Saturday, September 20, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008 - No comments

Home Cookin', Turkish Style


In honour of Ramadan, which, no matter what anyone tells you, is about fasting as much as it is about feasting, I wanted to share with you the recipe for my very favourite Turkish dish. Before moving here, the thought of eggplant made me gag, but now it is at the top of my list. I was forever converted when, during my first Ramadan in country, I sampled my Turkish mom's Ali Nazik. It's a traditional dish from Gaziantep, her hometown. Give it a try.

Afiyet olsun - bon appetit!

** For more yummy recipes like this one, check out www.turkishcookbook.com**


Ali Nazik

Ali Nazik


2 medium eggplants or roasted eggplant in a jar
1 large cubanelle pepper or regular green pepper
150 gr medium or regular ground beef, cooked with salt and pepper
1/2 cup yogurt with salt and smashed garlic, at room temperate

Garnish:
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp red pepper, powdered
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper, powdered

Set the oven to broil (grill), and heat it up. Make holes in the eggplants with a fork so that it will roast better. Place the eggplants and green pepper on an oven tray and place in the oven. Roast the green pepper for about 15 minutes and the eggplant for about 35-40 minutes. Turn them over occasionally during roasting.

Peel off the skins from both the eggplant and green pepper (discard seeds), and cut in small pieces. Put them in a pyrex dish (I used 10 inch / 25 cm round pyrex). Put back in the warm oven. Note that at this point the oven's turned off, and you just want to keep the food warm.

Also if you used roasted eggplant in a jar, you should just roast the green pepper.

When the rest of the ingredients are prepared, take the pyrex out of the oven and pour the yogurt on top. Then put the cooked ground beef on top of the yogurt.

Lastly, melt the butter in a small pan and add the peppers. When it starts bubbling, pour over the ground beef.

Serve Ali Nazik immediately while still warm.

Ali Nazik originates from the Gaziantep Region of Turkey.

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