Stir Fried Salted Cherries

I gave you the recipe of salting cherries and how to preserve them in my previous post, and to prove that salted cherries are edible, I here present you the recipe for "Stir Fried Salted Cherries". What else would you want for evidence? Try it for yourself. Salt your cherries wait for 10 days and then its ready for stir frying! Try it and who knows you might even get addicted to salted cherries.

How to Salt Cherries and Preserve

Yes! You've heard it right. It's not a joke, a prank or bogus news. We love salted cherries and we want to share it with you. Salted cherries make a wonderful dish when stir fried, and its a common dish up in Giresun.

Giresun is a city up on the Black Sea coast of Turkey and is well known for its hazelnuts and cherries. Giresun was named Kerasos back in antiquity and it took its name from cherry trees. Being the motherland of this wonderful fruit ofcourse it was abundant in the summer, and folk took advantage of preserving it for the winter. This is where we get salted cherries.

Here's the Real Thing: Menemen (tomatoes, peppers and eggs)

Another meal that you must, and I repeat you must try is Menemen. It's very easy to cook and delicious when you dunk you hot bread, and take those yummy bites. Yes, you heard it, the way to eat this dish is to dunk. Of course you may not want to give up your manners and stick to using your fork and knife, but I assure you, you would miss all the yummy side to yummy menemen.
Most folk cook this meal like scrambled eggs, but I prefer it this way with the eggs left whole. Besides being a good breakfast serving, I also recommend it for a light lunch or dinner. Whatever way you like, just try it out!
This recipe is for 5 servings, but be careful 2 people could easily wipe the plate clean!

Summer Vegetable Stew (Hodge podge)

Summer has arrived and it's time for abundent and cheap fresh vegetables. It's also hot and you're thinking about your vacation. Got to get rid of those extra pounds, and those celulites, but how? Here is a recipe which is nutritious, refreshing, light, and easy to prepare. If you want to get into shape try out this dish, which you may already know, but beware of the difference!

Red Pepper Soup

You all know cream tomatoe soup but have you ever heard of red pepper soup? You may not have, but if you are up to it, you can try our recipe and find that it can be done, and tastes even better than tomatoe soup!

The best way to prepare red pepper soup is from fresh pepper paste you have prepared yourself. If you don't have any home made fresh pepper paste then you can apply this recipe.

Home Made Red Pepper Paste

Who doesn't use pepper or tomatoe paste in their stews and casseroles? If you don't, then you'd better get used to it with this recipe for magical red pepper paste.
For all natural red pepper paste got to the local market and buy 6 kg. of red peppers, and carry them home. You will have vitaminful red peppers and will have stretched your arm muscles. When you get to the kitchen get ready for making some paste.

Chard With Eggs

It's summer and it's getting hot. We ought to eat light stuff nowadays, mostly fruit and vegetables. A local and easy recipe came to my mind: "Chard and Eggs". Delicious! Even better if you have a tomatoe salad to accompany our chard dish. Our ingredients are few and it's so easy to prepare, you don't have any excuses not to make chard and eggs!

Boiling Jars to Preserve Your Home Made Food

Sometimes we need to preserve our jams, marmelades, pastes, pickles, etc. to eat later on. Prepare your jam and pickles in the summer when the fruit and veggies are in season and eat them in the winter. Store your home made stuff as you wish in sterile glass jars. Some of you already put your goodies in jars to save for later, and so you should have your jars sterile so they can be longer lasting. After all the effort you've been through to prepare those jams, pickles, tomatoe and pepper pastes, etc...

Home Made Strawberry Jam

Last weekend I came across some lovely strawberries that had that odour that reminded me of old fashion home made jam. At the spot I decided to make some jam at home. What tastes better than fruit and vegetables bought in their season? So I got the strawberries came straight home bread or on my ice cream ocasionally. I think I'll have to make some more before fresh strawberries run out in the market. With this recipe you will get approximately 2.5 kg of jam.

A Different Cornbread

Cornbread is a commonly cooked bread in the Black Sea region of Turkey, and goes well with many of the other dishes from this region. Its taste is a bit different from the usual cornbread though because it's more salty than sweet. And it is low fat! Please enjoy.

Yayik Ayrani (Diluted and churned yoghurt)

Everyone loves ayran around here. You can drink it with meals and as a refreshment on its own. It is actually very easy to make. Stir a few tablespoons of yoghurt in a bowl and add some water to dilute it and voila! You have ayran. You can change the amount of water as you like. I myself prefer it thick, some like it runny with a lot of water. You can also add a pinch of salt. Try it as you like. This is the simple version of ayran, but here I would like to give you a more old fashioned bubbly and creamy recipe, as you can see in the picture. This recipe is a modern version of the old fashion churning method. Since it's hard to find and use churns, here we have a modern recipe by Ayhan Demiral where we can get the same taste.

Ezo Gelin Soup With Vegetables (Red Lentil Soup)

When it’s time for Ezo Gelin Soup nothing can stand in the way. It is a warming tasty soup, which has an interesting story. This recipe is of a richened Ezo Gelin soup commonly served on the dinner tables of the East Black Sea region in Turkey.