Orman Kebabı or in English Forest Kebab is one of the famous dishes of Bolu city of Turkey. Orman Kebabı is a juicy meat dish that has plenty of peas and sliced potatoes in it. When I went to Bolu city, I asked the locals about the story of Orman Kebabı and why and who gave its name to this dish. They told me the below story and I loved it.
The Story of Orman Kebabı
Bolu city is surrounded by forests and mountains. It is the greenest city in Turkey and full of wildlife around it. One day I. Beyazid (Ottoman Sultan) visits Bolu city and goes inside of the forest with his men for hunting. During hunting, they saw a village house and knock the house door and ask the villager where they can hunt best. The villager gets shocked once he saw Ottoman Empire Sultan in front of him and invites him and his men for a lunch. His wife cooks her best to feed Sultan and his men. While Sultan and his men were eating suddenly the Sultan stops eating. Once he stops, his men stop eating too. He turns to the villager and asks him the name of the dish.
The villager scares by the question because if he and his wife make something wrong their life will be in jeopardy. The villager tells the Sultan that we use what we have got and because of this, I don’t know the name. The Sultan shakes his head and says from now on this dish will be called Orman Kebabı.
About Bolu City
Also, I want to give some information to you about Bolu city in Turkey. The most qualified chefs in Turkey come from the Mengen district of Bolu city. This city is like a chef factory. If you visit Istanbul or any other big city in Turkey and have dinner at a fine restaurant, ask the waitress to learn where the restaurant chef is from. You will see that he or she is from the Mengen district of Bolu city. I receive the below Orman Kebabi recipe from one of the best chefs in the Mengen district raised.
Orman Kebabı
Ingredients
- 1 kg Diced Lamb Meat
- 1 Onion
- 1 cup Peas
- 1 Potato
- 1 Carrot
- 3 Tomatoes
- 1 clove Garlic
- 1 tbsp Red Pepper Paste
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 3 cups Water
- 2 teaspoons Salt
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1/2 tbsp Black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp Chili pepper
- 1 tbsp White flour
- 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons Butter
Instructions
-
Pour the Diced Lamb meat with white flour and put into the boiled vegetable oiled saucepan. Saute it 10 minutes until it changes its pink color to brown color.
-
Slice the onion and put it to the saucepan and add butter and saute all.
-
Once the onions start to changes it color; sliced garlic into the saucepan and saute it. And then add the tomato paste, red pepper paste and sliced tomatoes to the saucepan.
-
After the tomatoes starts to soften add the diced carrot, diced potato and peas into the saucepan and saute all couple of minutes.
-
Add the 3 cups of water, bay leaf, salt,and black pepper and wait until the saucepan until it boils. Once it starts to boils (see the bubbles) lower the heat as much as you can and close the saucepan lid.
-
Time to time (in every 15 minutes) saute it bu opening the lid and then don’t forget to close the lid. It will be ready after 50 minutes of cooking time at low heat.
Recipe Notes
Tip 1: As you know potato cooks faster than carrot; make the potato dices bigger than carrot dices.
Tip 2: It needs to be cook at low heat.
It is delicious 😍