Both Economical and Delicious New Year's Menu and Recipe

Christmas time is a time of hope and happiness. Perhaps our most enjoyable moments are to gather around delicious tables and welcome the new year as a family. However, our lives have changed with the Pandemic. Due to the distance that covid 19 has put between us and our loved ones, we have not been able to set big tables for about 2 years. Even setting a delicious New Year's table has become difficult due to the price hikes, especially food, due to the economic conditions of recent times.

Altınbaş University Gastronomy and Culinary Arts academicians and Chef candidate students will bring us together again with New Year's tables that we miss. They have prepared an economical and delicious New Year's menu for you… Instructor Gökhan Taşpınar stated that while preparing the New Year's menu, they chose the ingredients that best fit the New Year's spirit. Gökhan Taşpınar stated that they prepare the recipes in a way that will not strain the budgets, but will not compromise on taste. “For example, we suggested the more economical chicken instead of the classic turkey at the New Year's Eve tables. Turkey, cooked in the market, finds buyers for approximately 500 TL. Whole chicken is around 75 TL. We have prepared a more affordable chestnut recipe instead of pine nuts, whose weight is about 1000 TL. Again, we thought of a pleasant and delicious start with pumpkin, which can be easily bought from the neighborhood markets, and Ginger Pumpkin soup, which is the best fit for the New Year's spirit. If it's sweet, it's a must-have for New Year's tables. Our semolina dessert with less ingredients will leave a sweet flavor on our palates.” said.

New Year's menu and recipe

Pumpkin Ginger Soup

Materials

500 grams of pumpkin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 pieces of onion
1 carrot
1 potato
1 liters of water
1 sweet Salt
Olive oil

Instructions

We put the olive oil in the pot and add the pumpkin, potatoes and carrots that we cut into cubes. After frying for 2-3 minutes, add powdered ginger. After 1-2 minutes, we add the boiled water and cook until soft. When the vegetables are soft, we pass them through the blender and boil them on low heat for 5 minutes and add our salt.

Humus

Materials

2 cups chickpeas
1 teaspoon of baking soda
2 cloves of garlic
2 lemon
½ cup of tahini
½ teaspoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of cumin
1,5 tea spoon salt

Over: 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of red pepper powder

Instructions

Take the chickpeas out of the water and drain the chickpeas that you soaked for 1 night or at least 1-4 hours before adding 5 spoon of baking soda. Put the chickpeas in the pot, add water and leave to cook for 45 minutes. After the chickpeas are soft, remove from the stove. Take tahini, olive oil, finely chopped garlic, cumin and salt in a bowl and add the juice of the lemons and mix. After boiling, peel off the skins of the chickpeas that we drained and grind them with the tahini mixture you prepared in the food processor until it gets a smooth consistency. A few pieces of ice can be added so that it does not heat up during pulling from the robot.

Chestnut Stuffed Chicken

Materials

1 whole chicken

For the stuffed rice

1,5 cups of rice
2 onion
200 gr Chestnut
2 tablespoons of currants
2 cup of hot water
2 spoonful butter
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 sweet spice salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper

For the above: 2 tablespoons butter Juice of half a lemon 1 teaspoon ground pepper

Instructions

Chop the onions. Melt the butter. Fry the chopped onions until they turn colour. Add the rice and fry for 5-6 minutes. Add chestnuts, currants, black pepper and cinnamon. Fry for 2-3 more minutes. Add hot water and close the lid of the pot and let it brew on low heat for 8-9 minutes. Mix the butter, lemon juice and ground pepper in a bowl and grease the chicken with the butter mixture you prepared. Add the stuffed rice you prepared into the chicken. Tie the legs crosswise so that the chicken does not separate while cooking. Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

Cocoa Semolina Dessert

Materials

1 liter milk
1 cups sugar
1 glass of semolina
3 soup spoons of cocoa
1 packaged vanilla

For the above: coconut

Instructions

Add all the ingredients except vanilla in the pot and mix until it becomes homogeneous. Take it to the stove and cook, stirring constantly, and after boiling, continue to cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. After removing from the stove, add vanilla and mix. After it cools down at room temperature, let it rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Finally, divide it into portions on plates and garnish with coconut.