Thankful that Türkiye got through to the quarterfinals and I managed to try some amazing vegan dishes from this country.
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| mercimek koftesi |
First up are lentil balls that seem to be made in domestic kitchens but are rarely found in restaurants; a perfect addition to my meze spread. I found a great recipe by Vidar Bergum - https://vidarbergum.com/recipe/turkish-lentil-meatballs-mercimek-koftesi/ . I missed out the raw onion and the Turkish hot pepper paste (acı biber salçası) but somewhat regret that... my version lacked flavour somehow. Next time I will make my own version of the hot pepper paste- https://silkroadrecipes.com/turkish-pepper-paste-biber-salcasi/
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| Eating the mercimek koftesi |
Next up is a beautiful Aubergine in tomato sauce known as soslu patlican or şakşuka. Again I used a recipe from Vidar Bergum and just cut down on the amounts- https://vidarbergum.com/recipe/aubergine-tomato-sauce-soslu-patlican/
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Cutting up the aubergine
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Coating the aubergine in olive oil before putting in the air fryer for about 15 minutes at 200C
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Frying off the onion for about 10 minutes
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Adding garlic and cooking for about a minute and then tomato (I used tin tomatoes) and cooking for another 10 minutes
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Adding the aubergine and cooking until the aubergine is soft
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Serving the soslu patlican or şakşuka with a topping of chilli peppers and scattering of flat leaf parsley
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I served this with a delicious tomato and walnut salad(Gavurdağ salatası) from https://vidarbergum.com/recipe/tomato-walnut-salad-gavurdag-salatasi/.
Chopped tomato, spring onion (I missed out the finely chopped onion), extra virgin oil and lemon juice
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Adding the pomegranate molasses and sumac
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Adding the finely chopped walnuts, pul biber (I used chilli peppers that I had) and finely chopped flat leaf parsley
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Serving with topping of roughly chopped walnuts
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From bottom left on the plate - tomato and walnut salad, aubergine with tomatoes, lentil balls. Served with mint tea.
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Score: Türkiye 1 Netherlands 2
Football Score :4 (Disappointed that Türkiye did not do better but a great game)
Food:
3 (The tomato and walnut salad and aubergine were super delicious but I found that the lentil balls needed something else)
