Thursday, April 21, 2011

3rd Class - 04/10/2011

Turkish Borek (Cheese filled pastry)

Ingredients:

3 leaves of yufka (you can find it at Turkish stores, like Turkuaz in Boston)
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 cups of vegetable oil (I prefer corn oil)
3 large eggs

Stuffing:
16 oz crashed feta cheese (Bahcivan brand makes the best stuffing cheese, we used another brand that day because Turkuaz was out of those)
1 cup of chopped parsley

Combine milk, eggs and oil in a big deep bowl add just a little bit of salt. Grease a large rectangular pyrex. Cut the leaves in half. Dip each half in the bowl one by one and place three halves in the pyrex. Spread the stuffing then dip the other halves in the mix and pace them on top of each other again. Then pour the rest of the mix you had left on top. Bake it on 400F.

You can make this a night before, cover the pyrex and let it rest in the fridge and bake it the other day. Make sure it rests at least 45 minutes before you slice it for serving.

peynirli-borek-tarifi


Kisir salad:

2 cups of fine bulgur (you can buy it from Turkuaz, it's called "kisirlik bulgur")
2 cups of boiling water
3/4 can of tomato paste (small can)
1 teaspoon pepper paste(that's ok if you don't have any)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
1 Tomato, petite diced
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 cucumber, finely chopped
juice of 1 or 2 lemon (you have to taste and add less or more lemon juice)
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp mint flakes
1 tsp cumin
romain lettuce leaves, chopped
couple of pickles diced

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Put the bulgur in a big bowl and pour the boiling water into the bowl, cover it with a lid or aluminum foil and let bulgur soak the water for 10-15 min. Add olive oil, tomato and pepper paste and combine them well. Add all the greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and pickles to the bulgur , add the herbs, salt and lemon juice. Mix all of them. Add more salt, lemon juice and olive oil if needed.

kisir

Fried cauliflower:

1 cauliflower
2 eggs
6 oz mineral water
1 cup of flour

Yogurt sauce for top:
3 cups of Turkish or Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt to taste
Combine them well.

Trim and wash cauliflower; separate head into florets. Cook in boiling water salted, for 15 minutes or just until tender. Drain and cool. (or steam them in the microwave).

Beat the eggs, add mineral water anf flour, mix them well. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Dip cauliflower florets in batter and deep fry for 2 to 3 minutes in hot oil until golden.Drain on absorbent paper. Let them cool.

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Place the fried cauliflower on a large dish. Pour the yogurt sauce on top. And for the last step, put 2 table spoons of oil (corn, olive..etc) in a small skillet, add 1 teaspoon red pepper, let them cook until it is bubbly. Pour this on top of the yogurt sauce.

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Yalanci Tavuk gogsu(Fake Chicken Breast Pudding):

3/4 stick butter
1 cup of flour
1 cup of sugar
6 cups of whole milk
size of a corn kernel mastic gum ("damla sakizi" in Turkish, can be found in Turkuaz or here)

Put the butter into a pan and melt it. Then pour the flour into pan and roast it until its color changes to yellowish-brownish color with a whisk while constantly stirring. Then add sugar and mix it. Begin to add some milk while stirring. Do not add the entire milk at the same time, try to pour little milk each time. Also, you need to stir it all the time. If not, the mixture will get lumpy. After you add the entire milk and the mixture boils, take the pan away from oven.Add the mastic gum. Stir the pudding with an electrical mixer or with a hand blender for about at least 5 minutes. You will see that the pudding becomes smooth. By the way, don't worry if despite all of your effort the mixture gets lumpy. The mixture will become smooth after this stirring procedure. In the end, pour the pudding into a pyrex (or oven proof glass pan) and cool it down. Pour some cinnamon at the top and refrigerate it at least 3 hours.

tavuk göğsü

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2nd Class - 03/26/2011

Kiymali Pide (Flatbread with Ground Beef and Cheese Topping)

You can use any of the topping you like, since we made ground beef and cheese I am writing both of them.

Ground Beef Topping:
1 pound ground beef
1 finely diced onion
1/4 bunch of parsley , chopped
1 italian pepper, diced
2 tomatoes,petite diced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons olive or corn oil
salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste

combine all the ingredients.


Cheese topping:
2 cups of Turkish feta cheese, crumbled
1 cup of mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 finely diced small onion
1/4 bunch of parsley , chopped
1 italian pepper, diced
2 tomatoes,petite diced
1/2 teaspoon oregano
salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste

combine all the ingredients.

For the Dough:

4 cups of flour
2 cups of warm water (approximately, it depends on the flour you are using)
1 egg
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

In a deep bowl combine flour with all the ingredients, if it is too sticky add more flour or if it's too hard add more water. Knead the dough for about 4 minutes (the more you knead, the more flexible the dough becomes). Put the dough back in the bowl and dust some flour lightly over the top. Then put a plastic bag over and around the bowl and let it rest for around 20 minutes. The plastic bags stops the dough from drying out and aids the proving process.

Once the dough has raised (it should be about 50 % larger than before), take it out and divide the dough into little balls (size of a lime), let them rest for another 15 minutes or so.Place one of the pieces on a lightly floured surface, and use a rolling pin to roll it into an elongated oval.

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Spread your desired filling on top of the pide, and crimp the edges up 1 inch, so your pide has a shape rather like a large flattened boat. Bake for about 20 min (or until the edges are nicely colored) at 425 F.

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Monday, March 21, 2011

1st Class - 03/13/2011

Hello everyone,
I know I am late:)  It's been 8 days since we've had our 1st class but I didn't have any time to post the recipes until now. So, here we go, along with some pics of course :


Ezogelin (Ezo the Bride) Soup:



Ingredients:

1/2 cup red lentils
1/4 cup rice
1/4 cup bulgur wheat
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
1  tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons dried crushed mint leaves
red pepper to taste
salt pepper to taste
black pepper to taste
Preperation:
In a pot, saute flour in butter until golden brown add tomato paste. Add 5 cups of water, put lentils, rice and bulgur wheat into boiling water boil for 20-30 minutes until well cooked. Add dried mints, pepper and salt. If the soup is thick , add boiling water until desired consistency. 
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Hasanpasa Kofte (Hasan Pasha Meatballs)
Ingredients: 

For the meatball: 
2 lb of ground beef (20% fat)
1 small size of onion ( finely chopped )
1 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
1tsp red pepper
2 slices Italian bread, throw away the crusts, soak in water and squeeze the water out (or you can use bread crumbs)
1 egg
salt

For the puree: 
We prepared the puree by using potato flakes.

Sauce: 
1 tsp of ground red pepper
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cup boiled water

preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400 F (205 C). Knead all the meatball ingredients. Take small parts ( about the size of lime ) and make them into ball shapes. Make a hole in the middle of each meatball with your thumb. Fill it in with the mashed potatoes using a teaspoon. 

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Place them on a large casserole dish. Prepared the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients Pour  the sauce between the meatballs. Cook for about 25 minutes in the oven.

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Take the casserole dish out, put the mozzarella cheese on top of the meatballs.

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Put back in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.


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Revani with coconut flakes:
You need to make the syrup first. Because syrup should be completely cool and cake should be hot.

In a saucepan, combine 1.5 cups sugar and 2 cups water over medium high heat. Stir sugar until dissolved. When it starts to boil add a couple of drops lemon juice. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
For the cake:

Start with 3 eggs, add a cup of sugar, 
and beat it about 3-5 minutes with your hand mixer or with a kitchen aid stand mixer if you are lucky and have one:) 
Add 1/2 cup of oil (I use corn, but you can use whatever you have) and 1/2 milk. (whole or reduced fat, doesn't matter) Beat for another minute.
Sift a cup of flour and a tablespoon of baking powder and add it to your mixture, mix it just until it is blended together. 
Add a cup of coconut flakes and add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. Walnuts are optional, you don't have to add them. Stir it with a spoon. 
Grease a deep pan, (I usually use a pyrex) and pour the mix. Then bake the cake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Wait for 5 minutes then pour the syrup. Allow it to cool and refrigerate it before serving.



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And that's it! I hope everyone enjoyed it, see you next week..!


Friday, March 11, 2011

Welcome

Hi everyone! Our cooking class will start in 2 days, I will be posting the recipes and photos from our class to this blog rather than giving you printouts. This way you can reach the recipes anytime and anywhere :)
I am so excited to meet you all!
Esra