Tuzlu Kurabiye ( savory biscuits )

TUZLU KURABIYE

Ingredients:

1 pack ( 250 g.) margarine softened                                 1 eggyolk ( for swiping )

1 small teacup ( çay bardak ) vegetable oil                        Sesame seeds / Nigella seeds

1/2 small teacup cider vinegar

1 dessert spoon ( tatli kaşik ) salt

3 tbsps. granulated sugar

1 pack ( 11 gms ) baking powder

flour  ( as much as needed ) for me, i used around 20 tbsps

Methods: Preheat oven to 175C

Step 1. In a clean bowl, mix all the ingredients together and knead till you get the desired softness of the dough. The dough must not be sticky anymore in your hands. 

Step 2.With roller pin or your plain hands...flatten the dough into desired thickness and cut with your cookie cutter into different shapes.

Step 3. In a baking sheet with parchment paper,arrange the cut cookies, and swipe with eggyolk and topped with sesame seeds or Nigella seeds.

Step 4.  Bake for 10 minutes or till golden brown. Serve! best enjoyed with TEA... :)

Mantı (Turkish Ravioli)

Ingredients:
for the dough:                        for the filling:
2 glasses of flour                   250 gms. ground meat               1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 egg                                        2 med. onions ( minced )
1 teaspoon salt                          1 tsp. salt
lukewarm water                         1 tsp. ground black pepper

Methods:
We will begin with the filling ingredients.

Step 1. Mix all the filling ingredients in a clean bowl.

Step 2. knead the filling ingredients and set aside.

For the dough preparation:

Step 1. In a clean bowl, mix in all the dough ingredients.

Step 2. Knead and form into a ball.

Step 3. Flatten the ball with a roller pin, or if you do have like this pasta maker, it would be easier and faster to flatten them..into a half cm. thin.

Step 4. With a sharp knife, cut out the flatten dough into medium squares.

Step 5.  With the prepared filling, put in half tsp. to the center of each squares.

Step 6. This is how to fold the squares..bring all the 4 corners to the center and pinch to close.

This is how it will be when folded.

Step 7.  In a baking tray with wax paper, lay out all your mantı and bake in a moderate oven just to dry up the mantı and when dried, pack them in a ziplock and freeze them till the time you need them.

                                       

Step 8.  In a large pot, boil some water added with a tsp. of salt, put in your prepared mantı and stir occassionally. Cook until the mantı are all tender, approximately about 10 minutes, then drain and put them in the serving plates.

Step 9. To garnish your cooked mantı..

           Yoghurt with minced garlic and salt

            Red pepper flakes and dry mint sauteed in olive oil

Serve and Enjoy! :)

EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE

EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE

A chocolate cake that's just so easy to prepare with less ingredients and with  less dirty dishes, but with great flavor of course!! This recipe can actually be mixed in the baking pan and immediately to the oven to be bake..that's how easy it is..... 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups ( 195 gms ) flour 

1 cup ( 200 gms ) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (25 gms ) cocoa

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/3 cup ( 75 gms ) butter, melted ( butter was not in the pic)

1 cup ( 240 ml ) warm water

                                                      1 tbsp. lemon juice 

                                                      1 tsp. vanilla

Procedures:

Preheat oven to 177 C. In an ungreased square pan, follow the directions....

Step 1. In a clean mixing bowl, or in your baking pan, mix all the dry ingredients together. here am using my mixing bowl for demo.

Step 2.  Add in the melted butter, warm water and lemon juice, when mixed all together, add in the vanilla.

Step 3. Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 mins, or till when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Step 4. When baked, cool and set aside... for toppings. Whatever toppings you could think of...feel free to top your cake with it..Or sprinkling powdered sugar on top before serving is also best.

Step 5.  For my topping, I sprinkled powdered sugar then top with my homemade strawberry jam... Just a great way of enjoying coffee ... Enjoy!!

Homemade Beef Tapa

Beef Tapa / Beef Jerky

Ingredients:

250 gms. lean beef thinly sliced                                 

1/2 tbsps. granulated sugar

1/2 tbsps. kosher salt  ( sea salt )

2 cloves garlic mincely chopped

Methods:

Step 1. Cut the beef into thin slices.

Step 2.  In a clean bowl, mix all together the ingredients except the beef.

Step 3. Mix well until sugar will be totally dissolved.

Step 4. Add the thin strips of beef.

Step 5. Mix together to cure the meat., cover with stretch film and store in the refrigerator for around 1-2 hrs.

Step 6.  After an hour of curing , this is the result. There are 2 ways of drying up this cured meat..drying under the sun and  drying though the oven.. Got no patience under the sun..so I choose this method of baking.

Step 7.  Lay out the strips of cured meat in a clean baking pan... Preheat oven to 200C... bake for 10-15 mins.

Step 8. After 15 mins...this is the dry strips of cured meat...ready to be packed or to be fried..

Step 9... Serve with fried egg and fried rice....Enjoy!!!

Turkish coffee

TURKISH COFFEE

The Turks have a number of drinks that can be considered to be their national drink. Like the famous Turkish apple tea, Turkish coffee is also one of those that are deeply embedded in their culture. But unlike the tea which can be consumed anywhere and at any time when it comes to coffee there are rituals to follow and rules to abide by. Strange as it may seem coffee has many things associated with it in Turkey and it is rightfully said that coffee has created its own culture in Turkey. 

As well as an everyday drink,  Turkish coffee is also a part of Turkish wedding custom. As an introduction to marriage, the groom's family  must visit the bride's family to ask permission for and blessings for the upcoming marriage. During this meeting, the bride must prepare and serve Turkish coffee to the guests. For the groom's coffee, the bride usually adds salt or hot pepper instead of sugar to the coffee, to check on his character. If the groom drinks his coffee without any displeasure,  the bride to be assumes that the groom is good tempered and patience.

Ingredients:

Turkish coffee

sugar

cold water

Methods:

Step 1. Prepare the demitasse cups sided with either turkish delights or chocolate.. then served with a glass of cold water to 

freshen the mouth, to better  taste  the coffee.

 Step 2.  In a clean cezve ( basically a tiny ewer) as shown in the picture, pour cold water based on the number of demitasse cups that you have to serve. The measurement of your water will be based on your demitasse cups that you will be serving.

Step 3. To the cold water in the cezve, add the turkish coffee.. with 1 to 2 teaspoons / demitasse cups. . ( 4 demitasse cups would need 4 tsps-8 tsps. ). the coffee and sugar are usually added to the water rather than being put into the pot first. For the sugar.. there are 4 types of sweetness in their coffee : sade (plain/no sugar); az şekerli ( less sugar, half teaspoon); orta şekerli (medium sugar, 1 teaspoon) ; çok şekerli ( a lot of 

                                                       sugar, 11/2- 2 tsps. )

Step 4. Stir awhile until sugar is dissolved and coffee sinks., remove the spoon and cook in a low heat... NO STIRRING ON THIS TIME as it would dissolve the foam. Foam is important in this kind of coffee. 

Step 5. When foam appears on the pot, just as the coffee is about to boil,  remove from fire and distribute evenly the foam into your prepared demitasse cups. Put the pot back to the fire and let it boil for 2nd time, remove from heat.

Step 6.  Pour slowly the coffee into the demitasse cups taking care of the foam not to be dissolved. Getting the thickest layer of foam is the master's art in coffee...

Step 7. Serve!! enjoy!!!














thanks to Zehra Gül Gültekin!!!