Asure - Noah's Pudding

Yes, today is the day we called Asura in Islam. I would love to give what happened in this day in details unfortunately I am so busy at work since it is month end closing. Maybe I can update this post later. when I first read, I was surprised how magical things happened to many of prophets in the same day(10th of Muharram according to lunar calendar).

But I would like to give my recipe of Noah's pudding incase you want to cook. It is another recipe where you feel free to add anything according to your taste. There are basic ingredients and than others are optional. Here are the list that I used to make pudding;

Necessary ones;
1 cup soaked and boiled shelled wheat
1 cup soaked and boiled dried beans
1 cup soaked and boiled garbanzo beans
1+1/2 cup sugar ( you may substitude molasses or honey)

Optional ones:

A pinch of rice
A pinch of sesame
A pinch of cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 small peeled and chopped apple
1/2 orange skin chopped
1/2 lemon skin chopped
12 chopped dried apricots
6 chopped dried figs
1/2 cup raisins

For topping:

Cracked walnuts
Cracked hazelnuts
Cracked pistachios
Pine nuts
Pomegranate


Choose your biggest pot and bring 2 liters of water to boil. Than add wheat, dried beans and garbanzo beans.Cook them around 10 minutes.After 10 minutes start adding other optional ingredients one by one but please do not forget to take cinnamon stick after you turn the heat off. It becomes thicker as you put all ingredients and they start to boil.As a final add its sugar till you like (it may be more or less than what I wrote) and let it boil 5 more minutes then turn the heat off. Leave the pot for couple hours to set but if you like warm pudding you can start tasting with adding its topping.

As I write at the beginning this is how I like to eat. I like my Noah's pudding darker thus I use cinnamon stick while cooking. Some people prefer not to use it and add ground cinnamon as topping. Again it is open to your imagination. So pelase feel free to try and create your own Noah's Pudding Recipe! Afiyet olsun!

Baharatli/Otlu Pogaca - Turkish Pastry with either spice or herbs

Hello dear reader,

I know it has been a while I couldn't update my blog. I have a very important excuse which I cannot tell now ;-))

Today I have another Turkish pastry recipe for you. I think you all understand how I like to bake. This is a simple and quick recipe and it is open for your imagination too. The original recipe was with feta cheese and dill (parsley if you do not like dill) but I didn't have them at home when I was craving for it thus I used spices instead (dried mint- oregano and chilli peeper flakes)

Here comes the ingrediences;

1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tbs soft butter
2 eggs (seperate 1 yolk for brushing)
2 ts sugar
1 ts yeast
1 ts salt
3 cups + 2 tbs flour
100 gr crumbled feta cheese
1 cup chopped dill or parsley or spices if you don't have neither of them.

Mix well sugar, warm milk and yeast at first. Than add oil, butter and eggs and mix couple more minutes. Thank add 3 cups of flour than continue to add if you need more. I added 2 tbs more since I used large eggs. You may decrease salt if your cheese is too salty. Add the other ingredients and knead the dough couple more minutes till you have soft dough. Cover the dough and leave it to raise 20-25 minutes till it doubles. Than divide the dough into two pieces. Put some flour over the counter top and make a circle with the first dough piece about 10" diameter or service plate dimention. You may use either your hands or a rolling pin. Cut that dough to 8 pieces. Roll each triangle dough in order to get croissant shape. Roll the others and finally you will have 16 pastries on the tray. Before you start rolling each piece feel free to add extra cheese or butter than roll it. Or just roll it plain.It is up to your imagination. Leave them on the tray another 20-25 minutes to rise more than brush egg yolk on top of the pastries. Place the tray to preheated oven around 420F about 15 minutes till they have nice color. Timing depends on the oven.Mine took 15 minutes to bake but it could need more time.

Prepare Turkish tea while they are in the oven. Have fun with tea and warm fluffy pogaca which I did couple days ago ;-)) Afiyet olsun!

I am back with Simit (Turkish Bagel) Recipe

It has been very long time that I haven't published new recipe. Sorry about that. Last 3-4 months were very difficult for us. Anyway, I am back again ;-))

I have a very delicious recipe for people who starve simit outside of Turkey. Because in Turkey you do not need to bake it at home. It is much more easy to buy them from bakery stores. But if you live abroad and want to have simit than you need to learn how to make it. It is not so hard actually. The most difficult for me was giving shape to simit otherwise it doesn't take long time to prepare. As you can see below the shape is not excellent but it worked for me ;-))

Here are the ingredients that I use;

For the dough;
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 cup likewarm milk
- 2 tbs yeast
- 2 tbs sugar
- 3 ts salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 5 cup + 2 tbs flour

For topping;
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 2 tbs grape molasses
- 2 tbs water

Mix well water, milk, yeast and sugar in a large bowl first. Than add oil, egg and flour, than salt. After I added 5 cups of flour I added additional 2 table spoon more but I put it carefully.You may not need that additional 2 tbs of flour.It depends on what size of egg you are going to use I think. Knead the dough about 10 minutes till it gets soft and smooth. After that wrap the bowl well and let the dough rise about half an hour. After that knead the dough one more minute till it is bubble free and place it onto counter top. You may need to sprinkle additional flour here if your dough is so sticky. Cut the dough 10 equal pieces and start rolling them by your fingers till you get around 20 inches (it will be long roll) Bring the two ends together and twist them than make the ends together like a bagel shape this time. When you finish giving shapes to simits mix water and grape molasses in a large bowl and place sesame seeds in a serving plate. First dip simits to the mixture and than dip them to sesame seeds and place them to baking tray. Let them rise around half an hour. By the time preheat the oven to 475F. Bake them around 10-12 minutes till they are golden. Timing would change depending on the oven style.

Than they are ready to eat :-) I cooked them yesterday and I ate one of them with 3 different cheese. This tray was for my husband who was studying at that time. I hope you give a try to this recipe and like the taste that we did. Enjoy!

Ezme

Hello everyone,

I know it has been very long that I haven't post a new recipe here. I am not going to find excuses about that. But I know that I am a little bit lazy ;-)

Today I have a very easy but very tasty recipe for you. It goes well with grills in summer. Or that is the way we like ;-) Whenever we barbeku or go to picnic I try to make this salad. It is originally hot but I do not use hot pepper.

It is so flexible to make additions according to your preference. I am just giving you basic items and rest is your imagination.

Ingredients;

4 medium ripe tomatoes
2 medium onion
4 gloves of garlic
1 tbs pepper paste
1 tbs tomato paste
1/2 green bell pepper ( it is hard to find mild pepper here)
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 bunch of parsley
Juice of 2 lemons (it depends on your taste actually)
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and chilli pepper

I first grate tomatoes and than chop all onions,garlic,peppers and parsley. This is the key part. If you use a blender or a chopper it will not have the same taste. If you have a sharp knife and a cutting board it is not difficult and it is not time consuming. Than I add tomato and pepper past with spices. The amount you use might be different. So feel free to add more or less spices or herbs. You will have enough ezme for 3-4 families with that amount of ingredients.

I hope you enjoy your ezme if you give a try!

Happy Birthday!

 

 

It has been a while that I couldn't write here. After coal mine explosion in Soma Turkey I felt terrible. I didn't want to do anything, even working. Life is too short. And we should know how valuable a single breath.

Finally I have decided to continue writing. There are things that we can change but also there are things that we can not change. I found that having hope helps you to overcome a disaster.

 

I do not have a recipe today. It is my 32nd birthday today.

I wish to myself a better world in my new year!

Semolina Halvah

Today is a holy night for muslim people. (Regaip Kandili) It is belived that God will accept your prays tonight. One of the tradition that I know in these holy days is to prepare either halvah or a kind of pastry and share it with your neighbours. My mom still does that.

I have a semolina halvah recipe that I use for you. I know it has many calories but it is worth to have it once for a while, not so often ;-) 

First we need to prepare its syrup.

- 1 glass of water
- 1 glass of milk
- 1 1/3 sugar

Mix these three ingredients well in a pan and bring it to boil. Then you can take it away and let it cool.

Other ingredients we need;

- 1 glass of semolina
- 1 stick butter (113 gr)
- 1/2 pine nuts if you like

In a deep pan butter is melted first than you can add pine nuts and semolina.You need to stir well. You will see the color change of both nuts and semolina. It would take around 6 minutes with this amount of ingredients in medium heat. I always use wooden spoon for stirring. If you see the color change (it gets darker) then you can add the syrup slowly which was already prepared. I am sorry you still need to stir the mixture till semolinas absorb all syrup and halvah gets thicker. Once it gets diffucult to stir than you can turn the heat off. Cover the pan or put its lid and wait around 30 minutes before you serve.Halvah should rest before it is served.

In the picture I just put halvah to a bowl and turned it upside down  in order to get this shape. You may sprinkle some cinnamon, or cracked nuts or even coconut.We have another way to enjoy semolina halvah which is eaiting it with ice cream;-)) It is very common in kebab restaurants in Turkey.

Afiyet olsun!

Happy 23rd April National Sovereignty and Children's Day!