girlwithanearring

Hello! 
For this post, I will be describing the detailed recipe of "Chickpea Salad" from my latest healthy food vlog. Watch my youtube video for a better sense of how I make one modern and one traditional dish with several traditional winter staples from Turkish cuisine! 

For the recipe of "Traditional Turkish Green Lentil Soup with Erişte" head over to this post.

Let me know in the comments, what kind of recipes would you like to see here and my Youtube channel.



chickpea salad, my modern take 

This is a perfect main dish for lunch or a side dish for dinner. It is filling and hearty. You can add whatever fresh produce you have in the fridge. I always make my salads based on what I have which leads to several different versions of the same recipe. This has nothing to do with me not liking to follow a recipe to a T. Promise.

The must-have elements for this type legume or grain salads are always fresh greens, juicy produce like cucumbers or tomatoes, and some sweet produce like an apple or a carrot, or both. And a sour and sweet dressing. If I didn't use both a carrot and apple, I'd add some pomegranate sauce into the dressing for sweetness.

I personally don't like raw onions whether it's regular or green. But if you like them, apparently they go well with these type of salads. I also chopped some scallions for my parents. So keep that in mind.

The vlog starts off with my morning routine a.k.a. coffee and breakfast, as usual. 



ingredients

1 bowl of chickpeas, soak them overnight and the next morning, boil them for half an hour.
1 medium cucumber, julienned
1 apple, julienned
1 medium carrot, grated
1 green pepper, finely chopped (or any type of pepper of your choosing)
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
half of an iceberg lettuce or head butter lettuce, roughly chopped
a small bunch of scallions, if you prefer, chopped
fresh mint, if available

for the dressing,

1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp black pepper
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt



method

for the case of chickpeas,

you can use canned chickpeas, however, soaking them overnight and boiling them is always better. you can also soak all the chickpeas you have overnight, drain and rinse them the next morning and then freeze to keep them ready for the future. you can do this for any type of grains and legumes.

boil the soaked chickpeas, drain, rinse and set them aside.

the method is simple, you can julienne, or roughly chop or dice everything. that is entirely up to your choosing. this time I julienned most of the things.

combine everything and put the chickpeas last.

for the case of dressing,

combine everything, you can add more black pepper or more mint.

pour the dressing an hour before serving the salad, let the chickpeas absorb the lemon juice.

Hello, this is my first post and it is about pancakes. The video of making the pancakes and vlog of setting the table is on my youtube channel: "girlwithanearring". My best friend was coming over that morning, and I wanted to make something I've not been making for a very long time. And it was pancakes! (For the Recipe in Turkish: CLICK)



This is honestly my favourite PANCAKE RECIPE. I don't like dense and chewy pancakes. So, this recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Something for the Weekend" book is perfectly airy, fluffy and light. In my opinion, it is relatively simple. It involves whisking the egg whites and the yolks separately but you can always use an electric mixer instead of a whisk, obviously. Though it is tiring, I like to use a whisk, like in the video.


details & changes I made to the recipe

• The ingredients may look less in the video than the given amounts in the recipe because I made a batter for only two people.
• The only big difference I made to the recipe was adding some sugar (4 tsp). This is optional and you can add more or less. I just like pancakes a little bit sweet.
• I also sifted the flour to make it extra fluffier.
• I also lightly, very lightly, buttered the pan only once and gently wiped it with a paper towel in the beginning. My advice: never use oil, unless you are frying something, which also tastes better with butter, or making a vegetable dish.
• You should add a pinch of salt to the egg whites before whisking.
• Sometimes, I refrigerate the leftover batter and use it the next morning, it is still good.

ingredients

115 gr plain flour, sifted
1 heaped tsp baking powder, sifted
140 ml milk
3 large eggs, separated
4 tsp sugar, or more
a little bit butter for cooking
a pinch of salt for the egg whites

method

First separate the eggs, putting the whites and the yolks into separate bowls.

I always start with whisking the whites. Add a pinch of salt into the whites and start whisking until you get form stiff peaks, as seen in the video. Again you can use an electric mixer. You should be careful while whisking, as soon as you get the stiff peaks, you should stop. Set aside.

Whisk the yolks with sugar until its airy and bubbly. Add the milk and whisk a little more.

Now, start adding the flour and baking powder slowly into the yolks and whisk until there are no lumps. You can see the consistency you need in the video.

After the yolks are smooth and airy, add all the whites. With the help of a spatula, fold the cloudy whites into the yolk batter as seen in the video. If there are white lumps in the batter, that will result in cooked eggwhites inside the pancake, which is not good. So slowly and carefully fold the whites into the batter.

Take your favourite non-stick pan out and heat it in medium heat. Put just a little bit butter into the pan, let it melt. If there are any butter is visible, just wipe it with a paper towel all over your pan. If the melted butter in the pan is visible, the pancakes will "fry" and you won't get the smooth brown look. I mean, they will get cooked but not going to look like these.

With a small ladle, pour the amount you like into the pan. Let it cook and form a shell at the bottom. Check it with a spatula if they are done and flip it. Again, see the video for a visual description. :) I cook pancakes two at a time usually, depending on the size of the pan.

serving

I don't like pancakes when there are no sides. I certainly don't like it with crème fraîche. Pancakes need imagination for serving. Use all sorts of jams, definitely natural honey instead of some syrup, clotted cream, butter, and any fresh fruits you have. Try pancakes with orange or mandarin. Nutella, no one can resist. Orange and nutella go so well together.

I also will make a video of my homemade "nutella" recipe soon. So stay tuned for that!

Also, jazz it up your table with cheese, olives, breads, fresh greens like rockets and dills, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. Sorry it's not a breakfast nor a brunch if there are no cheese and olives on the table. :)