Life 'n' Such

Guess who got me interested in Turkish language; Dear AyseBetul. She is Pinaar and Cuneyt’s daughter. They are the first family  from Turkey that I met. I was fascinated and impressed by their food, their language and even more by them. I ate for the very first time, borek, pogaca, baklava etc at their place. AyseBetul was about 6 months old when I first saw her, so basically I had to learn small turkish words, so that I could talk to her and atleast understand her.

Ofcourse, 6 years have gone by and now I have not only learnt lots of Turkish words, recipes, but I have found so many common words between Turkish and Hindi (common language spoken in India). Amazing huh?

Oh ya, and ofcourse Pinaar’s other kids are Serdar (means Captain, in Turkish and Hindi – he is so cute, I heard today, some girls from his class like him ) and Bahar (means Spring in Turkish and Hindi). Now what was I telling you about, common words.

Pinaar says that generally common ingredients are used to make different types of pogaca, you may replace milk with yogurt sometimes, margarine for oil, etc

Ingredients:

1 tbsp yeast,
1 tbsp sugar,
1/2 cup warm water,
1/2 cup oil,
1 cup warm milk,
1 egg
salt, about 1 tsp
Flour (As much as needed)
1 egg for brushing the tops (used later in the recipe)

For filling:

cheese (feta/cottage/turkish etc) with parsley, or meat, or potatoes

Method:

First soak the yeast and sugar in the warm water, for about 15 minutes (or you see bubbles). Now add mix the oil, milk, egg, and salt to this. Mix, then add flour a little bit at a time, and keep kneading for quite sometime! (Yeah I mean it, the more you mix, the softer your bread will get) Finally, stop adding the flour, when the dough is soft (The turkish women, told me that it should be as soft as your earlobe, and then I asked them what if, someones earlobes are not soft? I know, I am being silly )
Then let the dough sit for about 20 minutes (It will rise). Now pinch out some balls, and roll them to form small discs/circles, put your filling in it. Fold it to get a semi-circle. Gently press the open end.

As you are doing this, lay them on the baking tray. When all are done, brush the tops with egg yolk. Let it rest for about 30 minutes in a warm place.

After 30 minutes, they will be bigger in size. Bake this at 350 deg F.

Remove tray, cover with a dry towel for a few minutes. Thats it. Eat them warm.

You could make them earlier and freeze them in plastic bags, and microwave and serve them.

9 Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

Well, this recipe is possible if you have sun-dried vegetables like eggplants (called as baingan in India) and peppers (green peppers, red peppers (called simla mirch in India). So if you can dry them in your own homes, great! Give this a try. Even people who dont like eggplants will like this one.

Asuman made this today for the baby shower.

Ingredients:

6 medium size potatoes (as much or as few, depending on number of people eating this) cut in cubes, and deep fried in oil.
dried pepper and dried eggplants, boiled in water, till tender
2 onions, cut in long thin ribbons
1 spoon tomato paste,
1/2 turkish teacup oil for cooking

For the sauce:

garlic grated,
yogurt
Method:

Fry the onions in oil, till they are transparent in color. Add the tomato paste to this. Mix for a couple minutes. Add the boiled vegetables to this. Mix again. Add salt.

Now arrange the fried potatoes in your serving dish. On top, put the cooked vegetables. Serve this with garlic mixed in yogurt on the side.

Thats it. Now only if I wasn’t lazy to dry the veggies!

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

This is so good, I thought its chicken kebabs

Firdaus made them last week, when they all visited us. She made it the same afternoon, and said that they are really easy and fast. And as you all know how I love easy and super fast recipes, I had to add it to my blog.

These kebabs or fish cakes are made with canned tuna fish, but she said, you can use whichever fish you like.

Ingredients:

2 cans tuna fish in water, drained
salt, red chilli powder (mirch), black pepper (kali mirch), garam masala, turmeric (haldi)
2 medium sized boiled potatoes,
bread crumbs
1 egg
fresh cilantro chopped, fresh hot green peppers finely chopped (optional).

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients, and shallow fry till golden brown in color. Done.
I am writing this recipe from my memory. And as I am getting older, you know, my memory is not as sharp as it was before, so I am going to recheck this with Firdaus, and update if necessary.

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I was almost fooled the first time I saw this. I was so sure this was made with pistachios (or pistas as called in India)! But then my friends told me that it wasnt pistachios, it was spinach!!

Can you imagine a cake made with Spinach??? This is soooooooo delicious!! And a good way to get some green leafy vegetable, right??

I think only Asiye and Ayse Gul make it. It is really a easy recipe by Asiye, who is from Turkey too, and has a fantastic son; Hakan. He talks like a big man, and I dont think he is even 3 .

Definitely give this a try. You will be shocked!

Ingredients:

For cake batter:

Spinach 1 cup chopped,
1/2 turkish teacup water,
4 eggs,
2 turkish teacup sugar,
2 turkish teacup flour,
1 packet/ tsp vanilla,
1 packet/tsp baking powder

For filling:

1 banana sliced,
1 or 2 cups of pudding/krema (the recipe for this is listed in Rullo pasta)

For topping:
1 box whipped cream (thawed)

Method:

First blend the spinach and the water together. Then beat the eggs and sugar together for a couple minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients listed under the batter. Bake this at 350 deg F, until the top is golden in color, and the center is all done.

Let it cool for a few minutes.

Then cut the cake, through the middle to get 2 equal halves. Pour and spread the fillin on the bottom half, and arrange the banana slices on them. Pour the remaining pudding on this.

Now place the other half of the cake on top of this. Let it cool completely and refrigerate.

Finally with a spatula, spread the whipped cream to cover the cake completely.

You may garnish/decorate with kiwi sliced, or sprinkle crushed pistachios or anything you like.

another topping for the cake: Strawberries!!

2 Comments | In: Dessert, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

This is oh so good!!!!!!!!!!! This is made by Nilgun again today for the baby shower. Nilgun is from Turkey, as most of my friends She has an adorable baby girl; Elif. She has beautiful big eyes.
I will also tell a little variation that Ulfet does to this, she adds green lentils also, that gives it a little kick, I love those a lot! I dont know exactly when she adds that, I will ask her, and later update this recipe.
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup red lentils,
4 cups water,
2 1/2 cups bulgur, (really small cracked wheat)
spices: red hot pepper, black pepper, mint (as much as you like)
salt,
2 cloves garlic grated,
1/2 turkish teacup oil,
green onions chopped (again, as much as you like)
fresh parsley chopped

Method:

Now start with boiling the water, with the red lentils. When the lentils are done, add the bulgur. Wait 10-15 minutes. Add the spices, salt, garlic, green onions, parsley and oil. Mix really good, for a couple minutes. Then using a little bit, start to press it in between your palms, to get the long kofte shape.

Thats it, start arranging in the tray, as you go.

Serve with fresh green lettuce. (I like to eat the kofte and lettuce together, it gets crunchy)

This is excellent as a side dish for your dinner/ lunch party. Or even better for a tea party.

2 Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

Wanna have cigars ?? No No, I dont mean smoke-smoke. I mean eat them Well these are definitely without caffeine

This is another recipe to be cooked using the spring roll sheets available in Turkish/Arabic/American and of course Chinese stores

Today Emine made this for AyseGul’s baby shower. Emine has a beautiful daughter Filis (I hope I spelled her name right) and Emine is a Nurse in Turkey, what a noble profession!
Ingredients:

1 packet of Yukfa (Spring roll sheets, thawed)
filling options: feta/turkish cheese with parsley, or meat with spices, or potatoes and spices
oil for frying

Method:

Work with one sheet at a time. Start with one corner, and put a little filling across it. Then roll it a couple times, then roll from the two opposite sides one time, more like fold in the corners (to seal off the ends). Then continuing rolling it till it resembles a cigar To seal the fourth end, you may use oil or water. Just a little bit.

Finally when all are done assembling, shallow fry them in hot oil, first the first side, then flip when its golden brown, then the second side.

Thats it, take them out, and lay them on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Done!!!!

Try this, and tell me how it goes! I will wait for your feedback and suggestions

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #

Presents for the baby and food (ahem for women ), I think that’s what baby showers are all about!
There were tons of snacks and desserts; to name a few: fried eggplant + peppers + potatoes with garlicy yoghurt sauce, Kiymali borek (a type of bread with ground meat in it), lentil kofte (made with red lentil and spices), pogaca (or pogca- a type of turkish bread), potatoes stuffed with carrots, peas and topped with mozarella cheese and then there were i think 5 desserts. Spinach cake, mosaic pasta, lemon jello, rullo pasta, tavuk gogusu.

I am attaching pictures of some of the things:

No Comments | In: Appetizer/Snack, Dessert, Food, Recipes, Turkish | | #