You know how common nigella seeds and mahaleb (see sesame seeds with mahaleb) are in Turkish savory pastries.  They are like the main ingredients in such biscuits as they give the flavor. Using cinnamon is not as common though. For me, it completes the flavor. Considering the health benefits of cinnamon, I try to use it in various ways.

Sift flour in a bowl and add salt, cinnamon and mahaleb into it. Add dry yeast on it and pour warm milk on the yeast. Mix them.
Add olive oil, butter and egg white and mix them until combined. You will have a soft dough.
Roll it out on the counter and cut with your cookie cutters.
Preheat oven at 180C.
Lay baking sheet in your oven tray.
Place the biscuits you cut on it.
Beat egg yolk and brush biscuits with it. Sprinkle nigella seeds on each biscuit.
Bake for about 25 minutes until golden.
Cool biscuits on a wire rack and serve.
These make about 100 biscuits!

Mom II used her regular borek dough for this borek. You can find it at my Onion Borek post. Read the rest if you are as interested as me in learning new fillings for your pastries or boreks.

Make the dough first and let it rest. Don’t worry, this dough doesn’t have to rise. Meanwhile you can prepare the filling.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and saute until caremalized. Then add grated beetroot and cook until tender over low heat about 10-15 minutes. Finally add beetroot leaves and salt, stir and put it aside to let it cool.

Dust the counter with a little flour. Roll one of dough balls out and fill one side of it with beetroot filling and fold it to have a half moon or a ‘D’ shape. Pictures of how to make it are here.

Heat a non-stick skillet. Place D shape boreks in it and cook them flipping occasionally until brownish on both sides.

You can cut them in triangles just as I did before serving. You could feel like you are in heaven if you eat these beetroot filled triangles dipping into yogurt.

It might be considered as weed in your area, but it is not! If you happen to see it at farmer’s market or in your yard, give it a try. The wild one has smaller leaves, its stalk is a bit reddish, but tastes better.

Start with making the dough. Mix dry ingredients and add water little by little until you get a soft and non sticky dough. Add water or flour if necessary. Cover it and wait about half an hour so that it will rise.

For the filling, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion and red bell pepper for a few minutes. Toss tomatoes into it and cook until tender. Take it from heat and add purslane when it is still hot. As purslane is a very fragile herb, this heat is enough for it. Season it with spices and salt, mix well. Let it cool.

When the dough rises, take it on a flour dusted counter and knead it once. Divide it into small balls.

Take a ball and roll it out. Put some filling on one side and fold it to make a half moon. Seal it with your fingers. You can see pictures for these steps here.

Repeat the same steps for remaining balls. You can even keep some of these balls in refrigerator for a later treat.

Bake them on a non stick cast iron pan turning them over occasionally until both sides get brownish. Serve them hot at breakfast or lunch or with tea when you have guests.

Note: To wash purslane better, wait it in water with a few drops of vinegar and a little salt. This will kill bacteria on it if there are any and sand or soil among its leaves will sink to the bottom in this way.

This is a very easy and tasty borek with onion filling. I cooked it in a non stick pan and I guess with its half moon shape, it’s similar to Mexican quesidilla. The filling is so simple that you can make it any time you crave for something delicious. I used white onion as it doesn’t have a bitter flavor unlike the red one. Another reason I prefer white onion for this borek is that its color looks better when cooked or caramelized. Although I didn’t use any cheese in this filling because I wanted to feel the onion plain, it might be a good addition.

You can check my other boreks out here.

Chop onions in not so thin circles. Heat olive oil and add onion rings. Cook it stirring occasionally until tender. Don’t overcook them, otherwise they will lose their tasty flavor.

Take the pan from fire and toss in chopped parsley and spices. Combine them well and let it cool.

Put flour and salt in a large bowl. Pour water little by little and mix it with your hand. Knead it until it doesn’t stick to your hands. You can play with the amount of water to have this result. Divide it into small balls and cover them with a wet clean piece of cloth.

Dust the counter with a little flour.  Take one of the dough balls and roll it out. Put some filling on one half and fold it. Seal it with your fingers to stick the edges and cut the excessive part with a pastry wheel. You can see step by step pictures here. Repeat this step for all dough balls.

Heat a non stick cast iron pan. Put boreks into this pan, flip them occasionally until both sides get brownish.

Serve them hot at breakfast. These can also make a fabulous fast food for lunch or dinner. I’m sure your guests will get happy to have these if you serve onion boreks at a party.

The greatest thing about this recipe is it’s so easy and anyone can make it. I didn’t use all the dough at one time. I put some of it in the refrigerator to make pide 2 days later and it was still tasty. It gets even easier when you already have leftover dough and filling. You just roll it out, stuff with filling and bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. That’s all!

Start with dough. Mix flour, yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water until well combined. It will be quite wet at the end.

Cover it and let it rise for an hour. I love how it looks like a baloon after this time.

You will get a very soft dough and it will be easy to shape it.

Prepare the filling mixture while waiting for the dough to rise.

Put chopped beef into a pan. Let it release its water and absorb it back. Add olive oil when there is little water and stir. Cover and cook it for 5 minutes or until beef is tender. Then add peppers, stir and cover. Cook until peppers get tender, but not mashy. They should be visible enough. Add spices as the final step. Let it cold.

Preheat oven at 200C (400F).

Dust the counter with flour and make 10 balls from dough.

Lay baking sheet on a tray.

Grab a ball and roll it out giving an oval shape and put it on tray. Put filling mixture on it.

Fold two sides to the center and combine the ends as you see in the picture. Make sure you stick the dough by pressing with your fingers so that the filling won’t ooze out.  Repeat it for all balls.

Bake it for 10-12 minutes until golden. Turn off the oven. Take it out, sprinkle grated cheese on each and brush pides with olive oil and put back into the not working oven, which is still hot inside. Keep it there until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.

Serve them hot. Slice them before serving.

Ayran (a cold drink made of yogurt, salt and water) is the perfect drink to serve with pide.

However, we are lucky enough our moms are very talented cooks. This is a recipe from husband’s mom. She knew our attitude toward white phyllo, so she wanted to show me in her last visit that it’s still possible to make phyllo with whole wheat flour. As she always loves to surprise me, she made this tasty borek when I was at work. We hadn’t eaten such pastries for months, so I was impressed even with the smell of this borek just as I entered home. No need to mention our feelings when we tasted it! I thought it would be tough, so I was a bit suspicious before having the first bite. But I soon found myself asking for the second slice. It was even softer than regular phyllos I used to cook with before. It might be a bit tiring, not as easy and quick as store bought ones, but believe me it is worth!

So this homemade whole wheat phyllo borek is for those looking for ways to make tasty pastries without white flour.

Start with preparing filling mixture. Heat olive oil, saute onion until golden. Add spinach, stir and cook it for about 10 minutes. We don’t need to cook it completely as it will be cooking in oven. Let it cool.

Combine all ingredients for dough. When you get a soft but not sticky dough, make 5 balls from it.

Roll these balls out as thin as you can.

Preheat oven at 180 C.

Lay one of them into an oven tray. Brush it with little oil. Place the second one on it. Spread half of the filling on this one. Lay the third phyllo on it. Put the other half of the filling on it. Place the next phyllo on it. Brush it with little oil. Place the last phyllo on it.

Mix egg yolk and milk well. And brush the top of your borek with this mixture.

Cut it in squares and bake it until golden.

Now I can talk on this yummy pastry. These are very similar to cigarette borek in shape, but their method is different. I made these at the weekend and stored some in the freezer for unexpected guests. They are absolutely so fluffy with the help of some icy water. I strongly recommend you to try this if you love puff pastry. It is so easy as I don’t roll out the dough this time, I used phyllo instead.

Prepare the filling first. Mix feta with chopped parsley, set aside.

Lay one phyllo sheet on the counter and butter it with a brush. Place another phyllo sheet just on the buttered one so that they overlap. Butter this second one, too and place the third phyllo on it in the same way. You have 3 layered buttered phyllo now.

Cut it into 12 equal triangles. Put 1 tbsp cheese on the wide side, fold the right and left edges to inside so that the filling doesn’t ooze out and roll it up. Wet your forefinger and stick the end.

Pre-heat the oven at 180C.

Fill a large bowl with freezing water and put these rolls right into the water. Wait them 15 minutes in water.

Lay baking sheet on an oven tray. Gently squeeze the rolls to remove excessive water and place them in tray.

Beat egg yolk and spread it on each roll. Sprinkle poppy seed, sesame or nigella sativa on them. Bake the rolls until golden.

Note 1: You can change the filling with your favorite pastry filling.
Note 2: If you want to store some of them in freezer, do this before the step with cold water. You don’t need to defreeze them before cooking. Just take them out, wait in water a bit longer and then follow the same steps for this one.

This is one of those dishes for me. Mom used to make them for breakfast when I was with them and I would dream about these warm sandwiches at night! I don’t know how but I left these tasty guys in those years. I remember them only when mom surprised us with these one morning during their last visit. I just remembered how much I loved them and I still don’t understand how come I forgot them.

There may be different versions of these sandwiches in other cuisines with different names. It is called sikma in Turkish and it’s very popular in the south of Turkey. If you happen to travel there one day, don’t get surprised when you see women making these sandwiches on the way to towns and villages –most probably in tents. It would be a great rest after a long drive. You don’t need to look for restaurants there, just stop when you see the sign ‘sikma-ayran’ showing a tent.

(Image taken from here)

The best part of these shed-like places is that they start to make and bake the sandwiches just when you order. You also have the chance of watching how the woman rolls the dough out (and how quick!) and how another woman bakes it on a sheet of iron on wood fire.

(image taken from here)

These sandwiches  can be made with any filling you like. Cheese, potatoes and green olive salad are the common ones here. They are often served with ayran, if not tea. Ayran is a cold drink made from yogurt and I’m planning to write about it soon.

Peynirli Sikma
Ingredients
Filling:
-    1 cup feta (or any cheese you like), I used cokelek(a savory cheese)
-    1 onion
-    3 tbsp olive oil
-    ½ tbsp pepper or tomato paste
-    black pepper
-    cumin
-    red pepper flakes
-    ½ bunch of parsley, minced
Dough:
-    2 ½ cup flour
-    ¼ cup water
-    ½ cup milk
-    1 tsp salt

Saute onion in olive oil until golden and add pepper or tomato paste in it. Season it and stir. finally, add minced parsley and take it from fire.

Mix all ingredients for dough. But don’t do this at a time. Pour the liquids little by little until reaching the right consistency. It’s done when it doesn’t stick. So you can play with the measurement for your dough. Cut it into six pieces.

And make them balls. Cover them with a wet pieces of cloth so that they don’t dry when you are working.

Dust the counter with some flour and roll out the balls as big as a plate about 1/6 inch thickness.

Cook it on a non stick pan until both sides get brown. Be careful do not overcook it, 1 ½ minutes will be enough for each side. Take the tortilla from fire and spread 1 ½ tbsp filling on it leaving spaces on each edges when it’s still hot.

Wrap it up and tighten the edges with your fingers so that the filling doesn’t ooze.

Repeat the same steps for all balls.
Serve them hot.
You can change the filling for your taste.

When a mom or dad needed something at home, they would securely send their children to buy it from their local market. They would trust uncle bakkal so much that they could even leave their house keys to him. (A man forgets his keys, his wife has to go somewhere, so she leaves the keys to their local market so that her husband can take them from there). When a child somehow didn’t find his parents at home after school, he would go ask uncle bakkal if he knew where his parents were. And most probably, uncle bakkal would tell him where they were. He could even wait for them at the market feeling safe with uncle bakkal.

There were no credit cards then, so the solution came from these small local markets. As uncle bakkal knew everyone well, he would allow people to buy what they needed from his market when they didn’t have money. These market owners would keep a notebook in which they wrote people’s names, what they bought, when and how much it costed. Even this notebook had a special name, it was called debt notebook or black notebook (veresiye defteri or kara defter in Turkish). This was a great way to relax people during the financial crisis of the country. So we can even say that the country owes a lot to these small local markets.

Uncle bakkal would always know what his loyal customers wanted to buy, what brand they prefered, how their finance was and would serve accordingly. The relationship between local market owners and their customers was an intimate one which was based on trust.

Is it possible to have such an intimate relationship at big supermarkets today? Both customers and staff of supermarkets do their works without any emotions. The relation between them is just the money they give and take.
With thriving technology, more urbanization, huge supermarkets and shopping malls and with credit cards, customers started to betray their local markets. We witnessed how these small markets tried to survive, couldn’t resist more and were closed one by one in the end. Today, the number of small local markets is very few and the relationship with their customers is not the same anymore, but it’s still more friendly.

So it makes me happy whenever I see a local market is opened somewhere and I prefer to shop there. I think they help people remember that we are socail beings with their smiling face and sincere conversation. I went to our new local market just as I saw it, bought a package of dry yeast and gave my best wishes to our new “uncle bakkal”.

Is it the same in your place? Are there such small local markets? How is their relationship with customers?

Yarım Ay Borek
Ingredients (makes 4 or 5 boreks)
Dough:
-    2 cups whole wheat flour and some more to use when rolling out
-    ¾ cup warm water
-    1 tbsp dry instant yeast
-    1 tsp salt
Filling:
-    1 onion
-    2 tbsp olive oil
-    2 zucchinis
-    1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
-    Half bunch of parsley
-    Ground black pepper to taste
-    Salt to taste

Sift flour in a large bowl. Add yeast and salt. Pour warm water little by little. Mix it with your hands and add little more flour if it doesn’t hold together. When it doesn’t stick to your hands, it’s ok. Cover it and let it rest for about an hour.

Chop onion and saute it in olive oil.

Grate zucchinis, get some in your palms and press to remove their excessive juice.

Chop parsley.

Mix sauted onion, grated and juice removed zucchini, parsley, feta, black pepper and salt. Filling is ready.

Sprinkle some flour on your counter put the dough there. Make 5 patties as big as an egg and put them aside. Cover them with wet cloth so that they don’t get dry.

Take one and put it on the counter coated with flour. Isn’t it cute? I love to play with these!

Press on it with your four fingers. Sprinkle a little flour on it so that it doesn’t stick to your rolling pin.

Roll it out. Try to give it a round shape. You can watch how to roll it here. Ok, mine is not as perfect as mom’s, but it’s not so bad. (This is how we roll a dough, of course you can do it in your way).

It will be as thin as in this picture. It will rise and get thicker when cooked.

Fold it in two and make a halfmoon. No I didn’t forget to put the filling, it must be empty at this step.

Unfold it and make sure you see a line in the middle. This will function as a border when putting the filling. (I learnt it from mom. It’s like a work of a tailor, isn’t it?)

Put some filling on one side of the border.

Fold it again and stick the edges with your first finger.

Using a pastry wheel, cut the parts with your finger prints. Do not waste the parts you cut, combine them with other dough balls or save them after each cutting and make a new ball from these.

Now heat an iron cast pan and cook your halfmoon boreks flipping occasionally until both sides get brown.

We had these at breakfast and they were perfect!

By the way, I want to share a recipe from a friend, Sue. Although we don’t meet in person, she emailed me asking if she can share a recipe with my readers. What a nice request! I am so much honored. So I’m pasting her recipe of a great breakfast idea as it is in her email. Thank you Sue! I’m so happy to make friends like you. Here is recipe:

So glad to hear back from you Zerrin.

The inspiration actually came from one of those ‘Uncle Toby’s’ 10 little instant porridge sachets in a box.  The flavour was apple, cinnamon and honey – I think.  I used to give them to the kids when they were little – when one of the sachets would actually fill them up.

One day I thought surely I could recreate this.  The first time I improvised I put in honey, cinnamon and grated apple.

Since then if I make it it’s pretty much the oats (not whole – not sure how that would come out) the grated apple, honey and as I tend to have frozen cubes of canned coconut cream in the freezer I plonk in however many I would like plus some water.  Oh, and sultanas (if you like them).  It’s like having a desert really – yum, yum.

I don’t tend to measure any ingredients, except I usually use a generous 1/2 cup of oats (this feeds me).  I simmer the porridge quite a while as I like a smooth, no lump porridge.

We’ve changed a few things in our life since diagnose of my husband’s diabetes. You know he has a diet now he has to follow. The principle of this diet is to eat little and often. Doesn’t it sound healthy? I follow this diet too (so I will say ‘our diet’)and I must admit that I feel healthier. I used to ignore fruits as a snack but now I have fruit 3 times a day just like he does. And this really makes a difference, I don’t have digestive problems  anymore.

Another reason why I feel healthier is that we prefer whole wheat products now. We used to have whole wheat bread before the disease, but had never tried whole wheat pasta before. It is surprisingly as delicious as the regular one. Unfortunately, we don’t have many brands producing it and we can find it in one supermarket in our city. Maybe I should try to make it myself!

I tried something with whole wheat flour though, which is another change in our kitchen and we will not use white flour anymore. A great percent of wheat is removed in white flour, so are the useful elements existing in it. Our diet has a certain amount of carbohydrate, which is found in bread, pasta, pilaf, potatoes or healthy crackers like the one you see above. There aren’t many choices of whole wheat flour crackers at markets here, so I decided to make it myself. This is healthy as it has whole wheat flour and olive oil in it.

Benefits of whole wheat is countless! It is rich in fiber and magnesium, which are like key elements for a healthy body. It helps you not gain weight and protects against risk of diabetes and heart diseases in addition to being a great anti-cancer agent, especially against breast cancer. No need to mention its benefits for intestines!

So don’t you think it’s time to include whole wheat products in your diet yet?

Biberiyeli Kraker
Ingredients
-    2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
-    1 tsp baking powder
-    1 tsp salt
-    1 egg
-    ½ cup olive oil (I used less)
-    1 tsp nigella seeds
-    ¾ cup cold water
-    1 tsp rosemary
-    Extra rosemary for topping

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk olive oil with egg and pour it into dry ingredients and combine. Add water, rosemary and nigella seeds, combine. Wait it in refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Sprinkle flour on counter and roll out dough as thin or thick as you want. It rises a little in oven, so you can decide its thickness to your taste before baking.

Place baking sheet in an oven tray. Cut rolled out dough with a pastry wheel into rectangles and place them  on it. Brush with water and sprinkle rosemary. Bake about 20 minutes and serve when cold.