Culture Kitchen: Turkey

Hi all! Thank you to those who joined us this past Thursday for our October Culture Kitchen event! This month we featured guest chef Vildan, who is from Turkey! Vildan walked us through how to make Apple Cake! She chose this dish because it is easy to make and uses simple ingredients, but it is also consistently delicious every time she makes it! In Turkey, cakes and pastries are some of the most popular tea time treats, often featuring nuts, fruits, and cinnamon. Aside from tea, this cake also goes great with coffee!

The complete recipe is included below! If you do try it, let us know how it goes! Also, if you are interested in learning a new recipe, keep an eye out for our next Culture Kitchen event in November!

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 cup (200 ml) of yogurt or milk

• 1 cup (200 ml) of vegetable or olive oil

• 1 cup (200 ml) sugar

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• 3 eggs

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

• 2 cups (200 ml) of flour

• 1 lemon zest

Toppings

• 2 apples (peeled and sliced)

• 2 tablespoons of crushed hazelnut or walnut (if preferred)

You will also need a cake pan. This can be a 24 cm/9.5 inch round pan or something similar.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 355 F degrees and line a cake pan of 24 cm/9.5 in with parchment paper.

2. Whip yogurt (milk), oil, vanilla, sugar, and lemon zest in a deep bowl for 2 minutes with a hand mixer (or by hand for 4-5 min). Spare 1 cup of that sauce and keep it in the fridge.

3. Add 3 eggs to the remaining mix in the bowl and whip again for 2 minutes (or 4-5 min if by hand).

4. Add the flour and the baking powder to the mix through a sifter and stir the mix until you get it smooth and homogenous. Pour the mix into the prepared cake pan.

5. Place the apple slices on top and sprinkle with walnuts if preferred.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

7. Once the cake is cooked and ready, take it out from the oven. After letting it cool down for 2-3 minutes, pour the sauce that you had set aside beforehand onto it. If desired, you can sprinkle the walnuts as a final touch.

Afiyet olsun! (The Turkish phrase for Bon Appétit or Enjoy! :)

Culture Kitchen: Mexico

Thank you to everyone who attended our last event featuring Graciela from Mexico. Graciela walked us through how to make Posole from scratch, which was a great experience. This dish is made with pork, two different types of chiles, and a variety of spices. You can even regulate how spicy your dish is by adjusting the amount of chile sauce you add to the broth.

As Graciela explained, this dish is typically made in the fall/winter during special events, such as holidays and birthdays. It is a large, easy to make dish, that can feed many people. This recipe makes about 6 servings! So if you are looking for a big dish packed full of traditional spices and flavor, look no further!

The ingredients and recipe are below, but as always make sure to keep an eye out for our next Culture Kitchen event!

Ingredients (6 servings)

• 2 (10oz) Cans of White Hominy

• ~5 lbs Pork Shoulder, Cubed

• 1 package Chile New Mexico Pods

• 1 package Chile Pasilla (Ancho-Negro) Pods

• 1 Package Mixed Spices

• 1 Head of Garlic

• 1 Yellow Onion

• 3-4 ct Limes

• 3-4 tbsp Chicken Flavor Bouillon

• 3 tbsp Salt

• 2 Bay Leaves

• 3-4 ct Red Radish (optional)

• 1/2 Head of Lettuce or Cabbage (optional)

Instructions

1. Cut up pork shoulder into cubes.

2. Fill up a pot of water; 3/4 full. Add in half of a yellow onion, 3-4 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves and salt. Add in cut up pork and let cook for about an hour on medium heat.

3. While the pork is cooking, clean your Chile pods and deseed them. Once they’re clean, grab a smaller pot and fill up with water about 2/3 full and add your deseeded Chiles. Remove from heat once chiles have softened.

4. In a blender add your soft chiles, 1/4 yellow onion, 2-3 cloves of garlic, 1/2 tbs of mixed spices, 1/2 cup of water, and lastly add some chicken flavored bouillon (add to taste; you could also use salt instead).

5. Once blended, put sauce to the side.

6. Open your canned hominy and strain it. Run it through water until clean.

7. Check on the meat. If the meat is soft and tender go ahead and add the clean white hominy.

8. Next you’re going to add the sauce; color and flavor will depend on the amount of sauce you put in. Measure to taste, the more sauce you put in the spicer it will be so measure accordingly.

9. Lastly add some chicken flavored bouillon to taste (or you could use salt). Bring this to a simmer until all ingredients come together.

10. Slice up some radishes, cut up some limes, chop up some lettuce (or cabbage), and some onions.

11. Once stew is all ready, serve hot and top off with sliced radishes, onion, lettuce and some lime. (You could accompany posole with some tostadas or tortilla chips).

Graciela and her family recommend enjoying posole

with tostadas and mayo spread on top of them!

Enjoy!

Culture Kitchen: Germany

Thank you to everyone who attended our Culture Kitchen Germany event! This dish was simple, quick, easy to make, and most importantly, delicious! A special thanks to our guest chef Petra for helping us to make this event happen this month!

Below you can find the ingredients and recipe, and as always, be sure to tune into our next event featuring guest chef Graciela from Mexico!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

• 1 pack of Hot Italian Sausage

• 2 packs of Coleslaw (substitute with white shredded cabbage if preferred)

• Caraway Seeds

• Peeled Potatoes for the side dish (use however many potatoes you would like)

Instructions

1. Peel and cook potatoes to your liking for the side dish.

2. Cut the sausage in to finger thick slices

3. Fry them in a deep pan until fully cooked through.

4. Add the two packs of coleslaw to the sausage and place a lid on the pan.

5. Let the mixture simmer on medium temperature while stirring frequently until the cabbage is cooked to your liking.

6. Add some caraway seeds to finish off the dish and then...

7. Enjoy!