Turkey! Karniyarik & şehriyeli pilav (Turkish rice)

Turkey is a transcontinental country situated both in Europe and Asia!

After researching Turkey for this post, this country has definitely moved up on my top 3 countries to visit! There is soooo much rich history here, and sooo much to do that I feel a week wouldn't be enough to do it all! They have the largest and oldest markets in the WORLD! I mean, who doesn't love shopping? You need a tour guide to get through it because its so big! They are also home to one of the oldest Christian Churches which is located on the side of a mountain in a cave! If you're in Istanbul, you can go from one continent to the next just by crossing the river, and you can even do this by using the subway which is the second oldest in the world! (London being the first!) And I'm sure you've seen all those famous Instagram pics with all the hot air balloons with a backdrop of the beautiful cone shaped roof tops right? Welllll, that's also located in Turkey in the city of Cappadocia!

Do you need more convincing to go???? Well let me just tell you about their FOOD! Have you heard of a Döner ???? Oh yesssssss!

*Mouth waters*

For this country, my awesome and talented friend who's from Turkey, shared this dish with me as it is quintessentially Turkish! She picked out the main dish Karniyarik (which translates to "split-belly") and a side dish, a Turkish rice pilaf, and said that it's best served with a side of Cacik (Turkish tzatziki sauce)! I was a little intimidated by this recipe as it looked complex, but in reality it was easy & fun to do!

P.s.! Check out her awesome creations on Instagram @atelier.impomea !

Karniyarik & şehriyeli Pilav

Ingredients:

For the Karniyarik:

• 400 grams (¾ lb.) of ground beef or lamb, or a mixture of both.

• 1 tbsp. olive oil + 1/2 tbsp. olive oil for the sauce

• 1 medium onion, chopped.

• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed.

• 2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped or grated. (use the large holes on a cheese grater)

• 3 sweet green peppers, 2 chopped + 1 sliced in rounds or strips for topping.

• 1 tbsp. dried parsley, OR 1 handful fresh parsley chopped.

• 1 tbsp. of tomato paste + 1 tbsp. for the sauce

• 1 tbsp. of red pepper paste (if you don't have red pepper paste substitute for tomato paste)

• Dash of paprika

• Dash of oregano

• Red chili/pepper flakes to your taste (optional, this adds spiciness to it)

• 4-5 medium sized eggplants

• 1.5 cups (38 cl) water for the sauce.

• Salt & pepper to taste

şehriyeli pilav:

• 1 cup basmati rice (for more authentic use Baldo or Osmancik rice)

• 4 tbsp. orzo pasta

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• ½ tsp salt.

• 2 cups chicken stock, OR 2 cups water + 1 chicken bouillon cube

Directions:

*preheat oven to 200 C/ 390 F

Step 1:

Rinse and dry your egg plants. With a vegetable peeler, peel the skin of the eggplant into stripes, alternating about every 2 cm (1 inch) around the egg plant.

Step 2:

Cut your eggplant the long way, and cut the inside of the eggplant in a diamond pattern. Sprinkle the eggplants with salt and rub it all over each half and set aside for 30 minutes. This will pull out the bitter water the eggplant holds.

Step 3:

Here we will begin to prepare the rice. Rinse your rice until the water runs clear. I normally put my rice in a fine mesh strainer and run it under water and mix it around until the water runs clear. If you don't have a fine mesh strainer, put it in a large bowl and fill with water, then pour out the water carefully making sure the rice doesn't spill out.

Step 4:

After letting the eggplant sit for 30 minutes, pat off the excess water and the extra salt with a napkin. The water that comes out of the eggplant will look brown but that is totally normal! Arrange your eggplants diamond-cut facing up on a greased baking tray or aluminum foil and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil. Sprinkle on paprika, oregano, salt and ground pepper to each eggplant half. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Step 5:

While the eggplants are cooking we will begin to make the stuffing for the egg plants. In a frying pan, heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium high heat. Add in the chopped onions and cook until translucent. Then add in the pressed garlic cloves and stir for 30 seconds.

Step 6:

Next add in the ground beef and stir making sure you break up the ground beef into small pieces. Salt and pepper! Cook until the ground beef has browned. Next add in the chopped sweet green peppers and cook for another 2 minutes. Next add in the red pepper paste and the tomato paste and stir all together making sure that the paste has coated everything evenly. Then add in the grated tomatoes, a dash of paprika, a dash of oregano, red chili flakes (optional) salt and pepper to taste and stir well and let it simmer for 15 minutes or until the peppers have softened.

Step 7:

In a small saucepan, on medium heat, add 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Then add in a tbsp of tomato paste and stir for one minute. Next add in 1.5 cups of water (38 cl) and stir well for one minute. Take off the heat and set aside.

Step 8:

After 30 minutes of baking the eggplants. Remove from the oven and with a fork, lightly mash the inside of the eggplants. For this step, you will want to transfer your eggplants to an oven safe casserole dish or another oven safe dish with sides as we will be adding liquid. Grab your meat stuffing and spoon it on into the eggplant. You can add as much or as little as you like! I added about 4 soup spoons to each eggplant which seemed to be plenty. Top off with the sliced green pepper, or, if you have any long green chilies feel free to add it on top! Lastly, gently drizzle on the tomato paste sauce to the egg plants and to the bottom of the dish. You want a thin layer on the bottom because too much will make it really soggy. Bake for 20 minutes.

Step 9:

Strain your rice from the hot water from step 3. In a separate pan for your rice, heat up on medium high heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the orzo pasta and stir briskly so that the pasta doesn't sit and burn. You want to fry the pasta until it turns a golden brown. This process happens fast so try not to step away from it! Once it has turned a golden brown, add in the rice and continue to stir for another minute. Add in your 2 cups of chicken stock or your 2 cups of water and drop in the bouillon. Bring to a boil while stirring and scrapping the bits off the bottom of the pan. If you added a bouillon cube, make sure that it has fully dissolved by now. Add in ½ tsp of salt and stir. Once it's been brought to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

* If you used chicken stock instead of the water and bouillon, you might need to add ¼ tsp more of salt, depending on the stock you used if it's salty or not.

Step 10:

At this point, your rice and egg plants should be done around the same time! Use a spatula to serve up your Karniyarik on a plate and add your rice and you have yourself a healthy delicious meal from Turkey!

afiyet olsun!

Cost & Calories:

As always, the most expensive part of the meal was the ground beef coming in at 6 euros per pound, or half a kilo. The rest were staple items that I already had at home aside from the eggplant. In total, this meal cost me around 10 euros ($12 USD) to make.

Each slice of eggplant (Karniyarik) is a serving and has 200 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 14 grams of protein. For the şehriyeli pilav, each serving is ½ cup and is 166 calories. You can have two servings of the Karniyarik and ½ cup rice for 566 calories!