Turkish Ground Beef and Yogurt Pasta


I absolutely adore this recipe. When I first heard of it I was a bit put off by combining all of these ingredients together but as soon as I had a spoonful of this delicious dish it became one of my all-time favorites. You'll find that it is a very light, satisfying meal and the yogurt mixed with the pasta gives it a wonderful crisp freshness.

The good thing about it is that it is very easy to make. Feel free to double or even triple the recipe for the ground beef and freeze it so that next time you want to make dinner in a hurry all you have to do is defrost the meat, cook the pasta and whip up the yogurt.

Ingredients:

1 bag of penne or farfelle pasta

For the beef:
1 lb ground beef (or lamb if you prefer)
1/2 cube vegetable bullion
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tomato, skin removed and finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3 tsp extra virgin olive oil

For the yogurt sauce:
2 cups yogurt
3 tsp dried mint
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add the chopped onions; keep stirring so that the onions don't burn. When the onions begin to change into a transparent color, add the garlic. Next, add the tomato and cook, stirring frequently for about 4 minutes. Add the vegetable bullion and then the beef. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 7-10 minutes or until completely cooked.

In the meantime, combine the yogurt, mint and garlic in a bowl. Season with salt (don't over do it).

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

I prefer serving individual plates, where I cover the pasta with a generous amount of the beef and then cover the beef with yogurt. You may also serve the pasta, beef and yogurt individually and have everyone add as much of each ingredient that they desire.

I hope you like this as much as I do :)

Serves 4


9 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious! It reminds me of beef stroganoff without the mushrooms.

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  2. Thanks so much Maggie, it is delicious, you should definitely give it a try :) I hadn't thought about it before - it is kind of similar to beef stroganoff but much lighter.

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  3. Now this is a combination I have never thought of before...can't wait to try it!

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  4. Sounds delicious! From the picture, I'm guessing the yogurt you use is very thick - what we would call "Greek yogurt" here in the U.S. (It's more like sour cream than the usual stuff we call yogurt.) Anyway - I love greek yogurt and am always looking for new ways to use it. Thanks! :-)

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  5. I actually used normal plain yogurt for this, but you are right, it does look like Greek yogurt in the picture :) I apologize, I should have specified which type of yogurt I was using:) Greek yogurt is a great idea though, thanks so much for sharing it with me, I'll definitely give it a try the next time I make this.

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  6. Sounds very easy and tasty, I'll try it!!

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  7. Thanks Christelle! :) It is delicious, I made it again a couple of days ago. Let me know if you like it when you give it a try :)

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  8. This sounds delicious, but i just added up the calories for a serving and approximately 800 calories is too high for me. Maybe with some substitutions like less oil it could work but it might not taste good then. Ohh well it sounds fabulous.

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  9. this Pasta dish could use freshly grinded Cumin in the (thick Turkish) Yoghurt..
    and a Fresh Chillie Pepper fried with the Ground meat :)

    Anyways,nice to meet you!

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Hey there! Thanks for stopping by. I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. I promise to respond to any questions as soon as I possibly can.