By U. Kagan Ocak
* 1 lb. medium fat ground meat
* 3 table spoon margarine/butter
* 4 medium size potatoes
* 3 medium size tomatoes or 1 table spoon tomato paste
* 1 big onion
* 1 egg
* half a bunch of parsley
* 5-8 green peppers
* 2-3 slices of stale bread
* salt and black pepper
Damp the bread slices and use only inner white parts of them. After peeling the onion cut in thin slices and mix it with ground meat, salt, black pepper, parsley and bread which is to be in little pieces. Break the egg into this mixture and begin to knead it for 5 minutes.
Then pour some water into a little bowl and add some vinegar. You will use this water-vinegar mixture to keep meatballs in whole pieces. You Got It!
O.K. now, start to take hazel-nut size pieces from your mixture and give them tiny long shapes which will look like your little finger and once in a while dip your hand into the water-vinegar bowl.
When you finish the mixture melt the margarine/butter in a fryer pan and fry first the potatoes--which would be cut in finger size (like French fries)--then the meatballs. When they are all fried put them into a small cooking pan to wait and start to fry the sliced tomatoes in the first frying pan for just two minutes to soften them.
Now the last segment of your excellent meal: Put the softened tomato slices (or heated tomato paste and water mixture) on top of the fried meatballs and potatoes, together with the green peppers and add some water (not too much!) and boil them for 15 minutes.
And it is ready to serve but there is a warning : Don't eat your fingers instead of meatballs!
Bon appetite!
......Return to Turkish Cuisisne......
......Return to Turkish Culture......
