Fırında Sebza Kızartması (Oven Baked Vegetables with a Sweet & Tangy Tomato Sauce)
Flavoursome, fried and crispy vegetables are known as “Sebze Kızartması” or simply “Kızartma”. Kızartma means ‘to fry’ or ‘frying’, but since these vegetables are oven baked, the crispy texture is achieved with a spicy cornflour coating. The vegetables are elevated with the chilled yoghurt and an utterly delicious sweet, tangy and garlicky pomegranate molasses garlic sauce, and I promise you that this dish will convert anyone with a vegetable aversion to fall in love with everything on this platter. Method continued in comments, recipe also on my blog.
S E RV E S 6
INGREDIENTS
For the vegetables:
6 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp cornflour
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp coarse black pepper
2 medium baking potatoes,
sliced into 1½cm (5/8in) rounds
2 medium aubergines, cut into 3 x 6cm (1¼ x 2½in) batons
2 onions, peeled and cut into 4 wedges (the root still intact to hold the layers together)
1½ tsp sea salt flakes
2 large courgettes, cut into 3 x 6cm (1¼ x 2½in) batons
2 kapya biber (capia peppers), red romano or small red bell peppers, halved, deseeded
and cut into 3 x 6cm (1¼ x 2½in) pieces
100g (3½oz) thick natural yoghurt
25g (1oz) fresh flat leaf parsley leaves
1 tsp dried mint
1 tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper/ Turkish red pepper flakes)
For the Garlicky Tomato
& Pomegranate Sos (sauce):
1 tbsp olive oil
6 garlic cloves, ground down to a paste
1 x 400g (14oz) tin finely chopped tomatoes or
4 large over-ripe tomatoes, halved and coarsely grated, skins discarded
1 heaped tbsp tatlı biber salçası (Turkish sweet (mild) red pepper paste)
1 tsp icing sugar
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
Sea salt flakes
Lemon wedges, to serve
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/425°F/gas mark 7.
Brush 2 large, shallow, non-stick baking trays with 1 tbsp of the olive oil each, and once the oven is hot, pop the trays in the oven for 10–15 minutes while you get the vegetables ready.
Mix together the cornflour, oregano, garlic granules and paprika and coarse black pepper.
Place the sliced potatoes into a large bowl and sprinkle over ¼ of the spiced cornflour mixture, coating the potatoes fully by using your hands to mix them and shaking the bowl around. Drizzle over 1 tbsp of olive oil and shake the bowl again, so that the cornflour and olive oil come together to form a paste. Place the aubergine spears and onions into another bowl and follow the same method and quantities as for the potatoes.
Once the oiled trays are hot, take one of the trays out and carefully lay the potatoes, aubergines and onions on it, ensuring the vegetables are all laying flat (to ensure a crispy, even cook).
Season the vegetables with half of the sea salt flakes, pop the tray back into the oven, near the top but not on the very top rack, for 20 minutes while you prepare the remaining vegetables.
Pop the courgette spears into the bowl you used for the potatoes and follow the same process as above – ¼ of the cornflour mixture and 1 tbsp olive oil. Pop the kapya biber into the bowl you used for the aubergines and onions, and repeat the cornflour and olive oil process.
Once the potatoes, aubergines and onions have been roasting for 20 minutes, take the tray out, flip the vegetables over and pop the tray back into the oven. Take the other oiled tray out of the oven, and carefully and evenly lay the courgettes and kapya biber on it. Season the vegetables with a good pinch of the sea salt flakes, pop the tray back into the oven (beneath the tray with the potatoes, aubergines and onion) and cook for 20 minutes while you prepare the garlicky tomato and pomegranate sos (sauce).
Add the olive oil to a non-stick frying pan and place on the hob over a low heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic to the pan and soften for no longer than a minute, ensuring that the garlic does not colour. Add the tomatoes to the pan, give them a good stir into the garlic, turn the heat up ever so slightly, then add the tatlı biber salçası and icing sugar to the pan and stir really well so they both dissolve into the tomato juices. Add the pomegranate molasses to the pan, stir well again and let the sos reduce and thicken for a couple of minutes. Season with another good pinch of sea salt flakes and take the pan off the heat.
After the potatoes, aubergines and onion have been cooking for around 40 minutes in total, take them out of the oven, turn the oven up to 230°C/210°C fan/450°F/gas mark 8 and place the courgettes and kapya biber on a higher rack in the oven for a further 5–10 minutes so that the courgettes caramelise a little more (the kapya biber won’t be crispy, but ‘jammier’ in
texture). Remove the crispy potatoes, aubergines and onions to a large platter. Once ready, take the courgettes and kapya biber out of the oven and serve them on the same platter, spooning over dollops of the “sos” and yoghurt. Sprinkle over the fresh parsley, dried mint and pul biber and serve with the lemon wedges. Serve simply with crusty bread.
