Turkish cigarette börek with minced meat - Kıymalı Sigara Böregi

Before bringing my newest Turkish recipe, I would like to introduce the world of börek to everyone. 

Börek

The origin of börek as many other traditional Turkish dishes goes back to the Ottoman Empire. Whithersoever the ottomans wandered and settled, the local people still prepares their foods during the centuries, moreover the Turkish kitchen gave inspiration to new dishes as well. The pastry-based dishes are dominant in our days too, exceptionally various and numerous of cooking techniques exist.  

We can follow easily the way of Turks in the history, when we see where börek or similar foods are eaten today as well. The word börek comes from the Turkish word "börbör" which means cover and wrap and is still very common from the Caucasus to the Balkans. Although the West cuisins have many fantastic baked goods and pastry dishes, we can rarely find anything  resembling börek.

By Ottoman sources especially in the 15th and 16th centuries the diversification of börek started,  since  many new recipes origins from this period.

Traditionally it's made in large oven pan and after baking cut into smaller portions. The börek prepared and served in big pans was an important entartaining element of the Ottoman holidays. Contrarily nowadays it's prepared in smaller portions. One of the specialities of börek is that its top is sprinkled with sesam seeds. The börek (which is known by many as burek) is a baked or fried filled pastry, made of very thin, flaky dough, which notorious name is yufka dough. In these days it's filled with cheese, mainly with feta, beyaz peynir (special Turkish white cheese - salty white cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk - or with kaşar - a medium-hard pale yellow cheese, unpasteurized sheep milk mixed with a little goat milk). Besides the cheesy filling the börek filled with minced meat and vegetables are also very popular. 

By the known Ottoman sources the börek's sweet version was very famous and beloved by all in the old times but in our days rather the salty börek is common.  

Turkish cigarette börek with minced meat, a.k.a Kıymalı Sigara Böreği

Okay I own that its name is not hanging together with its looks, this doesn't look as the real sigara böreği but at the breakfast place Simit in Istanbul it's sold like this and its taste compensate for the vision. :)

Ingredients:
1 package yufka dough (in default of it: phyllo dough)
1 egg
2 tablespoon yoghurt
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 tablespoon sesame seeds (this time I used lenseeds)

For the filling:
40 dkg minced meat
1 small onion
2 garlic gloves
1 coffee spoon cinnamon
3 teaspoon oregano
1/2 banch of parsley
salt, pepper by taste
olive oil

1. For the filling chop the onion, garlic, parsley. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and simmer the onion then add the minced garlic, the minced meat. After simmering for a few minutes, season with the spices, the cinnamon, oregano, salt and pepper. When the filling is ready, set aside and let it cool for a while.

2. In a smaller bowl mix the yoghurt, egg and olive oil. We will use this mixture for greasing the phyllo doughs.

3. For filling the börek, take a sheet of phyllo dough in front of you on a clean surface with the longer side facing you. The left side of the dough grease with the eggy mixture, then lift the right side on left part. Brush also its top with the egg mixture then take 2-3 tablespoon filling and place it 2 cm from the  nearest edge of the dough, 1-1 cm from the both other sides. Fold in each side of the long sides by 1 cm. Fold the closest edge on the meat and keep rolling away from you to form a cigarette shapeed roll.

4. Place the rolled-up böreks on a baking paper-lined oven pan. Before baking, grease all with some eggy mixture and sprinkle with some sesame seeds. Bake them in the 180°C preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until goldenbrown.

The best is when it's lukewarm but on the following day it can be a perfect breakfast....if some is left :)

Read More

Weekend in Madrid - tapas, sangria, paella, flamenco

Madrid = summer - love - walk - Corral de la Moreira flamenco show - tapas - sangria - tortilla - paella - gazpacho - Mercado de San Miguel - Plaza Mayor - ¡Holaaaaa!!!

Drinking sangria (Plaza san Andres)

I haven't mentioned yet but we love travelling with Mr. M and fly a lot around the world (I think I will open a separate page on the blog for our travels, fortunately we have a lot to tell). 2 weeks ago M. wa on business trip in Madrid and we decided that I also book a flight and we spend the weekend together.

It was a great decision, we are over a wonderful weekend. We didn't have time for everything but enjoyed every single minute of the weekend, the walk on the small narrow streets of Madrid, the rest, that, we don't rush anywhere, we eat, where we get just hungry or sit down for a sangria at one of the cute small plaza of Madrid.

We didn't take picture about everything but there you are, some foretaste:

Patatas brava

Tortilla espanola

On Saturday evening we had dinner in Don Ulpiano Restaurant (Plaza de San Martin, 2 - 28013 Madrid, Tel: +34 91 523 95 73). We ordered a paella mix for two, what a bottle of wine belonged to as well. Besides this we tasted mushroom with almond sauce too. Everything tasted perfectly. I say this who doesn't like seafood....so this is big word from me :)

After our dinner on Saturday night Mr. M. made a reservation for us in the Corral de la Moreira (Mr. M. surprised me with it:). This is the most famous tablao flamenco place on Earth, was opened in 1956. Here you can see live the world's most talented dancers, singers and guitarists.  The place itself has also a special atmosphere. It can be found in the centre of Madrid, 5 minutes walk from the royal palace. The decoration from the 18-19. century, the Arabic corbels and street lamps remind of the feel of original flamenco, which took us also back to the past for a while.  The show was very  fascinating,  the almost 2-hours long show seemed 5 minutes for me.

Many world famous people visited this place which is known as "cathedral of flamenco art" during the decades (on their website you can see the whole impsong list), which is testified by the many pictures which hangs on the wall in the lobby of the place.

We turned into a supermarket as well. 

Who has seen this kind of melon before?

We bumped into the oldest restaurant in the world (Restaurante Botín)

Palacio Real

Gran Vía

Palacio de Cibeles

Monumento a Cervantes

Torre de Madrid and Edificio España

Catedral de la Almudena 

Read More

Plum linzer tart 2.0 - this time with juicy rosy gage plum

On the day when I published this post's original Hungarian version last Thrusday, I woke up at 5.30 in the morning to bake this cake for my colleague's farewell party and to pack because I have travelled to Madrid in the afternoon.

First I didn't plan to bake because in the previous evening I wouldn't have had time for it but on the way home I saw that at the greengrocery close to my place was still open at 9pm which generally closes at 8pm. I considered this as heavenly sign!! Fortunately I could buy rosy gage plum as well (I regard as real plum only this kind: super juicy so the cake won't be dry with it) Yes!!

I used the same recipe as last time, but the plum is much more delicious and better now.

I had worked till noon then run to home to pick up my suitcase and run to the airport.

I came with Madrid experiences soon. OLLLAAAA!!!

Read More

Vanilla-fruit baskets

Last evening my friend, Ildi and me created these miracle baskets. I filled them with the cream, Ildi decorated. :)

You could meet already a lot of different linzer pastry recipe on my blog. In all of them the rate of flour-butter-sugar was different. This time I worked with the classic linzer pasrty rate, with the 3:2:1 version. And of course, my favorite, the grated lemon zest didn't drop out either. Yammm!

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
30 dkg flour
20 dkg butter or marge
10 dkg castor sugar
1 egg yolks
1/2 lemon's zest

For the vanilla cream:
1 package vanilla pudding (dr. Oetker)
4 dl milk
4-5 tablespoon castor sugar
5 dkg butter

1. Knead the linzer pastry as usual. In a big bowl crumb the flour with the butter, add the caster sugar, vanilla sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, mix the ingredients and knead the pastry by hand very quickly. Put it in the fridge for about 1 hour but at least for 30 minutes to chill.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C and as preparing the basket forms, oil them properly in order the pastry not to get stuck in them.

3. Roll out the pastry and cut it with a pastry cutter (which fits to the basket forms - I used red wein glass :)) then arrange the pastry into the forms. Bake them in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. When they are ready take them out and let them cool.

4. While the baskets get cool, prepare the vanilla cream. Mix the pudding with the sugar then pouring the milk constantly, whisk to get a lump-free mixture. Cook a very thick cream above medium-heat, stirring it constantly, then set aside and let it cool. When it's lukewarm, addmix the butter.

5. Fill the baskets with this cream, then decorate with fruits.

Read More

Turkish stuffed pepper - Etli biber dolması + a little Turkish cuisine science

On Saturday walking in the Big Market I was thinking about the weekend menu when I saw that beautiful bell peppers are sold at one vendor. They had just perfect size for the Turkish stuffed peppers so I bought four pieces immediately.

Dolma

The Turkish word dolma (means "stuffed, filled") comes from the Turkish verb dolmak which means "to be filled". The dolma word is used for stuffed dished, for instance vegetables, meat, fish, fruits and even desserts.

The dolma's tipical filling is rice, minced meat, onion, tomato or tomate sauce, pine nut, olive oil, mint, dill, salt, pepper, sugar and raisin (if it's olive oiled). It can be served as meze, cooked in olive oil or as warm dish filled with minced meat.

The neigbour countries of Turkey took over the use of the word dolma, dolmadaki in Greece, t'olma in Georgia, tolma in Armenia, dolmeh on Persian areas, dolme in Arabian countries, sarmi in Bulgaria, sarma in Macedonia, sarma, which is known more as "stuffed cabbage" in Hungary and Romania.

When the dolma doesn't contain minced meat, it's often called yalancı dolma which means "fake" dolma.

The most popular dolma dishes are:

Vegetable dishes:

- Yaprak dolması vagy sarma - stuffed grape leaves

- Biber dolması - stuffed pepper (generally green or red peppers are used)

- Kabak dolması - stuffed zucchini, squash, pumpkin

- Kabak çiçeği dolması - töltött zucchini blossom

- Lahana dolması - stuffed cabbage

Besides the above dishes in the Turkish kitchen stuffed tomato, eggplant, leek, quince and onions are prepared.

Fish and seafood

Midye - mussel

Hamsi dolması - stuffed anchovy (Anchovy is a type of black sea fish and very popular in Istanbul)

Uskumru dolması - stuffed mackarel

Desserts

Kadayıf dolması - This is the only one Turkish dessert which is called dolma. (Clicking on the link you will see how it looks.)

But let's turn back to my small Turkish stuffed peppers, we say Etli biber dolması in Turkish. The word etli means "meaty".

Ingredients:

4 db middle size bell pepper (red or green)

For the filling:

20 dkg minced beef meat

1 small onion or 4 fresh onion (finely chopped)

1/4 cup parsley (finely chopped)

2 bigger or 4 smaller tomato (inner part)

1/4 cup rice

olive oil

2-3 tablespoon water

salt, pepper (to taste)

+ 1-2 tablespoon tomato sauce mixed with 3 tablespoon olive oil and 2 dl water

1. Wash the peppers, then cut off their tops but don't throw them away. We will need them later, since we will put them back after we fill our peppers. Clean out the seeds from the peppers.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

3. For the filling mix the ingredients with a spoon and your hand. Fill the peppers with the ready-made mixture, but don't push the filling hard from the top only pat softly. At the end put the "hats' back on the peppers.

4. Lay the peppers in a big oven-proof pot sideways then pour the tomato sauce-olive oil-water mixture next to them. Bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes with a lid half covered. If the rice get soft in the filling, we can be sure that the peppers are ready too.

Read More

Cherry - cottage cheese cake

When I was living in Békéscsaba, in my hometown, we often went to Gyula and always turn into the Kis Kézműves Confectionery where my favorite was the cherry cottage cheese cake. We discovered it about 15 years ago when once we come round around opening hours. We looked at the offers when the still lukewarm, nicely redolent, castor sugar-sprinkled cheese cake was brough from the abck yard. Since we don't like the traditional confectionery meringue cakes (I think who grew up with home-made cakes, couldn't swallow these confectionery cakes), we swooped down on this enticing cake immediately. We got to like it soo much that we invented that we try to prepare this cake at home as well, it can't be soo difficult...we ate it soo many times that we already knew it was made with short linzer pastry, cherry and vanilla - cottage cheese cream.

After some trial the current recipe was born, thanks to mum!!

We celebrated Adrienn-day at the work on Friday, it was evident, I bake something for this occassion.  This summer unfortuntely I hadn't prepared this cake when there was fresh cherry at the markets, but even if there is no cherry-season, we can make it with preserved cherry, it doesn't take away anything from the cake's value.

I don't need to say, it run out within 5 minutes.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
30 dkg flour
20 dkg marge or butter
10 dkg castor sugar
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
1/2 lemon's zest

For the cottage cheese filling:
3 dl milk
1 package vanilla pudding (I always use dr. Oetker)
15-20 dkg sugar
5 dkg marge
10-20 g vanilla sugar
1 lemon's grated zest
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon semolina

+1 bottle of preserved cherry or 70 dkg fresh cherry

How to make the pastry: Knead the pastry's ingredients quickly until you get a solid, easily rollable pastry.  Crumble the flour with the marge, add the castor sugar, the egg yolk, the lemon zest and the salt and knead it till the pastry is nice and springy. Shape the pastry to a round loaf, cover with a kitchen towel and put in the fridge for an hour but at least for 30 minutes.

Prepare a 26-28 cm round and 2cm deep pie plate, oil properly in order the pastry not to get stuck in it. Take the pastry out from the fridge, roll on floured surface and put in a pie plate. Sprinkle a handful of semolina on the pastry, pile the cherry and prepare the below cream.

How to make the cream: Mix the pudding with the sugar then pouring the milk constantly, whisk to get a lump-free mixture. Cook a very thick cream above medium-heat, stirring it constantly, then set aside and let it cool. When it's lukewarm, addmix 5 dkg butter.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

While the ready-pudding cools, in a big bowl mix the cottage cheese with the vanilla sugar, lemon zest, salt, 1 egg yolk and semolina. Addmix the cool pudding. In another bowl whisk the egg white with a hand mixer (if you have some extra 1-2 egg whites - for instance the one which is left since making the pastry -  add also to it, so the cream will be lighter) then carefully addmix to the cottage cheese - pudding cream.

Pour this cream on the cherry then in the preheated oven bake the cake until you can see, the cottage cheese is baked and the top is light brown.

Sprinkle some castor sugar on it before serving.

Read More

Apple pie - as we like

There is one favorite apple pie in every family. Either grandma's or mum's. This is ours. And I guess, some of my colleague's for a while since I baked this for them.

At one time, 2000 BC we had received the recipe from one of my mum's colleague. It was written on a small paper for a long time which we put always to a safe place somehow that it took hours and hours to find it hidden in a cookery book. Learning from the above since I live in Budapest, this recipe is written in a notebook what I got from my best friend for my name day. 

I showed mum these pics in the morning to ask her opinion when she said: "I always say that your pie is more delicious than mine! Sometimes I'm also satisfied with mine but it's not the same like yours. It looks very good, the texture of the pastry seems very short. There is only one problem with it that I can't taste it! You're skillful" :)

Ingredients:

25 dkg flour (I used 12,5 dkg all purpose flour + 12,5 dkg oat flour)

7 dkg fat (you can use butter as well, but the dough won't be so short)

1 egg

90 g sour cream

5 g (1/2 small package) backing powder

oinch of salt

10 dkg sugar (or castor sugar)

For the filling:

kb. 70 dkg apple

cinnamon

10 g vanilla sugar

+ semolina

+ 1 egg

1. In a big bowl mix the flour with the salt, sugar, crumble with the fat then add the egg and knead  with as much sour cream as it's needed to get a not too hard, not too soft dough. Place in the fridge for one hour.

2. For the filling peel and grate the apples, sprinkle with cinnamon and vanilla sugar to taste and set aside until the dough is ready too.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. After 1 hour take the dough out from the fridge, divide into two. Roll one of them then place in a middle size oven pan lined with baking paper. Sprinkle some semolina on it (so the dough won't get soaked by the apple) and pile the apple. Roll the rest of the dough and put on the apple. Prick the pie's top with a fork and grease with a beaten egg. 

5. Bake the pie in the preheated oven (honestly I never time, but approx. for 20-30 minutes ), until golden brown.  Sprinkle the top with castor sugar before serving.

Read More

Turkish stuffed eggplant - Karnıyarık

At the weekend I was in Turkish mood again. Almost for a week I haven't prepare any Turkish food, I started to have withdrawal symptoms. 

On Sunday I undertook to cook the lunch. This is interesting only because once in a month when I go to my hometown to visit my parents, I enjoy that I'm a kid again, mum cooks, so I can get rest a bit as well. However on Fridays and Saturdays I always bake together with mum. We chat meanwhile something stupendous is born in the oven. 

Regarding the Sunday lunch, because there was minced meat, fresh eggplant at home and mum hasn't eaten karnıyarık yet, I prepared this for her.

The Turkish word karnıyarık means originally "split belly". This dish is made and as beloved by all in every part of Turkey  as the eggplant itself too. At least 100 different kind of Turkish recipes exist for the use of eggplant. By going over the ingredients and cooking metohd, most probably it springs from southeastern and eastern part of Turkey. The filling is made from onion, garlic, tomato, fresh parsley and minced meat (originally with lamb meat).

One of the well-known version of karnıyarık is imam bayaldı with a small difference. Imam bayaldı is made without meat and served as cold appetizer, meze but the karnıyarık is served generally warm.

Ingredients:

3 small eggplant

30 dkg minced lamb meat (or beef. This time I used minced chicken breast)

1 medium onion (finely chopped)

3 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

40 dkg tomato (peeled and chopped)

2 tablespoon tomato paste 

1 green paprika (finely chopped)

1 bunch of parsely

1-2 tablespoon olive oil

salt, pepper

+ for topping: 1 tomato (divide into 6 thin slices)

                           6 thin slices green paprika

1. Wash the eggplants, cut down their green ends, cut in half lengthwise and salt. Set aside for 10 minutes then wash them again with clean water, put them next to each other in an ovenproof pan. Place in the 200°C preheated oven for 20-30 minutes covered with aluminium foil until they get almost totally soft. You can prod with a fork and check when they are ready. 

2. Meanwhile simmer the onion with some olive oil. Add the minced meat, the garlic and the chopped paprika. When the meat is simmered, add the tomato, the tomate paste and season to taste. Cook it ready within approx. half an hour, stirring it from time to time. Remove from the heat and stir in most of the chopped parsley.

3. When the eggplants are ready, take out from the oven (but don't switch it off), with the help of two spoon take out the inner part of the eggplant but without cutting through to the skin on the opposite side and leaving 13 mm uncut at either end and let them cool for a while. Stuffed the epplants with the meat, decorate with the tomato and paprika slices and put it back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes. 

Serve warm. You can eat with bulgur or garlic yoghurt sauce as well, but it can be a main dish  in itself too. This is one of my favorite Turkish eggplant dish.

Afiyet olsun!

Read More

Queen Elizabeth Cake - My favorite

This moment came through as well.

When ages ago I planned to start this blog, I pledged that I will publish this recipe in my very first post.
On the one hand because this is one of my recipes which I have never seen before published neither on Hungarian, nor on international forums. On the other hand this cake is incredibly delicious and therefore I reckon undeserving that this cake hasn't received the deserving attention and place int he world of desserts. I'm sure about everyone will love it, who tastes and hope in a little while this cake will be known as "you know, the Queen Elizabeth Cake by Baklavaria"...daydream is allowable, isn't it? :)

We celebrated my grandma's 83. birthday on Saturday and I undertook the making of her cake this year also. We love this cake soo much in the family, prepare it for family gathering many times, therefore I chose this for the occasion of Saturday as well. We received the recipe from one of mum's colleague in 2005. We needed to change a bit on the original recipe (because the vanilla cream was not enough) but for 7 years now we prepare as follows:

Ingredients (for oven pan - 40 cm*40 cm):

For the base:

8 egg whites

8 tablespoon sugar

10 dkg flaked coconut

10 dkg unground poppy-seeds
2 tablespoon flour
1 coffee spoon baking soda

Vanilla cream:
8 egg yolks
6 púpos evőkanál liszt
20 dkg sugar
1 liter milk
20 dkg marge (or butter)

Biscuit layer:
250 g cocoa crisp biscuits

Whipped cream layer:
1/2 l whippable cream
25 g dr. Oetker Whip it! (stabilzer for whipping cream)

How to prepare the base:
In a big deep bwol start to beat the egg whites with a hand mixer, then when it's almost ready, add the sugar spoon by spoon and beat until it's totally hard. Admix the poppy-seeds, the coconut and flour with baking soda carefully.

Smooth the dough in the oven pan (lined with baking paper) then bake in the oven what you have preheated to 180°C beforehand. Pay attention because the dough bakes very quickly (within a few minutes). It's ready when its top is nicely golden brown. Peel the baking paper from it while it's still lukewarm and let it cool while prepare the cream.

How to prepare the vanilla cream:
Mix the egg yolks with the flour till smooth then add the sugar and the milk in a pan. Stirring constantly, cook it to dense above medium heat. Set aside, let it cool then when the cream it's already just lukewarm, admix the marge.

How to set up the cake:
Grease the cream on the coconut-poppy-seeds sponge cake then place the biscuits on it. Wait for a while (until the cream cools) before preparing the whipped cream.

How to make the whipped cream:
I always put the whippable cream in the freezer for 30 minutes before using, so I did the same this time as well. Believe me, it will be much easier to work with it in this way and with using the "Whip it!" you will get perfectly hard whipped cream for sure.

For the whipped cream, beat it slowly until they are foamy, then increase the speed. Add the dr. Oetker whip it! Be careful, and do not overbeat the cream. It is ready when you titl the bowl and the mixture does not slide around. When it's ready, grease the whipped cream on the top of our cake and put in the fridge.

It's expedient to prepare half day before serving. 

Read More