Giresun Style Turkish Ravioli Mantı: Siron

Giresun is the one of the greatest and traditional Black Sea city of Turkey. Giresun have many traditional foods. This one which I am presenting is the most traditional food that you can enjoy too much. This food is very similar with Turkish Ravioli. Blacksea woman are making this food from the phyllo. With the other ingredients such as yoghourt, garlic and roasted tereyagi. And after all these ingredients your sense of taste will be upside down. Offically your world will be change.

Stuffed Peppers in Olive Oil

Who can just stand there and not taste a lovely dish made with olive oil, especially stuffed peppers? Most folk hesitate to make it at home, thinking it's a difficult job to prepare stuffed peppers but of course here I am to "prove them wrong!" If you know the job it only takes 40 minutes to prepare this lovely dish. Here are the secrets, just follow:

Ingredients

• 750 gr small regular shaped green bell peppers
• 1 and a 1/2 cups of rice, washed and strained
• 2 middle size onions, chopped
• 2 middle size tomatoes, sliced
• 1/2 a bunch of parsley, stems removed and chopped
• 5-6 stems of fresh mint, stems removed and chopped or 1 teaspoon of dry mint
• 1 tablespoon of small currants
• 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 small cup of olive oil
• 2 cups of hot water
• Salt

Directions

1. The stuffing: pour half of the olive oil in a pot, add the pine nuts, currants and chopped onion and cook for 1 minute. Next, add the strained rice and stir for 2 minutes on low heat. Take it off the heat and add the chopped parsley and mint, ground black pepper and salt. Mix it all together and let it cool.
2. Meanwhile, core the bell peppers by pressing gently into the stem part with your thumb and taking out the core with the help of a knife.
3. Stuff the peppers with the rice mixture, with the help of a teaspoon. Be careful not to stuff too much, leave a gap of 1 cm empty, and keep the stuffing loose.
4. Close the peppers with a slice of tomatoe and place them in a pot open side up. Keep them tight. If the pot is too big, use a smaller one.
5. Slice up the lemon and cut the rinds off. Place the lemons on the stuffed peppers.
6. Add the rest of the olive oil and 2 cups of hot water. Close the lid and cook for 15-20 minutes on low heat.
7. Let it brew and serve cold.

Any Questions?

• I've had a peep of other recipes. Some say you should put a cup of water in the stuffing, some say you should stuff the peppers with cooked rice. Don't believe them it's a lie! If you don't want your stuffings to be mushy follow this recipe.
• Again I've seen some recipes using 6-8 onions. Don't even think about it.
• As I've said before the ratio of rice to water is still the same: 1 cup of rice to 1 and a 1/2 cups of water. No more no less.
• When cooked there should be 2 cm of liquid in the pot beneath the peppers. If you cook too much and the water boils down, then the stuffing will dry out as it waits.

Refresh Yourselves in the Summer with Jajik!

Yesterday I gave you the recipe for rice pilaf. In Turkey rice pilaf goes very well with Jajik, which I will explain here in this post. "Jajik" or "Cacik" in Turkish, is a commonly prepared appetizer in Turkey and can be a replacement for a bowl of salad. It's perfect for hot summer days, refreshing and nourishing. If you are fed up of eating salads you can try jajik for a change. This recipe is for 2 servings, after a try you can play with the amounts I give here, according to your own preferences. The main ingredients are cucumber and yoghurt, adding the others are up to you.

Light Fried Peas and Eggs (Mujver)

It's the right time to find peas in the market. Go buy some fresh peas in their pods, shell them and either throw them in the freezer in a fridge bag ready to cook, or boil them and do some canning. If you want to eat them now, use this recipe to make a delicious meal with peas and eggs. By the way up in our home town peas are called "bezene" and they can be eaten raw with their pods, because the peas in these pods are very small. We cook this recipe with "bezene" (peas in their pods), but I assume you are using larger peas so you should shell them and use the peas only.

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.

Stinging Nettle Purée: A Cure to Every Problem

One of the main dishes of the Black Sea Region is Stinging Nettle Purée. The folk back there call it “sirgan” (a kind of shortened version for isirgan in Turkish). The little needles in the leaves are very stingy. Mothers in the Black Sea Region use this health-giving plant as a tool to disciple their children, they yell at their kids saying “I will spank your bottom with nettles if you don’t behave!”. This plant with its benefits for many kinds of diseases such as cancer, rheumatism and even baldness is newly getting the credit it deserves.

I’m here now, ready to prepare this dish that I know from childhood for you to try and taste.