Kavurma with Eggs (Kavurmalı Yumurta)

Makes 2 servings

150 g kavurma (cooked and pressed beef) * 2 eggs * 1/2 spoon of butter * salt * black pepper

Melt the butter. Add the meat and sauté for about three minutes. Place the eggs in the center, without mixing, and season with salt and black pepper. Cook three more minutes and serve hot.

Ground Beef with Eggs (Kıymalı Yumurta)

Makes 2 servings

200 g ground beef * 2 small green peppers * 2 eggs * 3 tbsp olive oil * salt * dried thyme

Sauté the ground meat in the olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add the peppers cut in small pieces and the seasonings. Stir and cook for more five to seven minutes. Find some space in the middle of the meat for the eggs or cover the meat with the two eggs. You can spread a little the egg over the meat.

Turkish Baggels with Mahaleb (Açma)

For 8 baggels

500 g flour * 20 g fresh yeast * 1/2 cup milk * 1/2 cup water * 1/4 cup oil * 1 tbsp sugar * 1 tsp salt * 2 egg whites * 2 tsp mahaleb

To garnish:

2 egg yolks * sesame seeds * nigella seeds

Mix the yeast with the milk and the sugar and stir well to dissolve the yeast. Place the flour in a bowl and open a hole in the center. Put all the ingredients inside and knead very well. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into four pieces and open each one with a roller pin. After opening, divide it again in two equal parts. Make a roll with each and then make rings. Arrange them on a greased oven tray and brush each one with the beaten egg yolks. Sprinkle with the seeds. Let it rest for 30 minutes before placing in the oven. Cook on a 180° pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes.

Potato Börek (Patatesli Börek)

5 phyllo pastry sheets (yufka) * 6 potatoes * 2 medium onions * 1/2 tsp red pepper * black pepper * 50 ml olive oil * salt * 2 eggs

Peel the potatoes and boil them. Mash the potatoes with a fork. Mince the onions. Sauté the onions in olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the potatoes and seasonings and mix well. Cook for about five minutes and remove from fire. Let it cool down. Grease an oven tray with olive oil.


Open a phyllo pastry sheet and place the filling in one of the extremities. Make a roll.


Place the roll on the oven tray giving a spiral shape.


Proceed in the same way with the remaining phyllo sheets. If the filling is only enough for four phyllo sheets, use only that amount. Place each roll around the previous one. Finally, cover with two beaten eggs.


Cook on a 170° pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes. Let it cool down a little and cut into slices.



Find more börek recipes here.

Chicken Phyllo Rolls (Tavuklu Börek)

For around 15 rolls

1 onion * 2 tablespoons olive oil * 1 cooked and shredded chicken breast * black pepper * salt * red pepper * dried thyme * 3 sheets of filo pastry (yufka) * 1 egg * 3 tablespoons yogurt * 125 g melted margarine

Garrison:

1 yolk

Heat the chopped onion with the oil. Add the chicken and seasonings and cook over low heat for about 10 minutes. Mix the yogurt with an egg and melted margarine. Lay the filo sheets on top of each other, brushing the surface of each one with the liquid mix. Cut equal squares and top each one with the chicken. Roll each one up, tucking the ends inwards. Place on a tray greased with oil. Bake in a preheated oven at around 200º until golden and crispy.

Fried Bread with Cheese (Peynirli Yumurtalı Ekmekler)

Makes 4 servings

8 bread slices * 2 cups milk * 200 g kaşar cheese (or cheddar) * 2 eggs * 2 tsp thyme * 1 tsp red pepper * 1 1/2 cup crumbled bread * oil to fry

Put the milk in a deep bowl. Dip each bread slice in the milk, and place them in a large plate. Cut the cheese in slices and place two of them over four bread slices. Cover with the remaining ones. Mix the eggs with the red pepper and the thyme. Put the crumbled bread in a plate. Pass both sides of the bread on the crumbled bread and then in the eggs. Fry in very hot oil. Serve hot.

Pasta and Feta Cheese Börek (Yalancı Su Boreği)

Makes 5-6 servings

3 phyllo pastry sheets (yufka) * 250 g pasta (like this one or similar) * 4 eggs * 125 g margarine * 2 cups milk * 70 cl oil * 500 g feta cheese * 100 g parsley * 50 g dill

Cook the pasta, filter and place it on a bowl. Add the crumbled cheese, the margarine (at room temperature), the minced parsley and dill and mix everything very well. In another bowl beat 3 eggs. Add the oil and the milk and mix. Grease an oven tray or a big round oven pan. Cover it with one phyllo pastry sheet. Make the phyllo pastry humid with part of the oil mixture. Then, cover with half of the cheese mixture. Close with the extremities of the phyllo pastry that were out of the pan or tray. With the oil mixture, make that part of the phyllo pastry humid. Cover with another phyllo pastry sheet. This sheet must be totally inside the pan or tray. Make it humid with the oil mixture. Cover with the rest of the filling and then cover with the third phyllo pastry sheet. Beat one egg and brush the surface of the last phyllo pastry sheet. Bake on a 200º preheated oven until the surface of the börek gets brown.

Eggplant Börek (Patlıcanlı Börek)

2 tbsp olive oil * 3 eggplants * 1 onion * 2 green peppers * 2 tomatoes * salt * black pepper * 4 phyllo pastry sheets (yufka) * 2 cups milk * 1/2 cup olive oil * 2 egg whites * 1 egg yolk

To garnish:


1 egg yolk

Peel the eggplants and cut them in small cubes. Place them on a bowl with water and salt for 10 minutes. In the meantime, sauté the minced onion and peppers in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the eggplant. Peel the tomatoes, cut in cubes and add them to the other vegetables. Let it cook until all the juice evaporates. Let it cool down and reserve. Prepare a liquid mixture with the olive oil, the milk and the eggs. Place two phylo pastry sheets on a greased oven tray. Make the phylo pastry wet by pouring half of the liquid mixture over it. Cover with the eggplant filling. Then, cover the filling with two phylo pastry sheets and pour on the rest of the liquid. Brush with the egg yolk. Bake on a 200º preheated oven until the surface is brown and crusty. Let it cool down and then cut into squares. You can put on the fridge and heat before serving.

Because today is Kandil: Kandil Rings (Kandil Simidi)

Today is celebrated in Turkey one of the five holy nights, according to the Muslim calendar: the Berat Kandili.
In the kandil days you can find kandil simidi in all the patisseries and bakeries in Turkey.

Makes 10 servings

250 g margarine * 2 coffee cups yogurt * 2 tbsp sugar * 2 tbsp salt * 1 egg yolk * 4 1/2 cups flour * 1 tsp baking powder * 2 tsp mahleb

To garnish:

1 cup sesame seeds * 1 tbsp nigella seeds * 1 egg white

Sift the flour and place in the center the margarine, at room temperature, the sugar, the salt, the egg yolk, the yogurt, the baking powder and the mahleb and knead well. Let it ferment for 30 minutes. Separate portions of dough in the amount of walnuts and make rings. Place them on a greased oven tray. Brush each one with egg white and sprinkle with sesame and black cumin. Bake on a 170º preheated oven until they become brown.

It is also tradition to make helva in the kandil days.

Cheese Crepes with Sugar Syrup (Tava Katmeri)

For 6 crepes

250 g Urfa cheese (a traditional Turkish cheese from the city of Urfa in the southeast Anatolia) without salt (can be replaced by feta cheese) * 4 coffee cups flour * 1 egg * 10 g butter * 50 ml water * 100 g cornstarch * 1 coffee cup sunflower oil * salt

For the syrup:

1 cup sugar * 1 cup water * 2 tsp lemon juice

Place the flour and salt in a bowl and open a hole in the center. Put inside the egg, water and the butter and knead well. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough in three equal portions. Sprinkle each one with cornstarch and open with a pin roll. Then cut each in half. Dobre e polvilhe com o queijo. Fold in and sprinkle with cheese. Fold again forming a triangle. Prepare the syrup. Put in a cooking pot the sugar, water and lemon and cook over low fire until boiling. Remove from fire and reserve keeping it warm. Grease a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook each crepe on both sides. Go on greasing the pan with more oil as you fry the crepes. Put them in a serving plate and pour on the warm syrup.

The katmer are very common in the Turkish breakfast, here in Turkey, with or without the sugar syrup. They are very delicious hot or warm with jam, kaymak or cream.

Cheese and Sesame Rings (Susamli Çörek)

For 32 sesame rings

250 g margarine * 250 g lor cheese (or ricotta) without salt * 2 egg yolks * 4 1/2 cups flour * 1 tbsp baking powder

To garnish:

3 tbsp sesame seeds * 2 egg whites

Mix the margarine, the egg yolks, the crumbled cheese and the baking powder. Add the flour slowly and knead well. Separate the dough in four portions, cover with a cloth and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. Then open the dough, using a rolling pin, until you get the size of a normal meal plate. After opening, divide each portion into two. Open again each one but now divide each portion of dough in four. Roll each portion with your hands and connect the extremities giving the shape of rings. Brush each ring with egg whites and then sprinkle with sesame. Bake on a 175º preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until they become light brown.

Börek with Ground Meat (Domates Sulu Kıymalı Börek)

50 ml olive oil * 200 g ground meat * 1 onion * 100 g parsley * 2 cups tomato juice * 50 ml water * 3 sheets philo pastry * salt * black pepper

Sauté the minced onion with the ground meat. Add the minced parsley, the salt and the black pepper and mix. Let it cool down and put aside. Mix the tomato juice with the water and the olive oil. Place one of the philo pastries in a greased oven tray. As the philo pastry is bigger than the oven tray, the sides will be out of the oven tray. Cover it with the tomato mixture. Cut the second philo pastry in two pieces with the same size and use one of the pieces to cover the first philo pastry. Place the ground meat on it and then cover with the other half. Again, make it wet with the tomato mixture. Cover with the third philo pastry. You must make it fit totally inside the oven tray by making small hills. Close the börek with the sides of the first philo pastry. Put the rest of the tomato sauce on the top and bake on a 180º preheated oven until it becomes a little crusty.

Braided Sweet Yeast Bread (Paskalya Çöreği)

Paskalya means Easter in English and the literal translation of this sweet, so common in Turkey, is something like Easter Cake.

½ cup milk * 20 g yeast * 8 ½ cups flour * 2 cups sugar * 4 eggs * 250 g de margarine * 1 tbsp mahaleb * 15 cardamom seeds

For the covering:

1 egg yolk * 25 g crumbled hazelnuts

In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk, add 2 cups of flour and mix. Let it rest for 10 minutes in a warm ambience with the bowl covered. Meanwhile, mix the sugar with the eggs. Melt the margarine and let it cool down. Place the rest of the flour in a bowl. Add the mixture of the yeast with the milk, the mixture of the eggs and sugar, the melted margarine, the mahaleb and the grinded cardamom seeds. Knead the dough very well with your hands and let it rest in a warm place. Separate 3 portions of dough, make three three rolls with your hands and give it the shape of a braid. Place in an oven tray, brush with an egg yolk and sprinkle with the crumbled hazelnuts. Bake on a 180º preheated oven.

Vegetable Cake with Cheese (Sebzeli Kaşarlı Kek)

3 eggs * 1 cup yogurt * 1 cup oil * 1/2 cup boiled peas * 1 carrot * 1 potato * 1/2 cup crumbled kaşar (or cheddar) cheese * 3 cups flour * 1 tbsp baking powder * 5-6 green olives * salt

Boil the carrot and the potato, cut them in cubes and put aside. Beat the eggs. Add the oil and the yogurt and continue beating. Add the peas, the carrot, the potato, the cheese, the salt, the flour and the baking powder and mix well. Place the mixture in a greased loaf pan. Garnish with the olives cut into slices. Bake on a 180º preheated oven. Serve warm or cold.

Sesame Halva (Tuzlu Helva)

Makes 4 servings

200 g butter * 2 1/2 cups flour * 1 cup water * 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Place the margarine in a pan and mix it with the flour over low heat. Add slowly the water and cook for 5 minutes more. Place the mixture in a greased oven tray and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake on a 200º preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Rose Jam (Gül Reçeli)

350 g red rose petals * 6 cups sugar * 2 1/2 cups water * 2 tbsp lemon juice

Wash the petals and place them in a pan with the sugar and lemon juice. Let it rest like this for 30 minutes. Add the water and cook for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour into jars and store in the refrigerator.

Note: To check if the consistency of the jam is at the ideal point, try placing a spoonful of jam in a glass of water. If the jam does not dissolve in the water, it is ready. If, on the contrary, it dissolves, it needs to cook a little longer.

Zucchini Cake (Kabaklı Börek)

2 eggs * 2 zucchinis * 1 cup yogurt * 1/2 cup olive oil * 1/2 cup flour * 50 g parsley * 50 g fresh dill * 1 cup crumbled feta cheese * 1 tbsp baking powder * 2 tsp black cumin seeds (Nigella Sativa).

Cut the zucchinis in small pieces. Mince the dill and the parsley. Place the flour in a bowl and open an hole in the center. Pour inside the zucchinis, the dill, the parsley, the baking powder, the yogurt and the olive oil and mix all the ingredients very well. Place the mixture on a greased oven tray with 25 centimeters length. Pour on the black cumin seeds (Nigella sativa). Bake on a 180º preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cut in small squares and serve.