HOMEMADE TURKISH DELIGHT ( ROSE )- GUL LOKUMU

When I make Turkish Delight at home, the smell of rose oil takes me back to my home town of Isparta where I grew up in Turkey. During rose season in Isparta, rose fields stretch for miles and produce a wonderful fragrance all through the town. It is the only place in whole of Turkey where roses are grown purely for making rose oil and rose products. Rose oil has been exported from Isparta to France and many other countries for perfume making. Also the best rose Turkish Delights are made in the Isparta region as well as rose water and rose jam.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 kg sugar
• 1400 ml water

For the paste

• 90 g corn or wheat starch
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 350 ml water

For the colour and aroma

• 2-3 drops of rose oil
• natural red food colouring ( optional )

For dusting the Turkish delight

• 150 g icing sugar
• 50 g wheat starch

METHOD

1) Place sugar and water in a heavy pan and bring it to boil. Then turn the heat to medium and continue boiling the syrup for 1 hour.

2) Mix wheat starch with cream tartar and make a paste with 350 ml water.

3) Take one soup ladle of syrup and mix it with the starch mixture to warm it up.

4) Pour the starch mixture into the pan of boiling syrup. Bring it to boil, stirring continuously.

5) When syrup and starch mixture boils, turn the heat to low and simmer it for further 1 hour and 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it wont stick to the bottom of the pan.

6) When it is pale yellow in colour and glue like in constancy, turn the heat off.

7) Add the rose oil drops and red food coloring with a tooth pick. Mix it well with a wooden spoon and pour it into lightly greased and wax paper lined, square dish 23cm x 23 cm. Sprinkle the top with some wheat starch and set aside to cool for 24 hours.

8) Mix icing sugar and starch for coating.

9) Tip Turkish delight on a clean surface dusted with sugar and starch mixture. Cut it into slices with a knife dipped in, sugar and starch mixture.

10) Coat them in plenty of icing sugar and starch mixture before serving. Makes 90 - 100 Turkish delights depending on the size you cut them. Leave them on a tray for 2-3 days to dry out before storing them in a box on single layer.

COOK'S NOTE : Use a candy thermometer if you have one and insert into the pan towards the end. 235F, 113C is an ideal temperature for the lokum.

Add nuts or different fruit aromas that you prefer at the end of cooking.

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.