Soğanlı Çıtır Börek or Flaky Filo Pastries with Onion and Parsley

flaky filo pastries with onion and parsley

Börek-  apart from sigara böreği - is something I have resolutely stayed away from all the years I’ve  lived here and now I wonder why.  

Well, I do know why: they are so delicious, we’d put on kilos! But they are so much part of the Turkish cuisine especially at teatime – remember, teatime here is taken very seriously with both savoury and sweet goodies always on the table – and I know that TT’s dream food  is a slice of warm, flaky börek with a glass of çay. This is indeed the way to a Turkish sevgili's heart!

Didem's börek

 But what is börek?

It’s layers of yufka or filo pastry filled most commonly with cheese, meat or spinach. This one is slightly unusual as the filling is made with onion. You can ring the changes according to the way you cut and roll the yufka. Börek, usually baked in the oven on an oven tray or tepsi, is perfect for a hungry crowd and

Ayşe B's börek

much easier and quicker than making a quiche!  Traditionally, housewives used to’open’ the pastry themselves but nowadays we buy our yufka from a special yufkacı if we are lucky enough to have one in the neighbourhood. Failing that, it’s sold in packets in supermarkets but it definitely won’t be as good.

this is how yufka comes when you buy it
 from the local yufkacı

Börek is not strictly confined to Turkey: it’s very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire stretching widely from North Africa to the Balkans.  Different regions in today’s Turkey all enjoy their own special form of this delectable savoury pastry and when you are out and about, you will see places devoted solely to selling it. So easy if you don’t feel like making it yourself ....but you will once you see how easy it is!

a very modest  but typical börek place in Pangaltı, Istanbul

Ingredients for Soğanlı Çıtır Börek/Flaky Filo Pastries with Onion and Parsley

Serves 6-8

3 yufka (Turkish yufka measures 60cm/2ft in diameter) Filo can be used as a substitute but not in single layers as it is so much finer

100g/3 ½ oz melted butter

2 tbsp sunflower oil

For the filling:

1 kg onions

½ bunch parsley/maydonoz (this means a really good handful ie a lot)

Salt & Pepper

Flaked red pepper/ pul biber

To glaze:

1 egg yolk

Sesame seeds/susam OR nigella/çörekotu

Method

·         Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F.

·         Peel the onions and chop in the food processor. Don’t totally pulverise them.

it's a lot of onion!

·         Melt the butter in a pan and gently sauté the onions until soft. Season with the salt, pepper and flaked red pepper and mix. Remove from the heat. Add the chopped parsley and leave to cool.

adding the seasoning

·         Take the first yufka and brush with the combined butter and sunflower oil.  Spread the cooled onion mix all the way to the edges and then roll evenly into a long shape.  Continue in the same way with the other sheets of yufka. Cut into pieces roughly 3 fingers wide.

spreading the onion mix on the yufka

..and rolling it up

·         Grease an oven tray or line with greaseproof paper.  Place the börek on it and brush with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds or nigella. Bake until nicely browned. Don’t be afraid of over-cooking them! They’re very sturdy.

glazed and ready for baking

I promise you will absolutely love these!  Really! Perfect as a little starter or even with drinks.  You can cut them bigger or smaller as you wish, don’t forget.

fresh out of the oven and smelling divine

You can’t help but love’em!

Afiyet olsun!

su böreği: literally water börek, a classic

Cherry Choc Muffins

There are two IWI book clubs in Istanbul: one holds its meetings in a cafe while the other has them in a different  member’s house every month. I belong to the second one. We like the more intimate atmosphere a private home generates!

lemon coconut biscuits, cherry choc muffins,  zesty carrot&ginger cake

So last week it was at my place. I was pleased as I hadn’t seen everyone since Australia but also because I had this recipe up my sleeve just waiting to be tried out. We serve tea and coffee and a few bits and pieces to eat, you see. I thought cherry choc would be just the thing for a grey winter’s day outside and a warm cheery gathering inside.

Ingredients for Cherry Choc Muffins

From BBC Good Food Magazine

Makes 16

250g/9oz unsalted butter

185g/6 ½ oz caster sugar (in Turkey use regular toz şeker)

4 medium eggs

250g/9oz plain flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder/kabartma tozu

A splash of milk

200g/7oz dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces (I used choc chips since we can get them here now)

425g/15oz can pitted Morello cherries, drained (mine were in a jar – vişne in Turkish)

Method

·         In a mixer using the blade attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix for 4 mins. Add the flour, baking powder and milk, and mix for a further 4 mins on slow, then mix in the chocolate.

the silky batter

·         Heat oven to 200°C/350°F/gas 6. Cut 16 squares of baking parchment big enough to act as cases for the holes of your muffin tins. Using a piping bag or a spoon, fill the muffin cases with the mixture.

the filled cases minus the cherries

and here, with the cherries pushed into each one

·         When all the cases are filled, share the cherries equally between the muffins, pushing them into the mixture as you go. Bake for 25 mins, then serve warm or cold.

ready for the oven

          Warm is better!!

Afiyet olsun!

Comment

How do you like the new-look muffin cases? I first noticed Nigella using them but failed to track them down when I was last in John Lewis’.

baked cherry choc muffins

But there they were, on the supermarket shelf  in Dungog, a charming little place of 2000 inhabitants about 1 ½ hours away from Sydney where I was visiting friends from Istanbul. I was amazed and bought them without more ado!  

Of course you can easily make them yourself as the recipe describes! Or use regular ones.

Casserole of Lamb with Quince and Cinnamon or Kuzu ve Ayva Yahnisi

This casserole or yahni is quite simply the most fabulous combination of flavours you can possibly imagine:  tender kuzu cooked gently with aromatic spices and quince or ayva, is quite simply exquisite.

lamb with quince and cinnamon

It’s February and quinces are still with us here in Turkey but if you can’t get them,  dried apricots or prunes, or even Granny Smith apples can be used.

peeling the quinces and keeping in water with lemon juice

This recipe is an old Turkish one harking back to the writings of Islamic mystics whom we know today as whirling dervishes.  I have made this dish twice now using Angie Mitchell’s recipe: both times the meat was fantastic but the quinces were still a bit hard at the end of the cooking time.  So I have just been looking through some similar recipes on the internet and found that indeed they all suggest various methods of cooking them before adding to the casserole which I  heartily recommend you do.  I will give one alternative here.

before adding the quinces

 

Ingredients for Lamb with Quince and Cinnamon/Kuzu ve Ayva Yahnisi

The original recipe from Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen
 by Angie Mitchell

Serves 4-6

1kg/2.2lbs boned lamb, cut into large cubes

2 quinces/ayva

Squeeze of lemon juice

3 tbsp butter/oil

10 pearl onions/shallots, peeled (I used 3 regular onions, chopped, the second time but pearl onions are better)

4 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 cup hot water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

½ cup of parsley, chopped

1 tbsp honey

Method

·         Pre-heat oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

·         Peel the quinces, remove the cores, and cut into 8 segments. Immediately put them in cold water with a squeeze of lemon juice to prevent discolouration.

·         In a large pan, heat the butter or oil. Brown the lamb, remove and put to one side.

browning the meat

 

·         Add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes until they start to soften. Stir in the spices and return the meat to the pan. Stir well to ensure the meat is well coated. Add the tomato paste and the water, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 30 mins.

 

adding the spices

 

adding the tomato paste to the water

 

everything in the pan except for the parsely and quince

 

·         Stir in the parsley and then transfer to an ovenproof dish. Drain the quince, lay the segments on top and drizzle with honey.

 

stirring in the parsley

 

·         Place in the pre-heated oven for 30 mins and cook until the quince segments are nicely caramelised. (In my experience, this didn’t work so see below).

·         Serve hot from the oven with  rice or bulgur.

Afiyet olsun!

Now, here is an alternative way of cooking the quinces adapted to this amount of lamb, from yummly.com:

v  Melt 4 tbsp butter in a frying pan. Add quinces (washed, peeled, cut into 8) and cook over high heat until caramelized. Turn pieces from time to time.

v  Add sugar (4 tbsp brown sugar), a good pinch of ground cloves (optional), and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stir once and place on top of the lamb in the pan. Cover.

v  Simmer gently for 30 mins till the lamb is tender. Don’t stir, this will damage the quinces.

I think this sounds good. What do you think? Note: the dish is NOT put in the oven in this recipe.

Comments

I  noticed in my trawls on the internet, that pomegranate juice or molasses was frequently mentioned.  So if you are feeling adventurous, you could try this (I haven’t yet): instead of the tomato paste + 1 cup water, substitute the same amount of pomegranate juice/nar suyu, OR pomegranate molasses/nar ekşisi  ie dilute 4 tsp with water to make the same amount as specified in the recipe. Could be yummy. Let me know.

I also noticed that garlic wasn’t used if pomegranate was.

Some Salad Ideas for Radishes or Turp

Are you a radish buff?

I have been on a mission ever since I experimented recently with those turnips. This week it’s radishes or turp in Turkish. Here in Turkey they are a feature of the winter markets and are in a class of their own.

a colourful market display

By far and away my favourite is the big red one: crisp, not too spicy, and good with dips.  My favourite treatment is to simply peel it and then grate a little with vivid red cabbage and bright orange carrot on a bed of  fresh salad greens. This makes for a vibrant, healthy salad which is then drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.  Great with fish or meat.

my favourite winter salad: red radish, carrot and red cabbage

Now, still using the big reds, you can do something different: take one and chop it up neatly into tiny pieces:

like this

Mix with pomegranate molasses/ nar ekşişi, flaked red pepper/pul biber, sumac/sumak, parsley and  some  jewel-red pomegranate seeds with a little olive oil. This is inspired by a similar salad I had at Çiya, the renowned Kadıköy restaurant in Istanbul that specialises in food from south-eastern Turkey.

with the sumac and red pepper flakes

radish salad with pomegranate and parsley

Now for the devilish black radishes: these look very dramatic but be careful, they can be eyewateringly spicy.  Here is a very unusual way of preparing them: again, peel and grate.  Add salt, lemon juice, garlic,  black pepper (omit if very spicy) AND the surprise ingredient, tahini/ tahin, a rich, buttery paste made from crushed sesame seeds. This was explained to me by Beyhan, our friend from Biber Evi, the boutique hotel in Assos, when we had lunch the day before I flew to Australia.

black radish salad with tahini

There is one last type of radish, the so-called çin turbu/Chinese radish or daikon radish, the long thin white one, but honestly I don't think it's very interesting. 

Tell me how you eat your radishes - I would love to hear! 

Afiyet olsun!

Mahlepli Simit - Sesame-coated Simits Baked With Fragrant Mahlep

this  Kadıköy simitçi is here rain or shine

I know what simits are: they look like this and are sold on every street corner. The Turks’ answer to hunger pangs on the go!

 But what about mahlep?  This I didn’t know. Was it similar to sahlep, a root or bulb of some sort?  Well, ...
.

 sweet-smelling sesame-coated simits baked with mahlep

It was my friend Oya who told me about these simits that she had recently featured on her own cooking website. She said I really must try them so I did! I asked her where to find mahlep and she said that any supermarket would have it with all the other spices, and she was right!

There in my small local Migros, there it was, right there! How come I had  never noticed it before?

the St Lucie Cherry

I have since discovered that mahlep (or mahlab in the original Arabic) is a fragrant spice made from the seeds of the St Lucie Cherry, a very dark, very sour cherry which appears on the mahlep tree in late summer.  It has been used for centuries throughout the Middle East to give an aromatic flavour to pastries of all sorts: the cherry stones are cracked to extract the tiny seed kernel which is ground to a powder before use. The flavour is something like a combination of bitter almond and cherry.

Mahlep can be found in speciality markets abroad especially during the holiday season. Greek stores may carry it (mahlepi).  They use it in Christmas vasilopita and Easter tsoureki.  You can also order it online from www.penzeys.com  - a site that looks very interesting. But the good news is that you can substitute any of the following which are much more common:

Ground fennel seeds/toz rezene tohumu

Ground cardamom/toz kakule

Ground almonds/toz badem

OR grind one 2-inch/5cm cinnamon stick/tarçin çubuğu with 3 cloves/karanfil and 1 bay leaf/defne yaprağı

Ingredients for Mahlepli Simit

Makes 20-25

250g/1 packet/9oz butter

4 cups flour + 1 packet Baking Powder( 10 g or approx 3 tsp NOT packed)

1tbsp mahlep (yemek kaşığı)

1 tsp salt (çay kaşığı)

2 tbsp vinegar (çorba kaşıgı)

½ cup olive oil

½ cup yogurt

2 egg yolks

Sesame seeds, to sprinkle

Method

·         Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F.

·         Place the mahlep, salt and sugar, the sieved flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add the butter cut into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture with your fingertips.

rubbing in the butter

·         Add the vinegar, olive oil and yogurt and mix to a soft dough. Cover and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

adding all the other ingredients

·         Remove. Take small pieces and roll them in your hands into long rounded shapes. Bring the ends together to form a ring (simit). Place on an ungreased baking tray.

·         Brush with the beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

·         Bake until risen and golden. Best served warm with tea!

warm and fragrant, fresh out of the oven

Afiyet olsun!

Comments

As you can see, I have included the Turkish spoon measurements in brackets because this was an original Turkish recipe. The word for spoon in Turkish is kaşık but when it is preceded by another noun, the special genitive occurs: kaşığı.This is probably a good place to explain a little about Turkish spoons:

You may think a spoon is a spoon but no. Theirs are different! 

a)    The obvious one is a teaspoon: a Turkish teaspoon is much smaller than our English teaspoon: exactly half to be precise – 2 ml. (Ours is about 5 ml).

b)    One yemek kaşığı = one tablespoon  = 15 ml

c)    Çorba kaşığı actually means a soup spoon but not as we know it. So a çorba kaşığı is the same as one of our tablespoons = 15 ml

In Turkey soup is eaten with a yemek kaşığı – our regular old tablespoon.

d)    One tatlı kaşığı literally means a dessert spoon but it’s different: it’s the same as our teaspoon = 5ml

This isn’t really as confusing as it may look! Just if you are curious.