Recipes from around the world

    Turkey

            By Neşe Erberk

Kabak Mücver

My favorite recipe from my home country Turkey is Kabak Mücver. The reason why I like it so much is that it is easy to prepare and you can eat them either hot or at room temperature. It can be used as a vegetable side dish or as ‘meze’. It can be served plain or with a creamy garlic yogurt sauce, which I love very much. It is a perfect side dish for vegetarians.

Ingredients

• 1b Zucchine
• half a cup of chopped green onions
• 1 small yellow onion
• half a cup of fresh dill, chopped
• 4 tablespoons of fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
• half a cup of Kayseri cheese grated or half a cup of crumbled feta cheese
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

Grate the Zucchini and place it in a colander. Sprinkle with salt and let drain for 30 minutes. Squeeze out moisture and pat with paper towels.

Place the Zucchini in a bowl and add the green and yellow onions, dill parsley, cheese, eggs, flour, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, pour in oil to a depth of a quarter inch. When the oil is hot, drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into the pan (or form into small patties), allow space int between fritters. Fry for 2 minutes on the fist side, then turn to brown on the second side for about 3 minutes, using a slotted spatula tranfer to paper towels or newpaper to drain. Repeat with the remaining batter.

AFIYET OLSUN

Neşe Erberk (born October 14, 1964) is a Turkish businesswoman, a former fashion model, beauty contestant and Miss Europe 1984. Nese completed her education at Robert College and Bosphorus University.

After winning the title of Miss Turkey 1983, Neşe represented her country the next year at the Miss Europe beauty contest held in Bad Gastein, Austria, and was crowned Miss Europe. She became the fourth Turkish beauty queen to do so.

Neşe began her career as a model during her high school years and continued after her participation at beauty pageants. In 1987, she founded her own model and casting agency, which grew to one of the biggest today. In 2002 she founded her first preschool which grew into 24 schools including franchises all around Turkey. She is the mother of female triplets – Alin, Selin and Lara, born in 1999.