of mutton used for this dish are marinated in vinegar, with a small quantity of oil, sliced or chopped onions and carrots, doves, parsley and black pepper.
Hunkiav Beyandi is the name given to kebabb when served with a purée of aubergines. This vegetable is extremely popular in Turkey, and one of the commonest ways of preparing it is called Imam Baildi — the meaning of which is “the Swooning Imam” — the Imam having fainted with delight when he first partook of this wondrous dish.
Cook 1/2 a lb. of chopped onions in oil till a golden colour, and add 1 lb. of quartered tomatoes and a little garlic. Season highly with salt and pepper. Cook slowly till reduced to a pulp. Remove the stalks of the aubergines, but do not skin them. Blanch them in boiling water for 5 to 8 minutes, then split them lengthwise. Remove a little of their pulp, and stuff each half aubergine with the tomato and onion purée. Now place them on a well-buttered fireproof dish, pour a little more of the puree over them and cook in a slow oven for 1 hour.
Like all Eastern peoples, the Turks are extremely fond of sweetmeats of all descriptions, and among the most popular is Rahat el Hakum. Make a thick syrup with just over 2 lbs. of sugar and 3/4 of a pint of water, adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and stirring in 5 ozs. of fine starch. Stir continuously and, when the mixture begins to thicken, add a few blanched almonds, pistachio nuts, and shelled and halved hazel nuts. Pour the mixture into a deep dish, sprinkled with fine starch, cut into squares and let stand till cold.
Beurrek are pleasant little cheese pastry fingers. Put 1/4 lb. of Gruyére cheese, cut in small pieces, in a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of thick white sauce. Stir till the mixture thickens. When cold, shape into small sausages, about 4 inches long, wrap each in a thin piece of pastry, and fry in boiling oil to a light golden brown.
One of the favourite ways of cooking mutton in the East, which is also popular in Turkey, is the Dolmas, the force-meat of which consists of uncooked mutton finely chopped with kidney fat, a little soaked bread, and sometimes uncooked rice, the whole highly seasoned and spiced. A teaspoon of the mixture is wrapped in either a blanched vine leaf, fig leaf, or cabbage leaf, and these are placed in a saucepan and braised with either a little stock or with a little tomato pulp.
Another version of this dish is called Taraba. Wash 1 lb. of spinach, and blanch in boiling water for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove from the water and drain, but do not pick the leaves. Make a forcemeat with uncooked mutton, a little onion and shallot, and season highly with salt and red pepper. Shape the forcemeat into tiny balls, and wrap each in two spinach leaves. Put the forcemeat balls in a saucepan with melted butter, a little tomato sauce and lemon juice. See that the meat balls arc closely packed, and cover with a plate, so as to keep them in position. Simmer very gently for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Salonique Toti is another of the favourite dishes of Eastern Europe, in which the ingredients are cooked on skewers. Small pieces of liver, kidneys, brain, are put on a long metal skewer, with alternate pieces of fat bacon, and slices of aubergines. They are dipped in a frying batter, and fried in oil.
Mahallebi is a sweet hailing from the Balkans. Three ozs. of rice are boiled in water till the rice is quite soft. The rice is then rubbed through a sieve, and boiled with 2 ozs. of sugar, and 1 quart of milk. Stir continuously and, when the mixture begins to thicken, add 2 1/2 ozs. of rice flour, stir well, remove the mixture from the saucepan and use when cold.
Turkish Coffee is popular throughout the world, and is excellent when properly made. A copper coffee-pot with a long handle and without a lid, is used. About 3/4 oz. of very finely ground coffee and the same of sugar to a fraction over a gill of water are the proportions for one cup of Turkish coffee. Put all in the coffee pot, and stir till the mixture comes to the boil and is frothy. Remove from the fire and, when the froth has subsided, the pot is replaced on a brisk fire, and the operation is repeated three times in all. Just before serving, a little cold water is added to settle the dregs, and a few drops of rosewater. Milk is never mixed with Turkish coffee.
Morphy, Countess. Recipes of All Nations. H. Joseph, 1936.
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