Savory Pastry
Tuzlu Kuru Pasta
My friend, my neighbor at the same time, called this afternoon and invited me to have Turkish coffee together. She’s very good at making Turkish coffee with a lot of foams on top and she knows I love it. As I mentioned in my “Turkish Coffee” post, it’s a tradition to drink this coffee with one or more friends, never alone. So if you crave for Turkish coffee, you should invite a friend.
You know Turkish coffee requires something sweet near it (a piece of chocolate, Turkish delight, chocolate cake, cookies, etc.), so I took some cacao cake that I made yesterday. Of course she greeted me with a big smilewhen she saw this cake. While we were having our well made coffee, we decided to make some savory pastries together. We love working together in the kitchen, so we enjoyed a lot playing with the dough and preparing these pastries.
Ingredients
-4 cups flour
-250g butter
-2 eggs
-1 yolk
-1tsp salt
-2tsp baking powder
-100g cheese, crumbled
-nigella sativa
Note: All of these should be in room temperature. We made about 40 pieces of pastries from these ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F)
Pour the flour in a large bowl and break two eggs in the middle of it. Add butter and salt, then mix them with your hands. Put the crumbled cheese and knead the dough well. You’ll see how cheese adds its taste. Make two big balls from this dough. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and roll them out one by one as big as a small plate.
Beat the yolk in a small bowl and spread it with the help of a brush on the dough you roll out. Then sprinkle nigella sativa on them. We used three kinds of nigella sativa here; white, brown and black.
Grab a cookie cutter with the shape you like and cut them carefully. We used a star shape cutter here.
Lay an oven proof paper on a tray and arrange the stars on it. As we love playing with the dough, we also gave some spiral shapes with our hands.
Place the tray in oven and cook them for 25 minutes. Do not wait them in the oven, take out immediately. When they get cold enough, you can serve it with a cup of tea at breakfast or at afternoon tea times. 
And my friend was so kind to put some of these pastries in the cup with which I brought my cake.
Guest in Turkish Culture
There is a very nice tradition in Turkey. If you take something you make to your neighbor, she absolutely puts some food from her kitchen in the same bowl in return. It is a sign of generosity of both sides. Here you see a Turkish villager waiting for her guests (mom and I). It is also a part of our tradition to welcome our guests at or outside the door, which shows our respect to our guests. And we do the same while they are leaving our homes.
To spread (dried)fruits in a cake equally, combine them with a little flour or little starch and then add into cake mixture.
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 2:10 pm
These savory pastries sound just delicious – I love the adorable shapes!
The Duo Dishes on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 2:22 pm
Your stories behind each recipe are really great. And the photos of these pastries are fabulous.
OysterCulture on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 2:46 pm
Hi Zerrin,
These savory pastries look wonderful. You are doing an incredible job of providing me all sorts of wonderful recipes to try.
jenn on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 3:20 pm
Savory and sweet. I want to try this. The round ones look like cinnamon buns, but with the nigella sativa instead.
Diana on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 3:38 pm
I love savory pastries. I like your tradition of sending food back. Every time I go to my sister in laws, she puts all my leftovers into her fridge and then gives me back an empty bowl to go home with.
Christelle Vaillant on Tue, 21st Apr 2009 4:04 pm
These certainly looks gorgeous!. I prefer savoury to sweet so you made my day! (I love Turkish coffee unsweetened too
lisaiscooking on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 6:15 am
Your pastries look great! What kind of cheese did you use?
That’s a wonderful tradition of waiting for guests at your door.
vrinda on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 10:23 am
Savory star pastry looks awesome …
Gera @ SweetsFoods on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 10:54 am
Oh my goodness, the savory pastry star looks so festive and delicious for tea time!! I have got to try these
Zerrin on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 10:59 am
Natasha- They go very well with a cup of tea.
The Duo Dishes- Glad you like my stories here. I love sharing our culture with people abroad.
OysterCulture- If you’re planning to try these, don’t forget to brew some tea.
Jenn- These are my favorite savory pastries, and it’s really easy to make.
Diana- Maybe I can send this post to your sister in laws. I love that tradition in our culture.
Christelle- Savory pastries are always my first choice. These can also be eaten at breakfast.
Lisa- We used cow cheese here.
Vrinda- Thank you, stars have never been as tasty as these ones.
Zerrin on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 11:07 am
Gera- These are just great snacks, the best is it’s so easy to make them.
Leesie on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 4:00 pm
I can’t say it any better than The Duo Dishes, except to say I wish I was your neighbor! I’m loving Turkish traditions and the culture very much.
What does nigella sativa taste like to you? I looked it up and there isn’t one clear answer being it is so new to the English vernacular and it is described so differently depending on where you are in the world.
Also, my old boss and his wife went on vacation once to the Greek Islands and the cruise also took them to Turkey. His wife really loved Turkish tea. She felt there was “something” in the tea that made her feel good (for lack of a better description) – maybe it’s very high in caffeine? What do you think?
Thanks.
Reeni on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 4:01 pm
The pastries look divine! What a nice little treat to enjoy with your coffee!
Tangled Noodle on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 5:11 pm
Such wonderful customs of hospitality! In the Philippines, guests are greeted in the home with the question, “Have you eaten?”
My friends and I live so far away that when we meet for coffee, we must choose a shop somewhere between our homes. I wish I could have more experiences such as the ones you’ve described here between friends and neighbors. Your pastries look so good – now I’d love one with some Turkish coffee!
Lauren on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 5:56 pm
these are so pretty! they sound really yummy too- perfect wit ha nice strong coffee.
Zerrin on Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 11:42 pm
Leesie- Nigella Sativa is a bit bitter version of sesame for me. We often use it on our pastries.
Turkish tea has a strong taste depending on the quality of tea leaves. Also adding a little bergamot tea while brewing gives a better flavor. And as your boss’s wife describes, it really takes your tiredness, but not because of cafein. The cafein in Turkish tea is much less than coffee.
Reeni- It really goes well with coffee, too.
Tangled Noodle- I love that question in Philipines. In some regions of Turkey, when their guests come, people start to set a table without asking this question.
Lauren- absolutely wonderful with a coffee.
Daily Spud on Thu, 23rd Apr 2009 8:10 am
I love that tradition of bringing food and then sending someone away with some more food in the same bowl. I would certainly love a bowl of those savoury pastries!
Maya on Fri, 24th Apr 2009 2:50 am
Zerrin – Beautiful stars – they look like they would be flaky. Are they?
vanessa on Fri, 24th Apr 2009 10:49 am
Oh, as always, those looks so good. I love the idea of waiting outside for yoru guests!! How lovely!
Special Ingredients: Nigella « Oyster Food & Culture on Tue, 28th Apr 2009 2:21 pm
[...] of GiveRecipe provided a savory pastry [...]
gastroanthropologist on Thu, 30th Apr 2009 8:24 am
I was reading Oyster and saw the link. These look lovely and now I have a recipe for nigella!