CHOCOLATE AND NUT MERINGUES

I made these meringues and this time tried them with normal table sugar rather than caster sugar. My dear friend Ozlem in Turkey mention that her meringues were not turning out right using normal sugar, so this is for you Ozlem, hope you like them.

YOU NEED

• 3 large egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 level tsp of cream of tartar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios or walnuts
• 1/2 cup chocolate drops or grated chocolate

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Line the baking tray with greaseproof paper.

• Beat the egg whites until fluffy and foamy in a bowl. Make sure the utensils and the bowl is completely grease free.
• Add cream of tartar and vanilla. Beat until soft peaks.
• Sprinkle sugar little at a time, beat until the mixture is shiny and stiff peaks are formed.
• Fold in chocolate and the chopped nuts.
• Place a 1 heaped tsp on baking tray leaving 1-2 cm space between the meringues.
• Bake for 20- 30 minutes. Leave in the oven to cool completely. Makes 40- 42

BAKLAVA- EASY TURKISH BAKLAVA

Baklava  is a Turkish specialty dessert that  prepared and enjoyed during holidays, weddings and special occasions. It is also customary to take some baklava as a gift when visiting family and friends.

Baklava in Turkey  always made with home made paper thin filo pastry and only pistachio nuts or walnuts used as filling as they are softer in texture.

Today I used mixture  of walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pistachios which I had in my freezer and wanted to used them up. I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did. Makes 23-25 pieces of baklava.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pack of 400 g filo pastry, defrosted if frozen
• 1 cup ( 10 tbsp )melted butter 
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon

FOR THE SYRUP ( 1 cup of water = 200 ml and 1 cup of sugar = 200 g )

• 4 cups sugar
• 4 cups water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

METHOD

Preheat the oven 180C, 160 fan setting. Mix chopped nuts with cinnamon in a bowl.

1) Brush a baking tray with butter. ( I used 32cm x 22 cm tray ). Cut one sheet of filo pastry to fit your baking tray as shown above. Then brush the pastry with butter and place another layer of pastry. Repeat this process with 4 more layers of filo pastry and butter  to make it 6 first layers. Sprinkle the nut mixture to cover the pastry  and layer another 6 sheets of  pastry brushing the each layer with butter. Now sprinkle some more nuts and layer it with 3 or 6 more of the sheets of filo with butter, depending on how much pastry left to use. Brush the top of the last filo with butter.

2) Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava diagonal lines right through all the layers to the bottom, to form small diamond shapes.

3 ) Place baklava into the oven and bake for one hour, until it is golden. While the baklava is  in the oven, make the syrup.

4) Place the sugar and water into a heavy pan and bring it to boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn the heat to low and simmer the syrup for 15 minutes  until it thickens slightly. Add the lemon juice and simmer further 3-5 minutes and take the syrup off the heat. Leave it to cool in the pan.

5) Take the baklava out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. Then pour over the cooled syrup over the baklava and leave it to soak preferably overnight.

6) Re cut the baklava and serve with sprinkled pistachio nuts.

TURKISH KADAYIF ( SARMA TEL KADAYIF )

Kadayif is a very fine vermicelli like pastry used to make sweet pastry and desserts. It is a very popular sweet dish in all the Middle eastern countries as well as in Turkey.

You can find fresh or frozen kadayif in Turkish food stores and continental supermarkets. Kadayif also comes in packets already oven cooked. In that case you just have to add the nuts and the syrup to make the dessert. The syrup should be cooled if the pastry hot from the oven. If you made the kadayif the day before then the syrup should be warm almost hot before pouring to soften the kadayif. Some people add spices in the syrup but in Turkish recipe we don't add anything other than just water and sugar and lemon juice for the syrup. I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did. it is a great favorite with my family every time. Makes 12.

INGREDIENTS

• 200 gr kadayif
• 1/2 a cup melted butter
• 1 cup pistachio nuts, chopped coarsely
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 3 cups water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

1) Bring the sugar and water to boil in a sauce pan, then turn the heat to low and simmer the syrup uncovered  for 10-15 minutes until the syrup is light yellow in colour. Then add the lemon juice and take the syrup of the heat and set aside to cool. Place nuts in a food processor and whiz them a few times to ground them roughly. ( or place them in a freezer bag and roll the nuts with a rolling pin until you achieve ground nuts ). Mix the cinnamon with nuts.

2) Brush a deep baking tin with butter.  Preheat the oven to 180 C.

3) Spread the kadayif on a flat surface and brush with melted butter. Then break 12 equal pieces of the kadayif ( 5 cm x 3 cm ) as shown above. 

4) Then spoon 1-2 tsp of the nuts in the middle and roll the kadayif like a log and shape it with your hands. Making sure it is tucked under from the sides and the ends of the log are securely tighted. Place  the kadayif log in the baking tin.

5) Repeat this process until you use all the kadayif. Then brush all the kadayif logs with melted butter and cook in preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes until golden and crispy. Oven setting is 180C, 160 C Fan setting and cooked in the middle shelf of the oven. 

6) Take the kadayif out and pour the syrup over it immediately. Make sure all the syrup covers all of the kadayif to the top. ( If you think you haven't got enough syrup, boil 1 cup of  sugar and 1 cup of water, then  pour over the kadayif )

7) Let the kadayif soak up the syrup for 4-5 hours then transfer them on a plate( without syrup) and keep in the fridge.

8) Sprinkle the kadayif with pistachio nuts just before serving. Afiyet olsun. 

NARLI GULLAC ( GULLAC WITH POMEGRANATES )

Hi all, gullac is a very light and delicious desert, especially popular during Ramazan. It is made from starch, flour,  milk and poured over a large  hot pan (sac ) thinly and cooked dry, then packed away for later use. It is wafer like, fine, dry and round pastry leaves are the basis for  this delicate desert. Gullac dates back to ottoman period of Sultans and Pasa's, as favorite in the palaces. It gets its name gul, meaning rose. So using the rose water for this desert is a must.

YOU NEED

• 10 gullac leaves
• 1 litre of milk
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup pistachio nuts, chopped
• 2 tbsp rose water
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 pomegranate, seeded

First heat the milk with sugar, rose water and vanilla. It has to be just warm enough to touch not very hot. Pour 1 cup of  milk into a large tray. Then place a gullac leaf in the tray making sure the leaf is completely soaked. Place the second leaf and some more milk to soak. Do the same with the third, forth and fifth leaf. Then spread the walnuts over it generously. Then continue to layer the milk and the remaining 5 leaves as above. Pour the rest of the milk mixture over the leaves to make sure no dry bits left. Then sprinkle the desert with chopped pistachios. Finally cut  the desert into diamond or square shapes and leave it in the tray for the milk to be absorbed totally for about  30-45 minutes.

Decorate with pomegranate seeds just before serving.

COOKS NOTE: It is best to use full fat milk for a special treat but it is just as nice with semi skimmed milk and less sugar to make it low calorie desert.

SEMOLINA HELVA ( irmik helvasi )

This is a one of the Turkish speciality for deserts called HELVA. The main ingredients are semolina, butter, nuts and sugar. The other type of helva ,made with flour which is called un helvasi. I will give the recipe on later dates  for un helvasi which is quite different in texture to the semolina helva.

YOU NEED

• 1 and a half cup course semolina
• 125g butter
• handful of pistachio nuts
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup milk
• sugar, cinnamon for sprinkling

First melt the butter in a non stick pan, add the semolina and nuts and mix it well. Turn the heat down and cook the semolina slowly,with butter, stirring it constantly, until it turns golden brown. This will take about 20 minutes or so. We have to make sure it doesn't burn by stirring it constantly. When it is the right colour, prepare the sugar syrup. Mix the sugar with water and milk and bring it to boil. Pour the hot syrup over the semolina and let it simmer for a minute or two until all the liquid has absorbed. Turn the heat off, sprinkle the helva with sugar and cinnamon mixture,  place the lid and let the helva rest for another 20 minutes. Stir and make it fluffy before serving or just cut it into slices before serving. Hope you enjoy...

NOTE : In Turkey people tend to  use water drinking glass, as cup  measurements. 

 1 cup of  sugar = 250 g  

1 cup of water= 300 ml

COOK'S NOTE : Please see my post  HELVA WITH HONEY AND PINE NUTS   posted on 14/ Jan/09.