[English version below]

Te gast in de keuken bij Sukran Ornek 

Velen uit de wijk Roombeek kennen Sukran Omek als de eigenaresse van Het Vrijdag. Sukrans wortels liggen in het Zuid-Oosten van Turkije, in de havenstad Mersin aan de Middellandse Zee. Dit is een stad waar citrusvruchten en katoen worden verbouwd. Jaarlijks keert ze terug om haar vrienden en familie te gaan bezoeken.

Ik zit met Sukran in haar keuken en hoor van haar hoe ze voor vanavond Karni yarik heeft bereid. Dit is het lievelingsgerecht van haar man, maar ook haar kinderen vinden het erg lekker. Je kunt het in combinatie met rijst of plat brood (pide) eten en met een lekker bijgerecht zoals cacik, een koud yoghurtdrankje.

Sukran heeft dit recept van haar moeder geleerd en ze gaat het ook aan haar eigen dochter Melita leren. Ik mocht deze heerlijke gerechten proeven en nu met jullie delen. We wensen iedereen veel kookplezier!

Hier kun je het volledige recept als PDF downloaden.

Karni Yarik recipe

Inside the Kitchen of Sukran Ornek 

For the Roombeek Magazine, I met with Sukran Omek. She is the owner of a remodeled farm that houses a lunchroom in the middle of the newly built quarter Roombeek in Enschede. She has Turkish roots, her family comes from the seaport Mersin at the Mediterranean Sea. A city where cotton and citrus fruits are farmed. Every year she returns to visit her family and friends.

I’m sitting together with Sukran at her kitchen table and she explains to me how she prepared Karni yarik for tonights’ dinner. This is her husband’s favorite, but her children like it a lot as well. You can serve it with rice or flatbread (pide) and have a cold yogurt drink called cacik on the side.

Sukran learned this recipe from her mother and she will also pass it on to her daughter Melita. Sukran invited me to taste these delicious dishes she made and to share the recipes with you. We wish you a lot of fun making them!

Karni Yarik

Ingredients:

• • 4 aubergines
  • 3 peppers (red, green, yellow)
  • 3 fresh tomatoes, cut into small cubes or 1 can of diced tomatoes
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1-2 tsp dried mint
  • 300 g minced meat (beef)
  • 2 big onions, diced into small pieces
  • 1 tbsp. salca (pepper mash, available in the Turkish supermarket)
  • a handful of  Italian parsley, chopped
  • salt, pepper, ground chili flakes, caraway
  • sunflower oil
  • olive oil
  • kitchen towel

Preparation:

1. Cut each aubergine in half (lengthwise). Make a cut in the white “meat” of the aubergine across the whole length. Fry the aubergine-halves in a pan with sunflower oil on high temperature until turning brown. Turn around, fry the other side and remove from the pan afterward.
2. Cut each pepper into 8 parts. Deep-fry the pepper parts shortly in the sunflower oil (that you already used to fry the aubergines). Remove from the pan and let the oil drip off the aubergines and peppers on some paper towel.
3. Strain the sunflower oil. Pour the olive oil into the same pan and fry the chopped garlic and the diced tomatoes. Add the Italian parsley and the dried mint to the tomato sauce.
4. Take another pan and fry the minced meat until all the water and fat is removed. Add the onion and the salca (the mashed peppers). The whole will be quite dry and grainy. Add 1 tsp. salt to taste. Add pepper and caraway to your own taste. If you like it spicy, add some chili flakes.
5. Fill 4 of the aubergine-halves with the minced meat. You will use the other 4 halves to cover up the filled ones.
6. Take ¾ of the tomato sauce out of the pan and store in a bowl.
7. Now you put the filled aubergines in the pan with the tomato sauce. Spread the fried pieces of peppers and the rest of the tomato sauce across the aubergines. Cover the pan with a lid and let stew for about half an hour. Alternatively, you can put the dish in a casserole dish in the oven, but then it will dry out a bit. Adding some shredded cheese is also very tasty.

Afiyet olsun!

(Enjoy!)

Go Vegetarian!

The vegetarian version of this dish is called Imam Bayildi (it means: passed-out priest – since this is oh-so-delicious!).
Leave out the minced meat and add some other vegetables like carrot, corn or peas. It is also lovely to add some (feta)cheese. If you have any leftovers (which I doubt) you can enjoy them the next day on a sandwich for lunch.