Yalanci Tavuk Gogsu (Fake Chicken Breast Pudding)

Finally, we're in foodie blogroll :) If you haven't heard about the blogroll, I strongly recommend you to visit JennDZ's blog and read this post. This blogroll's aim is helping foodies find each other on the web. Also she opened a forum, so you can visit and share your recipes with others :) I think, she did a great job. You can find this blogroll on the left hand side of our blog :)Thanks again!

Now, it is time to give a new recipe :) In Turkish cuisine, one can find plenty of desserts that are made of milk. Personally, I love this type of desserts, especially sutlac (this is another dessert, hopefully we'll give its recipe soon). The name of this dessert is Tavuk Gogsu which means, literally, chicken breast. The original of this pudding contains some chicken breast. It sounds weird, doesn't it? But it is not. Actually, you don't taste the chicken because chicken breast is cooked very well, and it is cut into very small pieces (like smashed into fibers). The originality of this pudding comes from the fiber of the chicken breast. When you try to put some pudding into your spoon, you will see the fibers. But, I cook this pudding without chicken breast which makes it fake :) (like fake manti :))

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tbs unsweetened butter
1 cup of all purpose flour
0.26 gal milk (1 lt milk)
1 1/2 cups of sugar

Method:

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. Then add sugar and mix it. Begin to add some milk while stirring the mixture with a hand mixer. 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. Stir the pudding with an electrical mixer 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 over night. The pudding is ready to serve :) Enjoy!

Turkish Appetizer

I invited my friends from my English class to our house last month. My friends are from all over the world. They didn't know much about Turkish food. So I wanted to cook some Turkish food, so that they have some idea about our foods and culture. I thought the best trick was preparing Turkish appetizers for my guests. It was like an appetizer buffet. They loved everything :)
After buffet, we had Turkish tea and some dessert. One of my friends has never tasted Turkish tea. He didn't want to drink at first because the weather was so hot. But when he tried he couldn't make himself stop :)

Here is some of my recipes. Also, I forgot to take pictures of some of my foods. I prepared more different salad and desserts. Anyway I hope you will enjoy!

Eggplant Salad
Ingredients;

• 2 large eggplants
  
• 1 tomato
• 1\4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 lemon juice
  
• 2 crushed garlics
  
• salt, a little bit black pepper, olive oil.
  

Method;
Prepare the oven to 350 F. Line a sheet pan with a piece of aluminum foil. Make a few cuts to egg plants by using a knife. Cook the eggplants until they become very flabby. Then let them cool. Peel the skin and mash the eggplants. Add lemon juice, garlic, salt, black paper and olive oil; then mix together. Decorate your salad with cut tomatoes and parsley.

Potato Salad
Ingredients;

• 6-7 potatos
• a half bunch of parsley
• 2-3 fresh green onion and also if you like you can put finely chopped onion, too
  
• 1 tablespoon mild paprika
• 1 lemon juice
  
• black pepper, salt, olive oil as you taste
• 2 cups of chopped romaine lettuce

Method;
In a large pot, boil the water. Cook the potatoes until the toothpick goes in easily. Let them cool.
In a large bowl, chop the parsley, green onions, romaine lettuce, mix them with lemon juice, paprika, black pepper, salt, olive oil. Peel the skin of potatoes. Cut into squares. Add into salad. Mix well but do not mash potatos. Serve cool.

Borek with spinach
Borek with Cheese
Borek is the main appetizer as my partner mentioned in her last post. Of course, I always serve borek for my guest. I made the same borek as Minik Kuş made. And also I made borek with spinach and cheese.

Hummus
Ingredients;

• 1cup chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons tahini (crashed sesame seeds)
  
• 1 large lemon juice
  
• 3 grated garlics
  
• salt,a little bit black pepper, olive oil
• Hot water
  

Method;

The night before, put the chickpeas in the hot water. In a large pot, boil the water and add a little bit salt, olive oil and chickpeas. Boil until cooked. The best way for cooking chickpeas is using pressure cooker or you can use canned chickpeas. Because it takes a long time to cook.
When chickpeas are ready, mash the chickpea with blender and add a little bit hot water if it needs. It shouldnt be dry. Add tahini, lemon juice, garlics, salt,a little bit black pepper, olive oil in it, mix them well.
Bon appetite!

Peynirli Borek (Cheese and Parsley Pastry)

Hey Folks,

We were thinking about preparing some posts on traditional Turkish food for you. Actually we have lots of different recipes but most of them require lots of effort. For the beginners we want to give a relatively easy recipe. I don't know if you ever heard about Turkish borek. If you have a Turkish friend, I'm sure he or she has already cooked some borek for you. It tastes like soufflé that we like to eat for breakfast in Panera Bread. I just translate borek as a pastry, but I'm not sure if it is a correct translation. Actually, I don't know what kind of word can explain it correctly, so if you have any idea after you read the recipe, you can offer a different English name that you think will be more appropriate.

Borek is one of the main dishes that we prepare for our guests. Of course it is not a main dish for dinner, but just like an appetizer or a side dish. We sometimes prepare borek for breakfast. If you haven't tasted it yet, take a chance and try it. I'm sure you won't regret it. One more side info; borek was one of the popular food in our Turkish cooking class that we held in University of Florida in the last three semesters.

I'll give you the recipe of cheese and parsley borek, but you can prepare different types of borek by changing the stuffing. Spinach cheese borek is one of my favorites.

Ingredients

2 rolls of phyllo dough (a package of phyllo dough contains 2 rolls of dough)

2 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 cupsof vegetable oil (I prefer canola oil)

2 large eggs

16 oz crashed feta chese

4 oz chopped parsley (curly or Italian)

Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add milk and vegetable oil and mix them. Lay two sheets of dough in a rectangular pyrex or in a baking tin. Pour 4 or 5 tablespoons of the liquid mix onto sheet evenly. Then lay two more sheets and apply the same procedure until you use all of the sheets in a roll. At the same time mix feta cheese and chopped parsley in another bowl and spread it over the last sheet of first roll that you lay. Then lay two sheets from the second roll of dough and pour 4-5 tablespoons of mix. Continue until all the sheets in the second roll is used. Pour the remaining mix at the top. Cook borek in a preheated oven (350F) until the top becomes brown. After letting it cool down, cut borek in squares and serve warm.

I hope you like it :) Bon appetite!

Icy Pyramid With Chocolate And Strawberry

This is our first Monthly Mingle. My blog partner and I are very excited about it. Actually, I am not sure how this monthly mingle works but I hope, we did right and Meeta can accept my icy dessert.

I went to farmer's market and I just got a packet of strawberry from there for my icy pyramid. I like buying vegetables and fruits from farmer's market rather than supermarket. I love being outside. It is nice to feel, touch and smell vegetable. However, I can't find any market in Orlando as big as what we have in Turkey.

This icy pyramid is a very simple dessert. You don't need to cook anything. If you have a guest and don't have much time to make a cake, this recipe will be very helpfully to you, especially at summer. You can change the recipe easily. You can add what ever you want. For example, this dessert might be nicer with nut, dried fruits and also some juice as orange or cherry. My mom used to make this icy pyramid a lot. I added chocolate and strawberry in it. Here is my recipe, enjoy! :)


Ingredients:

• 1 1\2 package plain biscuit (tea biscuit) (200-250gr)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1\2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cacao
  
• 1\3 cup chocolate chips
  
• 1 cup chopped strawberry

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, melt butter and add the milk. Stir together and beat well. After then add the cacao and mix them together.
   
2. Break the biscuit into large pieces. Add the broken biscuits and the chocolate chips to the mixture above. Mix them lightly, but be careful don't mix them into a paste. Biscuits pieces should remain intact.
   
3. Pour out the mixture on a parchment paper. Spread evenly with a spatula.
4. Sprinkle the strawberry on the mixture.
5. Lift the parchment paper from both sides and make a pyramid shape by hand.
6. Cover all sides with parchment paper and put in the freezer over night or at least for 3 hours.
   
7. Take out the dessert at least 20 minutes before serving.
8. Cut it into slices.
9. Serve cold.