Everybody tells us how healthy Mediterranean diet is, but I've heard many people complain that they don't know what it really means. Sure, you need to eat vegetables, nuts and fish, but how can we fit this into our lives? Maybe you want to go vegetarian, but you are not sure what you could eat, if you stopped eating meat ( you are imagining a life of steamed broccoli and tofu!). Maybe, you just want to eat a little less meat.
Here's what I want to do. Once a week, I'll give you tips and recipes for following a mainly plant based diet. It's not all or nothing. If your diet is already healthy, you can integrate these recipes and tips to your diet and have a little more variation. If you're not eating healthy, you can start eating a little better. My recipes are all traditional Eastern Mediterranean-Turkish recipes (grandma's authentic recipes). And I promise that I will only give you my favorite ones. There will be no meat recipes here, but you can add some meat to most of these dishes (in Mediterranean cuisines, some meat is added to most vegetable dishes for taste), if you want to (I'll let you know, when it is an option). I'll try to focus on recipes that children like because they are the toughest crowd and we all want them to eat their vegetables.
Let's start.
Vegetables, legumes, beans and grains are delicious. You just need some know how to cook them. Please give me feedback in the comments section and ask me questions. I'll try to answer them in my next diary.
What do you need?
A cutting board (preferably wood), a big sharp knife (invest in a good knife and a knife sharpener), a pan and a pot (I prefer nonstick variety, it makes life much easier).
Also, a food processor and a pressure cooker are great investments. You'll get your money's worth. Pressure cookers are not very popular in the US, but they are amazing, especially if you plan to cook beans often. They make life so easy. You can cook enough beans to make buckets of hummus and chili in 20 minutes and these dishes will cost you only a few dollars. You'll never eat canned beans again.
You will rarely need something else.
What herbs and spices will you need often? Cumin (powder), dried mint, oregano, salt and pepper.
Do you need any unusual ingredients? Yes, one unusual ingredient I use in my recipes is red pepper paste. Another is bulgur/burghul/bulghur (you'll see all three spellings at stores). Bulghur is not cracked wheat, it's also preboiled. You can get fine bulghuer or coarse bulghur. They are used for different dishes. You can find both red pepper paste and bulgur in Arab or Turkish stores, you can also buy them online. If you cannot find bulghur, let me know. I'll try these dishes with substitutes.
Fats? Most of these recipes call for olive oil or Canola oil, some of them use butter. That's it.
Nuts and dried fruits? Some recipes call for nuts and dried fruits, but there'll be nothing you cannot get at your local grocery store.
Cheeses? For some recipes, you'll need mozzarella or feta cheese.
Other ingredients you'll need often? For most recipes, you'll need vegetable broth (concentrates are good, too), onions and tomatoes/canned tomatoes/tomato paste.
Will all these dishes be healthy? No, some of them are very high in calories (fried zucchini pancakes), but I'll provide such recipes anyway because they are children's favorites and my intention is to provide delicious vegetable recipes so that you (or your kids) start thinking of vegetables as delectable main courses rather than something you need to eat to stay healthy.
I'll start with a legume dish. It's a party favorite, it's filling and it's very easy to make.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: Vegan, no nuts, has wheat/gluten.
LENTIL BALLS:
Ingredients:
red lentils - 1 cup
fine bulghur -1/2 cup
Powder cumin -1/2 tablespoon
red pepper paste -1/2 table spoon
onion -1 medium
olive oil - as much as you like
parsley - 1/2 bunch
salt -to taste
Chop onions the way you like, fry them in a pan with oil.
Put red lentils, 1 qt. water and cumin in a pot and cook them on slow heat. If the water is not enough, you can add more later (but heat the water before you add it). When the lentils turn yellow/brownish and starts looking like soup, turn the heat off and add the bulghur, mix it with a spoon. Cover the pot with a lid and let the mixture sit for ten minutes.
Chop parsley.
Add chopped parsley, fried onions, red pepper paste, olive oil and salt to the lentil/bulgur mixture. Mix them well. You can also add chopped green onions at this stage. It's optional.
And your dish is ready! Wait, there is a final stage. Traditionally, you need to make balls out of the mix (they should look like footballs, not basketballs). Kids love these lentil balls, but hey, who has the time nowadays to make balls. Just serve it with a spoon, it still tastes great.
This dish is generally served with lemon juice. It goes great with lettuce salad on the side.
If you cannot find red pepper paste, you can substitute paprika powder (just make sure that it's not too spicy).
ENJOY! And if you try cooking these dishes, please let me know how it went.
And this is how it should look like (the pic is not mine).
Next week, I want to introduce you to the "olive oil cuisine". These are Turkish dishes which are cooked without meat. So many people want to eat root vegetables, but don't know what to do with them. Since, it's still the season, I'll start with root vegetables(celery root and jerusalem artichokes) and leek. But you can apply these recipes to your root vegetable of your choice.
Update: I just realized that the diary has been rescued! I'm so grateful! Please, please let me know, if you enjoyed the recipe, or if you needed to make some changes. I am particularly interested in kids' reactions. Somebody offered cross posting, but I don't know how that works. I would appreciate some help.