We're just back from skiing in east Turkey (Sarikamis). It was a great time, and back from there, I decided to make something that is from that region (well, east Turkey is large, so more or less...) This is a perfect winter soup (yes, it is still quite cold in Netherlands - sob sob). It can be quite light if you use low-fat youghurt and boullion but of course, if you want it to taste really good you should use regular yoghurt (preferably Turkish/Greek/Bulgarian yoghurt or whatever they call that kind of yoghurt where you live). I have read somewhere that this recipe is very old, going back almost thousand years back till Seljuk times. They used to dry a combination of eggs and yoghurt to make it, and obviously used self-made pasta (called tutmach) but this is a simple modern recipe, adapted by me a little. Enjoy!!!

Tutmach Soup

250 grams yogurt
30 grams flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground blackpepper
3 teaspoons salt
1 lt boullion (home made, or the liquid version of commercial boullion)
80 grams small macaroni/vermicelli (100 gram when using fresh macaroni)
300 grams cooked green lentils
4 cloves garlic
to top: (optional)
butter
paprika powder/paste (i.e. sambal oelek)
dried mint leaves

1. Mix eggs and flour. Add yoghurt, cumin, black pepper, salt and keep mixing until homogeneous.
2. Add 1 liter of water to the boullion and cook. Add the macaroni and keep boiling until the macaroni is half-cooked (watch out of you are using fresh macaroni, just 1 over minute can be enough!)
3. Take some of the cooking liquid, add to the egg-youghurt mixture and mix quickly. Repeat this a few times so that the egg-yoghurt mixture is half-mixed with the hot soup. Then add the mixture to the soup and stir. (If you add the mixture directly to the soup, the egg will cook in pieces and you will not get the creamy texture that we are aiming at)
4. Cook, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the cooked lentils, cook another five minutes at low heat.
6. Turn off the heat. Crush the garlic and add to the soup. Stir.
7. If you want to include the topping (which is very tasty but definitely adds some fat and calories!): Melt butter (about one spooonful for 3-4 people) and add the hot red pepper to it. Traditionally, we use thick pieces of dried red peppers for this (pul biber), but you can also use cayenne pepper or some hot sauce. Let the butter and pepper heat together for a short while, don't burn the butter but make sure it starts to color.
8. Pour the soup into plates. Add some butter mixture on top and some dried mint leaves. Eat warm with some fresh bread!

If you love chocolate (and if you don't, what are you doing looking at this blog anyways?), you probably love chocolate truffles too. They are actually much yummier than chocolate, I think, with their soft texture and rich chocolate flavor. When you make them, the reason becomes obvious, of course: It's all the fat content! But they are really delicious, and making them is really fun, as you can get creative and make many varieties (and lick off the chocolate from your hands in the end!).

Chocolate Truffles

230g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
3/4 c. whipping cream
2 tsp unsalted butter

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Heat butter and cream at medium heat, bring to a boil. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate pieces, stir and whisk until smooth. Put the mixture in a container and refrigerate until firm. You can also add some sort of liqueur (about 2 tsp) while whisking the other ingredients. I usually like to put the mixture in 3 separate containers, add two different liqueurs to two of them, and leave one alcohol-free. I have tried rum, cointreau and Irish cream so far, my favorite was cointreau.

Once the mixture is firm, comes the fun part. You need to roll them into little balls, and cover them with something like toasted nuts, icing sugar (I prefer this for rum and cointreau, as it balances the bitter taste from the liqueur), processed cocoa, ground coffee (I find it much better to cover the plain ones with coffee than the Irish cream mixture) or sprinkles, if you're in a colorful mood. I sometimes also take whole nuts and make the rolls around them, but covering is a must regardless, in order to keep the round shape.

Enjoy!

Recently, I discovered that I really like Thai food and I can train myself to take the level of spiciness involved in a mild-medium Thai dish. Most restaurants in Edmonton are willing to sacrifice some authenticity for the comfort of your taste buds and crying is a socially-acceptable reaction in most of them, so I am doing quite ok with the eating-out experience. But I just wanted to create some Thai-like food for days when I am not willing to hurt myself -either physically or psychologically-, and here's my creation:

Lemon-Grass Chicken for Babies

3 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
1/2 medium white onion, diced
2 tsp fresh ginger, cut into small pieces
2 cloves of garlic,minced
5 sticks of lemon grass
1 small carrot, cut into small pieces
1 cup sugar-snap peas, each cut in half
1/2 cup canned baby corn
Salt
Cayenne pepper, if you insist on being hard-core

In a medium frying pan, fry the chicken and onions for about 3 min, mix in minced garlic and ginger, cook for another 3 min, add in the carrots, stir and cover. Cook until the chicken breasts look white and the onions are soft. Cut away the hard ends of the lemon grass, and peel the hard outside layer. Cut the remaining parts into about 3cm long pieces and bruise them with a tenderizer (or end of a knife, or any other hard object you fancy). Stir the lemongrass into the frying pan, cook until all the ingredients are almost completely cooked,and finally, add in the baby corn and peas, salt (cayenne pepper) to taste cook for another 2-3min. I really like the flavour of lemongrass, but I must warn you that in this recipe, the flavor is not subtle at all, so if you prefer a subtle taste, you might want to reduce the amount to 3 or 4 sticks. I also like everything really softly-cooked, except for the peas, which I like a little crunchy. If you prefer them softer, you might want to drop them in a little earlier. Another nice addition could be roasted almonds, which I planned to include while making this, but forgot to add :)

I put the lemongrass chicken on some coconut rice. I simply buy some coconut milk and replace half of the normal amount of water I use when making rice with the coconut milk, it gives a perfect result. Needless to say, try to buy the heavy coconut milk for the best taste :) Also, I prefer to use long-grain rice rather than sticky rice for this, as the coconut milk already makes it pretty sticky in the end.

Enjoy!