This is the second installment of the healthy, delicious plant based cooking series with traditional Eastern Mediterranean/Turkish recipes. This week I'll give you the the promised root vegetable recipes. I'll also talk about arugula. The recipes are after the jump.
Background information:
In Turkish cuisine there are two main categories of vegetable dishes. Vegetables can be cooked with or without meat. When they are cooked with meat, they are served as the main dish. When they are cooked without meat, they are called "olive oil" dishes because they are cooked with olive oil. So, one rule in Turkish cuisine is to not mix meat and olive oil.
Second principle is to serve olive oil dishes at room temperature (or lukewarm, but NOT hot). Turks believe that hot olive oil is bad for the stomach. I prefer to eat these dishes lukewarm. Cooling them a little bit brings out the taste, too.
Generally, olive oil dishes are served as a side dish in Turkey. A vegetables dish with meat is the main dish. This main dish is generally served with olive oil dishes, rice and salad/yogurt on the side. Especially working parents prepare 2-3 different kinds of olive oil dishes on the weekend and serve them as a side throughout the week.
You can cook any vegetable as an olive oil dish. This week, I'm going to give you recipes for celery root and Jerusalem artichokes (if you've never tried them, check out your grocery store, they're delicious vegetables).
Celery root has a strong flavor (imagine the taste of celery stalks only stronger combined with the texture of turnips) and it doesn't smell great while cooking, so it may not be the ideal dish for a kid who doesn't like vegetables. It has a complex, wonderful flavor. If you like celery stalks, you will probably like this dish. I love it.
Jerusalem artichokes are native to Americas (the name? it's a long story), but oddly Americans are not very familiar with this wonderful plant. This is a sweetish root with an earthy flavor (the flavor is similar to artichokes). It's easy to love and I think kids would enjoy their sweet, earthy flavor easily. This is how they look:
One thing you'll notice here is that we'll add just a tad of sugar to these dishes. This is also standard in Turkish olive oil dishes. A little sugar brings out the flavor of the vegetable.
You can play around with these recipes. If you love/hate carrots or potatoes, you can increase/decrease the amount in the recipe. You can substitute potatoes with rice. You can smother these dishes in oil or use only a teaspoonful. Also, if you are a pea fan (I am!), you can add peas to both recipes.
Celery Root with Olive Oil:
Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 celery root
2 large (or 3 medium) potatoes
3 carrots
1 cup frozen/canned peas
1/2 cup orange juice
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon white flour
2 cups water
olive oil- as desired (My preference is half a cup)
salt - as desired
1 teaspoon sugar
Chop onions finely and fry them in the pot until they turn golden.
Peel and cube the potatoes
Peel and slice the carrots
Peel and cube celery root (you should peel celery root last because they turn brown with the light of speed. To avoid that you should keep them in a mixture of water and lemon juice.)
Combine all ingredients: onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, salt and sugar in the pot. If you have any celery stalks at home, add some celery leaves, too. Mix the flour with water and add it to the pot. (If you have gluten intolerance, you can use corn starch or whip up an egg yolk, mix it with warm water and add it to the dish very slowly. Both flour and egg are commonly used for this recipe. Some recipes use them together).
Close the lid. Cook it on low heat for approximately 30 minutes (or until all the vegetables are tender). Voila. Your dish is ready. Let it cool down and serve it.
If you are interested in cooking celery root with meat, I can give you the recipe for that as well. Just let me know.
Jerusalem Artichokes with Olive Oil:
OK, this is a very very similar recipe. You can use the exact same recipe for leeks. Just replace jerusalem artichokes with leeks in the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 large onion
2 lbs. Jerusalem artichokes
2 large potatoes
3 carrots
1/4 cups rice
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups water
olive oil- as desired
salt - as desired
1 teaspoon sugar
Chop onions finely and fry them in the pot until they turn golden.
Peel and cube the potatoes
Peel and slice the carrots
Peel Jerusalem artichokes and cut them into walnut sized pieces.
Combine all of vegetables, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sugar to the pot.
Close the lid. Cook it on low heat for approximately 30 minutes (or until all the vegetables are tender). Jersualem artichokes will not be completely tender, they have a slightly crunchy texture even after cooking. Voila. Your dish is ready. Let it cool down and serve it.
Notes:
- Some people cook these dishes without oil and add the oil in the end. It is healthier to cook like that, however, I have to admit that I like it better when the vegetables are cooked with oil and absorb the oil flavor. It's up to you.
- Also, if you or someone in your family doesn't like lemon juice, you can cook these dishes without lemon and garnish them with a slice of lemon instead.
Serving suggestion for both dishes:
garnish them with some fresh dill. These dishes look beautiful (a mix of white, yellow, orange and green). Try to cut all vegetables in similar sizes, they'll look more appealing. However, if you have time, you can carve the celery roots and stuff them with vegetables. It doesn't change the flavor, but it looks great (as you can see in the photo).
Tip of the week:
Arugula is one Obama's favorite foods. If your child is an Obama fan, you can convince them to eat these bitter but delicious greens as salad. It's an acquired taste, but it's worth acquiring. In Turkish cuisine, arugula salad is served almost exclusively with fish because it complements grilled/fried fish like no other salad. It's the simplest salad: arugula, lemon juice, olive oil, tomatoes and salt. My mom also served them with spicy sausages, but then again we ate sausages with many different kinds of herbs (e.g. parsley, mint, arugula). This may be a great way to get your children to eat herbs. It may sound crazy, but have you ever tried eating your hamburger with fresh mint? Try it! Mmmm.
Next week:
This week was all about healthy choices, but next week I'm going to talk about something seductively delicious: Savory pies/turnovers stuffed with cheese, olives, vegetables or meat (anything under the sun). They are not low in calories, so if you're watching your weight, be careful, but they are great for kids and for impressing guests and they are not difficult to bake. There is a whole separate segment of Turkish cuisine, but I'm going to give you one of the easier recipes.
But wait, for the calorie-conscious, I'll have a bulgur salad recipe that children and adults love (Kisir). It's such an easy recipe that I could prepare this dish even when I was a little kid. I call it a salad, but it's a whole meal and it is the dish of choice for informal get-togethers and sleepovers in Turkey.
And for the gluten intolerant, I'll have a spinach recipe.