Life’n'Such - To Good friends, good food and a good life!

Hurma Tatlisi

I dont have words to describe how addictive this dessert is! You just cant stop eating it! Ayse Gul, ofcourse from Turkey, makes this the best. But Ulfet, Hacer and my other turkish friends make it equally good. I have made it a lot of times, and every time, it gets better. I think you need practise and patience to get it right.
Ayse Gul is lovely, she smells wonderful all the time, she has a gorgeous daughter, she tends to be a little naughty at times.

Ingredients:
1 egg,
1 egg seperated, (use the yellow/yolk for basting or brushing the top)
1 turkish teacup yoghurt,
1 turkish teacup oil,
1 1/2 tspoon baking powder,
1 spoon vanilla powder/essence,
All purpose Flour (maida) as needed.

For syrup,
3 1/2 cups sugar,
3 1/2 cups warm water

Dessicated coconut or crushed nuts for garnish. (optional)

First mix the sugar and water to make the syrup. (Note: in this recipe, the syrup is not made by boiling the sugar and water). Keep aside.

Take a mixing bowl, add the egg and the egg white, the yoghurt, the oil, baking powder, vanilla. Mix well. Add handfuls of flour in this and mix gradually. Stop adding flour when the dough is not sticky anymore, that is the sides of the mixing bowl are clean. Beat it a number of times.

Pinch dough to make small balls of about 1 inch diameter (like a little marble). Roll them between the palms of ur hands, to get round smooth balls.

Arrange on a baking tray. I need 2 - 9X 13 inch trays. I prefer glass trays, because of even heating. Brush the top of these with egg yolk.

Bake this at 350 deg F, about 30 mins or more, until you get a golden red color. Broil for a min or two on High. Turn off the oven. Remove the trays from the oven, pour the syrup equally in the two trays. Immediately return the trays to the oven for about 3-5 mins.

And then pull out the tray, flip each of them, so the syrup is soaked evenly on both sides. Do this fast.
Return this back to the oven, for a few hours. I let it soak overnite. Flip them to the right position after they are soaked completely.

For garnishing, you can use dessicated coconut or crushed nuts like walnuts, or pistachios. Just sprinkle on them

Note: 1 turkish teacup = 100 ml, approx = 4 oz.

January 26th, 2006