.: evil jungle prince :.

When I was at Trader Joe's last week, I noticed (to my delight) that they have begun selling their own BGH-free Greek yogurt at about half the price of Fage-brand yogurt. This slashes my Greek yogurt addiction bill in half -- thank you, Trader Joe's! Subsequently I immediately broke out my Turkish cookbook and prepared this meal, which is grilled eggplant with yogurt and tomato sauces.

This photo, which isn't very good, just doesn't do this meal justice. Amazing how such a simple recipe can turn out so deliciously! Summarized, the grilled eggplants are grilled until slightly soft and topped with a simple yogurt sauce as well as a simple tomato sauce. Here's how to make it. It's quick and easy.

1. To make the tomato sauce, start by frying some onion or shallots in olive oil. Add 2-3 cloves garlic and fresh diced tomatoes. Add salt and sugar to taste. Remove from from stove before the sauce becomes too liquid.

2. The yogurt sauce is made by mixing Greek style (strained) yogurt with 1 clove garlic and salt to taste. (Though not true to the recipe, I couldn't help but add some lemon juice to Greekify this recipe a bit. Yogurt sauce without the tang of lemon juice just seems like a sin to me.)

3. Now you have only to grill the eggplants. Begin by soaking the sliced eggplants in water (mixed with a little salt) for about twenty minutes. Pat dry. Place a grill with just a little olive olive and grill until the center of the eggplant begins to be soft. Remove.

4. Serve the eggplant slices topped with both the tomato sauce, yogurt sauce, and some pita bread to the side.

For fun here's another Bülent Ersoy video. The sound is a little off from the video but the performance is outstanding!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Today I had some interesting ingredients in my refrigerator to work with. For the record, I normally don't plan dishes, I just let them create themselves based on what I have on hand. This might drive other cooks crazy but rarely do I do advance meal planning. Instead, it's an Iron Chef contest of one. I do this to use up everything I can, avoid waste, and challenge myself.

Based on the availability of almonds, pistachios, and some wonderful Anaheim peppers which I spotted at the grocery store recently, I decided to combine two dishes: fried green peppers with garlicy yogurt sauce and Istanbul pilavi, or Instanbul style pilaf. Although the latter is normally made with chicken, I substituted mine with chickpeas to make for a completely vegetarian meal.

To start, I began by making my yogurt garlic sauce, combining Greek yogurt, 1 clove of garlic (minced), a squeeze of lemon juice, and salt to taste. I love this sauce and it's incredible to think how such a simple thing can taste so delicious! Next I made my pilaf by:

1. First I sauteed almonds and pistachios in a little butter, using Trader Joe's butter which is free of Bovine Growth Hormones. Next I added my rice to mixture (long-grain) and sauteed that as well.

2. I then added vegetable stock, salt, black pepper and and a little saffron water (made by soaking saffron threads in warm water). Next the water was added (measure using the finger method*) and the mixture brought to a boil. Add chickpeas. I then covered the pot and allowed it to simmer until done.

3. Finally, I stirred some fresh dill and allowed the rice to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

* to measure enough water to prepare rice, place your finger on top of the rice and fill with water until the water reaches the first bend in your finger. In this case, since I made long-grain rice, I added just a tad more water so that the rice would not be sticky.

I discovered the following video on youtube -- it knocked my socks off! Although the instrumental introduction is slow, hang in there for the incredible voice of Turkish singer Bulent Ersoy.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mom is visiting this week for the holidays, so I've been thinking hard about what types of food that everybody can enjoy. The holidays also allow for a little free time in the kitchen to do some experimenting, which I always enjoy. This meal was the result of these energies: Greek fried fish in olive oil with a skordalia sauce and Turkish dandelion green salad.

Turkish Dandelion Greens Salad

This dish was easy and was prepared in advance, as its served cold. (This dish's preparation, although Turkish in origin, is strikingly similar to Korean food. Just as garlic and salt would be used in Korean cooking, sesame oil is swapped out in favor of lemon juice.) The taste of these greens is slightly bitter but very pleasant!

1. Blanch the dandelion greens in boiling water for a few minutes until soft.

2. Remove and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out excess fluid.

3. Combine with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice to taste.

4. Place into rerfrigerator and chill until ready to serve.

Skordalia

Skordalia is another easy portion of this dinner which was prepared in advance. It provides a starch base for a protein dish and is also a great way to use up stale bread. It's also an interesting and delicious alternative to the standard rice or potatoes.

1. Soak stale white bread in water, crusts removed.

2. Squeeze out excess fluid and place into food processor, together with two cloves of sliced garlic.

3. On a slow setting, puree, adding olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste.

Greek Fried Fish in Olive Oil

This fish may look terribly unhealthy but in reality it's fried in olive olive. So don't feel guilty.

1. Combine 1 scant cup of flour, some salt, pepper, 1 tsp olive oil, and 2/3 cup warm water. Fold in one egg white. Allow the batter to sit for one hour.

2. Place white fish into batter, then dust with plain white flour.

3. Fry fish in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until crispy.

Be sure to garnish everything at the end with some Italian parsley and fresh lemon slices for color and in case guests would like more citrus taste on the fish.

I would say this combination of foods was successful; everybody finished their plates except for mom, who did not eat all of her dandelion greens. She did not say so, but I think they were a little too bitter for her taste. I jokingly told her she was not allowed to leave the table until she finished eating them. Isn't role reversal great?

And what have you been eating for the holidays?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's citrus season here in California. All of sudden, all the lemons and grapefruits have all turned ripe and we're now faced with the same yearly question: what to do with hundreds upon hundres of ripe lemons?! A small solution to a larger problem is today's lunch, kabak mücveri (Turkish zucchini fritters) with garlic yogurt sauce (which is made with lemon juice).

1. Start by grating two zucchinis -- place them into a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Allow to drain for 15 mins. Squeeze out excess water.

2. Mix the zucchini in a large bowl with a couple of scallions (finely chopped), 2 tsp dill (fresh ideally but dry is ok), 2 tsp chopped Italian parsley, 1 tsp paprika, 2 egg whites, and about 1/2 cup of feta cheese. Add a little salt and pepper and mix. Then add 1 cup of flour and mix. (I used my fingers as using a fork was too awkward.)

3. Take a large tablespoon of the mixture and dust it with flour. Create a small pancake not larger than your palm and place aside. Repeat until you've used all the zucchini mix.

4. Heat olive oil on low and place three fritters on the skillet at a time. Immediately shake the pan back and forth so that the fritters don't stick. Fry for about 5 mins each, shaking periodically so that they don't stick. Place on paper towels to drain.

5. While the fritters fry, you can prepare the garlic yogurt sauce. Mix Greek yogurt with lemon juice, 1-2 cloves garlic, and salt to taste. The the sauce should be a little tart but not overly so.

The mixture of herbs in the fritters combined with the yogurt garlic sauce is like a delicious cacophony, chaotic but wholesome and exciting. I've made this dish before, but I find this recipe superior for its use of feta and paprika in the fritters. Awesome!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Recently I've been rather addicted to feta cheese; not crappy American supermarket fake-feta made with cow's milk, but the real stuff from abroad made with 100% sheep's milk. So very tangy and delicious, especially when prepared with a little olive oil and dried herbs. YUM.

This dish is beyaz peynir ezmesi, or spicy Turkish feta puree. Personally I wouldn't say it's spicy at all, but it gets its name from a liberal use of hot pepper powder. Served with some fresh tomatoes, olives, and pita bread, this was such a great snack. The use of dried mint is what really makes the dish vibrant and special.

1. Soak a block of feta in warm water for 30 mins, changing water often. The purpose of this is to remove excess saltiness from the cheese. Otherwise, the spread's salt content will overpower the flavors.

2. Next, crumble the block of feta and puree with 4 cloves garlic, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp red pepper powder, 3 tsp olive oil. Process until smooth.

3. Refrigerate the cheese spread for 1/2 hour. Serve drizzled with olive oil, 2 tsp dried mint. This goes wonderfully with crispy pita, fresh tomatoes, and olives.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night's dinner was Turkish grilled peppers with garlic yogurt sauce, or kazarmis biber. I had been wanting to prepare this dish for ages but I've been hesistant to try it without the proper type of peppers, carliston peppers. But when I spotted some nice Anaheim peppers at the grocery store, I thought I'd give it a go.

Now there is food which makes you go "mmm" and then there is food which causes... foodgasm. This dish caused the latter. These sweet peppers were grilled slowly with nothing more than a dab of oil. They were then lovingly dolluped with a bit of thick Greek style yogurt mixed with garlic, salt, and lemon juice. The taste of these flavors mingling, as if at some sexy social event, was heaven; slightly charred peppers and cool, tangy yogurt are a match made by some divine force.

1. To prepare, lightly oil a grill pan and slow grill the peppers until they deflate.

2. In the meantime, prepare a yogurt sauce by mixing Greek yogurt, salt, and lemon juice to taste.

Tip: allow the peppers to cool before adding the yogurt sauce, or the sauce will become runny. Use any large, sweet pepper. I felt the Anaheims were just perfect for this. By the way, if anybody has any carliston (Turkish) pepper seeds, please get in contact! I would like to try growing these as they're impossible to find here in California.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thanks heaps to Sithi for sending me a recipe for Turkish zucchini fritters (mucver) -- this was fortuitous when considering I had about seven zucchinis twiddling their thumbs in my refrigerator. Perfect. Note however I have modified the recipe a little bit to suit my own tastes, so this recipe has no claims on authenticity. For one thing, I decided to eat mine in a pita!

1. First I started out by roughly grating 3 small zucchinis. To this I added a large handful of chopped parsley and a large handful of chopped dill. After mixing, I set this aside.

2. Next I began preparing my batter by mixing five heaping tablespoons of flour, 1 egg white, 1 tsp salt, a few dashes of pepper, and enough water to create a pancake-consistency batter. I then added the grated zucchini and fresh herbs, folding in slowly.

3. In the final step, I heated olive oil on a low flame and began frying the first of the three zucchini patties. After dropping in the first 1/3 of the batter, I used the spatula to: flatten the pancake (so it would cook all the through), tuck in the sides to make a more perfect circle, and to release the fritter from the bottom of the pan. (Without doing this step, the fritter will stick solid to the pan. This is tricky but can be accomplished by gently putting the spatula under the underside of the fritter, one small portion at a time in jerky movements. Once you get all the way around the patty, it will be completely released and now one must only shake the pan on a regular basis to make sure it does not stick again.)

Once the fritters were fried thoroughly, I set them aside and prepared a yogurt sauce by mixing Greek yogurt, a little salt, a little lemon juice, a chopped clove of garlic, and dried mint. I then placed my fritters into pita bread and garnished them with the yogurt sauce, fresh tomato, mint leaves, and chopped onion. So very tasty. Thanks, Sithi!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)