Cizbiz Köfte
Sizzling Köftes

400g minced meat
(preferably lamb)

1 slice stale bread
(soaked & squeezed dry)

1 egg

1 teaspoon wine vinegar

Salt

1 teaspoon pepper (freshly ground)

1 teaspoon powdered cumin

2-3 tomatoes (halved crosswise)

Olive oil for brushing the köftes

Place the minced meat in a bowl. Discarding the crust, crumble the bread into the bowl, adding the egg. Season with the vinegar, salt, pepper and cumin. Knead with your hands until all the ingredients are blended into a soft dough.
Roll a small piece between your palms into a ball the size of a walnut, and lightly flatten. Repeat until all the meat is used up. Cover and store in the fridge until needed.
Before cooking, set the grill to very hot (if you have a barbecue, wait until the flames have died down and all the embers are glowing).
Brush the köftes with olive oil, sprinkle the tomatoes with a pinch of salt and grill them together for 2 minutes on either side.

From Cornucopia 22
Meatball Wizard: cooking köfte
Issue Price £8/$12.80

For all the kofte recipes:

Sade Pilav
Plain White Pilav

2 cups short-grained rice

4 cups beef or chicken stock

2 tablespoons butter

1 grain of mastic gum (optional)

Soak the rice in warm water with a pinch of salt for 20 minutes. Then drain and wash two or three times in cold water until the cloudy water clears.
Put stock, butter and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil
Add the rice and stir once with a wooden spoon. When boiling, (if using) add a grain of mastic and turn the heat down and simmer covered.
When the pilav is cooked, remove from the heat,, set aside, covered for 10 minutes, then place it on a warm dish and serve hot.

From Cornucopia 7
Stock Taking: the perfect pilav
Issue Price £28/$44.80

For perfect pilav recipes:

Semizotu Salatasi
Purslane Salad

A bunch of purslane

Trim the roots, discarding damaged leaves. Rinse the purslane in plenty of cold water. Pat dry and chop coarsely.
Pound the garlic with a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in the yoghurt and blend well. Stir in the purslane and make sure the leaves are coated.
Pour the mixture into a salad bowl and drizzle with olive oil.

From Cornucopia 21
Green & Green: Purslane and Spinach
Issue price £8 /$12.80

More purslane & spinach recipes:

Visne Kompostosu
Cherry Compote

4 cups water

2 cups caster sugar

A handful of cherries

Bring the water and sugar to the boil in a fireproof dish. Remove the stalks and wash the fruit.
When the sugar has dissolved completely, add the cherries to the syrup and boil briefly until the skins break.
Cool and taste. If the compote is too sweet, dilute with water. Serve chilled.

From Cornucopia 6
Fruits of Victory: cooking with cherries
Issue price £8/$12.80

More cherry recipes:

Berrin Torolsan copyright
All rights reserved, 2002