Had I mentioned it recently? Lately I have just been wanting to cook cook and cook. I don't know if it's because I can't eat much myself that I am just obsessed with feeding my husband. Or, I am simply that bored!
I say this, because in my first 3 years of marriage, I only cooked normal wholesome meals for hubby during Ramadhan, and that was probably for 3 weeks of the entire 4 weeks. I hate(d) cooking, and honestly, I was working on translations non-stop. There were literally times when I would work without any breaks for 24-72 hours! So, forget cooking, I didn't even think about it. I think after that it just became a habit. Hubby has never been fussy with food. He couldn't care less if I served him Turkish breakfast (olives, white cheese, sujuck, tomatoes, cucumbers, and tea) for every meal of the day. Well, that was in the past... after we moved back to Oz in 2008, he started to complain because I was no longer doing the same amount of work LOL But it ain't easy getting used to something you hate very very passionately.
So anyways, I've just been cooking a lot. If mum saw me, she would be proud haha if my sis saw me, her jaw would drop. That is how bad I was with cooking. :) Give me the ironing, laundry, vacuuming, I can do it all day but cooking and dishes suck! To be honest, I really dislike doing housework. I like the professional working life, although that sort of lifestyle is very difficult for a married woman (especially if she has children!!!) (and especially if her husband is originally from a male-dominated part of the world and expect all this service crap from their wives)...
Oh to cut it short, I made "Karniyarik" (pronounced: car-neh-yah-rek, meaning: the stomach/mid-section cut open). The name just refers to slashing the centre of the eggplant to put in the filling. :)
It is a dish that was made during the Ottoman times, and served to the Sultans. It was my first time trying it out tonight and it really turned out delicious mashaallah and alhamdulillah. I was so nervous it was going to turn out a disaster. :) My only criticism was the mince I used. I canot stand beef mince, and I don't like the smell of meat from certain places. Back in Melbourne there were only 2 butchers I purchased my meat from and even as a child I wouldn't allow my mother to buy from another butcher. So I am struggling here. I ended up using beef mince this time as that was the only thing available at the time.
A little info about the dish... I baked the eggplants in the oven until they became mushy mushy. I slashed the centre from top to bottom and pushed down its insides with a spoon. Previously I had fried some mince meat with onions, fresh tomatoes and a pinch of salt, black pepper, red pepper and some tomato paste. The herbs you add give it all the essential flavours! Then once that was fried, I filled the eggplants with this mince filling. On top of it all I put a spoon of freshly grated tomatoes, a couple slices of garlic (it gives an amazing aroma and taste!!!), and a slice of chilli (hot chilli would taste better but I use sweet chilli as I have gastro). Then I mixed a bowl of water and a couple spoons of tomato paste. Once the tomato paste melted, I poured the contents of the bowl into the oven tray. Then I cooked the dish for another 20 minutes in the oven. And voila, it was ready for service.
So don't say I can't cook anymore. I can cook, I just don't want to do it all the time. :))))))))))))))
I served it with scallop potatoes, rice, and salad. Carb overload!!! :)
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