Celery Root Salad with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Kereviz Salatası)

There are two common lies that Turkish moms tell their non-celery root liking kids. If celery root is cooked, the mom forces the dish as a potato dish. The different smell and taste? Oh, it's just the spice she used! However, if celery root is to be eaten raw, as in celery root salad with yogurt, then the kid is told that it is radish salad. I loved radishes as a kid and tried this so-called radish salad served on a New Year's Eve dinner, which is a big celebration in Turkey that includes lot of drinking, turkey, numerous raki friendly salads and olive oil dishes, bingo, several kilos of fruit, and a belly dancer that appears on every TV channel exactly at midnight.



























1 medium celery root, thinly grated
juice of 1/2 lemon
thick yogurt
mayonnaise
chopped walnuts
salt
dill, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil

-Grate celery root in a bowl.
-Squeeze lemon juice on top and mix well.
-Add enough yogurt+mayo to cover grated celery root. The ideal ratio of mayo to yogurt 1:3, however, you can change it to adopt your taste.
-Add minced garlic, chopped walnuts, dill, salt, and olive oil. Mix well.
-Cover with a clear wrap and store in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.

Bulgur with Green Lentils and Walnuts (Cevizli Bat)

Bulgur with Green Lentils and Walnuts is a traditional recipe from a Central Anatolian city, Tokat. In Tokat's local cusine dishes with grape leaves have an important role, and this recipe is a good example. Bulgur with Green Lentils and Walnuts is a bit like kisir, but has a nuttier taste with walnuts and lentils.



























1 cup fine bulgur
1 cup hot water
1 cup cooked green lentils (~1/2 cup dry green lentils would make 1 cup cooked lentils)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 green pepper or 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp or less red pepper flakes
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil flakes
1 tsp dry mint flakes
1 tsp or less black pepper
salt
optional a couple of cherry tomatoes

grape leaves (if unavailable, lettuce would do)

-Put bulgur in a bowl and add hot water. Stir once, cover with a thick towel and wait until bulgur soaks all the water.
-If you have fresh grape leaves, boil some water and cook grape leaves for 2-3 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
-Add tomato paste to bulgur and mix it well with the back of a spoon or your hands until paste is homogeneously distributed.
-Add lentils.
-Add green onion, parsley, dill, tomatoes, green pepper, basil, mint, red pepper flakes, black pepper, walnut, and salt.
-Serve bulgur with lentils with grape leaves or lettuce. Put some in the middle of a leave, make a roll or a bundle and enjoy.

note: Although the traditional recipe doesn't ask for it, I love adding lemon to bulgur and lentils.

Baked Vegetable Fritters (Fırında Sebzeli Mücver)

Mücver is usually made with zucchini and then fried, however it is way lighter to bake it in these hot and humid summer days. This is a modified recipe that uses not only zucchini but also potato and carrot. If you have other vegetables in mind like spinach, leek, etc., you can add them, too.




























1 zucchini, grated
1 potato, grated
1 carrot, grated
3 spring green onions, chopped
1 green or red pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint or basil, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 or 1/3 cup white cheese or feta, crumbled
1/3 cup, pitted 'real' black olives, chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
sesame or nigella seeds




























-Heat oil in a pan. Add first pepper, then carrot, then potato, and finally zucchini. Sautee until wilted, but not totally cooked.
-Transfer this mix in a bowl and let it cool down.
-Add green onion, parsley, dill, mint, eggs, cheese, olives, baking powder, and flour.
-Pour the mixture in a greased oven safe dish. Make sure the mix is not thicker than 1.5 inches in the dish.
-Sprinkle sesame or nigella seeds on top. You can also decorate it with sliced canned olives.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for ~1 hour or until it gets golden brown on top or on the sides. Check with a clean knife or a wooden toothpick/skewer.

You can serve baked vegetable fritters as a side dish with dinner, with afternoon tea, or for breakfast.

Zucchini Fritters (Mücver)

Although I gave different versions of mücver recipes so far, I haven't posted "the" mücver recipe. In Turkey mücver is usually made after stuffing zucchinis, using the carvings. But it is a delicious dish on its own featuring all the fresh herbes of summer.






























5-6 small firm zucchinis, grated or left over zucchini carvings from stuffed zucchinis (makes ~4 cups)
3 eggs
1/3 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
2-3 tbsp or 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (depending on how much you like mint)
3-4 green onions, finely chopped
1 cup white cheese/feta
1 tbsp paprika
salt
black pepper
~1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup olive oil for frying

-Put grated zucchini in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and let drain for 10 minutes. Squeeze and place in a bowl.
-Mix well all the ingredients except for flour and frying oil.
-Add flour in slowly and mix well.
-Heat oil in a frying pan. On medium drop scoops of mücver mixture in hot oil. Make sure they don't touch.
-Fry them on each side until golden brown, 4-5 minutes.
-Drain excessive oil by placing fritters on paper towels.
-Serve with plain yogurt or garlicy yogurt sauce. For garlicy yogurt sauce beat every 1 cup of yogurt with 1 clove of minced garlic.

Red Lentil Kofte / Mercimek Köftesi

This vegetarian kofte is one of the most popular appetizers of Turkish cuisine.



























1 cup red lentil
1/2 cup fine bulgur
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups of water
1 medium onion, very finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp tomato + red pepper paste (if you cannot find red pepper paste you can use 1 tbsp tomato paste)
~1 tsp salt
juice of half or 1 lemon (depends on how you like it: sour or not so sour)
1/3 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 bunch green onion, finely chopped
curly leaf lettuce



























-Wash lentils and boil them in 2 cups of water until it almost soaks the water.
-Once you turn it off, add bulgur and salt. Mix once and cover to let the bulgur expand. Let it cool off.
-Heat oil in a pan and add the onion (not the green one!) and cook until soft.
-Add tomato paste and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
-Add this to the lentils which should be cool by now.
-Add half of finely chopped parsley and green onion to the lentils. Mix all well.
-Take walnut size pieces and give them kofte shape in your hands.
-You can either place lettuce leaves on a serving plate and put koftes on top as in the picture, or serve koftes and lettuce leaves separately. However, when you eat them you should wrap each kofte in a lettuce leaf.