Türkische Piroggen

Piroggen or Pierogi is usually a dumpling made of stuffed dough, which is first boiled and then fried or baked. It has a number of synonyms and is served in variety of forms and tastes in different cuisines. I stuck with the name given in my Turkish cookbook :). Germany is famous for its variety of breads, cakes and baked goodies, which are often sweet. You would find it sometimes boring to have "sweet-only" Potluck parties, especially when having an Indian background and India prides itself for its spices and savory cuisines. I decided to bake them to one such Party and believe me, this Piroggen was a big hit among my friend's circle ! Here, the pastry is only baked and is quite simple to make, melt in the mouth. I am sure you would enjoy these warm Piroggen with a cup of tea on a cold winter evening.

Ingredients for about 30 Piroggen

Butter - 150 gms

Olive oil - 75 ml

All purpose flour - 275 gms

Egg - 1

Yogurt - 2 tbsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Goat cheese - 140 gms

Parsley - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Egg yellow - 1 (for egg wash)

Sesame seeds

Method :

1. Combine and mix butter, oil, flour, yogurt, egg, baking powder, salt in a large bowl. Cover the dough with a foil and refrigerate for about an hour.

2. Mix the goat cheese with the parsley separately. 

3. Take out the dough and form 30 balls. Stuff a tablespoon of the cheese-parsley filling inside each and   cover the dough from all sides and roll into oval shapes or semi circular.

4. Place them in a baking tray and make the egg wash using the yolk. Sprinkle some sesame seeds for decor.

5. Preheat the oven to 180 °C and bake the Piroggen for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Serve warm. 

Note : If you are a non-veggie, try the ground meat and onions filling instead !

Iam sending this to the Winter Carnival at Tickling Palates of Radhika.

Ispanak Tepsi Börek

After trying out many recipes from the Turkish Cuisine, I took the courage to try out Börek, which i always thought would be a very difficult one. I have eaten Börek in almost every Turkish friends' place and in every gathering in a Turkish mosque, everytime wondering and appreciating the cook there. But unless you give it a try, you wont know how simple and easy it is ...isnt it ? I am glad that my first try was very satisfactory and successful!
Börek is a common term for all pastries that use Turkish yufka i.e. phyllo dough. Depending upon the filling, the shape and sometimes the region, the term börek is preceded by a descriptive noun : Kiymali börek (Mincedmeat börek), or ispanak börek (Spinach börek)  and the most common style being a layered one. Tepsi in Turkish literally translates as "tray". Spinach börek is defintely the nation-wide favourite and my favourite too ! 

Ingredients 
Phyllo dough sheets/Yufka Pastry Sheets- 1 pkt (contains about 6 sheets)
For the filling
Spinach (fresh or frozen) - 1 cup
Potatoes - 2 (cooked and mashed)
Goat cheese - 100 gms
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garlic pod - 1 (crushed)
For the sauce
Olive oil- 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2
Milk - 1 cup
For decoration
Egg yellow for egg wash - 1
Nigella seeds

Preparation of the filling
1. Heat the oil and add the potatoes, spinach (thaw the spinach first, if using a frozen one), salt, garlic and pepper and fry for about 4 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix this potato mixture and the goat cheese and mix well with a fork.

3. In a separate bowl, add the olive oil, milk and beat in the 2 eggs and mix well to form the sauce.

4. Grease a deep bottom tray, approx. 8 x 11.5 inches, with olive oil( or a pan that is approximately the same size with the phyllo sheets).
5. Layer 1 phyllo sheet in the tray. Leave the overhanging phyllo to the sides for the final wrapping.

6. Brush this layer with the egg-oil-milk sauce generously

7. Repeat this layering of phyllo for 3 sheets, brushing every single layer generously with the sauce. The phyllo layered here should not be overhanging, just cut them into small sizes or bits and pieces to fit into the tray. They need not be very perfectly shaped.The idea is to just cover the underlying sauce !
8. After the third layer of phyllo, do not add the egg sauce. Place the filling now and cover it again with another phyllo layer.

9. Keep repeating the alternating process of sauce and phyllos. (You could layer as many layers as you want depending upon your available phyllos and sauce).
10. Finally tuck and wrap the overhanging first phyllo on the top to cover all the underlying layers. Pour over whatever is left from the sauce on top.
11. Give an egg wash by brushing the surface with egg yellow.
12. Cut the phyllos in small square pieces with a knife, like how you cut a cake.

12. Sprinkle nigella seeds on the top.

13. Place the tray in a preheated oven at 180°C and bake it for about 30 minutes until the surface turns golden brown.

14. Wait for 10- 15 minutes and cut again on the pre-cut squares and serve with tea !

This recipe goes to the event Iftar Moments, hosted by Umm Mymoonah of Taste of Pearl City.

This recipe also goes to the event A.W.E.D Turkey, hosted by the the taste space, originally started by DK.

Cheese-Onion Tartlets

                            

This was my first homemade tartlet. I had always wanted to try it out for a long time but its only now I could actually bake them and Iam glad it was a 100 percent success. Its a melt in the mouth soft tartlet with a mild taste of the combination of egg, cream and cheese with a strong flavor of spring onions. An ideal snack with tea or goes well for a breakfast too. Coming to the recipe now...

 Ingredients for the 12 tartlets

All purpose flour - 100 gms

Butter - 75 gms

Water - 1-2 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

For the filling you need :

Egg (beaten) - 1

Heavy cream - 100 ml

Grated cheese - 50 gms

Spring onions (chopped) - 3

Salt - a pinch

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

1. Sift the flour in a large bowl.

2. Add the salt and butter and mix well to form a crumbled mixture.

3. Add the water and knead into a soft dough. Wrap it in a clingfilm and refrigerate it for 15- 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile prepare the filling by mixing together the egg, heavy cream, grated cheese, spring onions, salt and pepper.

5. After 20 minute, take the dough out and flatten it using a roll pin. Cut into small circles of 7.5cms diameter. For convenience cut the circles in parts of 4 each time and roll out the dough again, flatten it and then cut another 4. This makes it easier to work with the dough.

6. Gently place the circles in the muffin pan(small) as shown in the picture.

7. Pour over the filling into each well slowly.

8.  Preheat the oven at 180 °C and bake the tartlets for 20- 25 minutes unitl the filling becomes a mild golden brown.

9. Using a plastic spoon or a wooden spatula gently and very carefully take out the tartlets from the sides. They will easily slip out. 

 

10. Serve them either warm or cold. 

Tip : You could as well use the readymade tarts available in the store and use this cream-cheese filling. 

This recipe goes to the event Bake-Off hosted by Champa of Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen.

Pastry purses

Puff pastries are my all time favourites. They could be mould into any form and shape and the end result is always satisfactory. Its a perfect snack with tea. It could be baked quickly in just 3 steps :)
I baked this pastry for my friend's party and i remember someone unknown to me, who happened to taste this, had got my contact number and had called me. I was totally surprised that some unknown stranger had taken so much efforts to call me and ask for this recipe. And now, I would like to share it with you too......

Ingredients
1. Take the frozen pastry puff and thaw it at room temperature for about 20 min.
2. Cut into square shapes and fit them into a muffin pan, with the pastry touching the bottom and the corners lightly pressed and flattened at the sides.(so that they dont point upwards and get burnt quickly while baking).

3. Bake them at 200 °C for 12 min. (follow the instructions on the pastry pack you are using). They get puffed up beautifully.

You could use anything as a filling. I have used buttercream with a cherry on the top. The other time i had baked this i used whipped cream with nuts sprinkled. You could as well scoop an icecream into it (but serve it immediately).

 This simple party treat for Birthdays, Kids Party, Kitty parties, any get-togethers, goes to the event Party Treats hosted by Sara's Corner started by Meeta

Profiteroles

Ingredients for 30 profiteroles

For the pastry
All purpose flour - 100 gms (sieved)
Unsalted butter - 75 gms
Water - 200 ml
Eggs - 3

For the cream
cream - 300 ml
Sugar - 3 tbsp
vanilla essence - 1tsp

For the chocolate sauce
chocolate chips - 100 gms (with atleast 70 percent cocoa- the more cocoa the more tastier)
cream - 1 cup

Method
1. Boil butter and water, with a pinch of sugar.
2. Remove from heat.
3. Slowly add the sieved flour and beat it quickly with a wooden spoon. Keep mixing until the dough leaves from the vessel. Care should be taken that no lumps are formed.Cool the dough for 5 minutes.
















4. Add eggs one by one and mix it thoroughly with each egg. Keep mixing it until the batter flows smoothly from the wooden spoon.
















5. Take a tray and place a parchment paper. Stick the four corners of this paper to the tray by "glueing" it with the same batter prepared above. Now you can be sure that your parchment paper doesnt move when you are working on it in the following steps.

6. Fill the batter in a piping bag and squeeze out small circles using the star-shaped tip. If you dont have a piping bag, simply take a teaspoonful of the batter and gently place it on the tray. Make sure there is enough space in between 2 circles, so as to provide room for them to rise during baking.

















7. Take a small bowl of water and using a spoon, dip the bottom of the spoon in the water and gently press it on top of each circles, so as to avoid their protruding sharp edge(as a result of piping) from getting burnt while baking.

















8. Preheat the oven at 190 °c
9. Place the tray in the oven and adjust the oven temp. to 220 °C. Bake for 15 min. Please DO NOT open the oven while baking.
10. When the pastries are done, turn off the oven and let them stay in the oven for 10 more min.
11. Take out the pastries from the oven and pierce each of them with a sharp point edge. This would allow the moisture to go out and prevents the pastries from shrinking.

















Consider serving 3 profiteroles per person and pack the rest in an air-tight cover and store it in the refrigerator for 3 days or about a month in a freezer. You could reheat them in the oven at 150 °C for 7-10mins.

Preparation of the cream.
Cool the cream in the refrigerator for atleast 2hrs before u whip it. Also, chill the vessel in which the cream is to be whipped for half an hour or so.
1. Whip the cream with sugar and vanilla essence until it becomes thick.
2. Cut open the pastries. You would see hollow parts. This is a perfectly-made profiterole !
3. Stuff the whipped cream into it.

















Preparation of the Chocolate sauce
1. Boil the cream and then melt the chocolate chips into it.
2. Using a blender, blend it thoroughly until all the chips are dissolved.

Serving tip :
Place 2 or 3 cream-stuffed profiteroles in individual serving bowls.
Pour the hot chocolate sauce over the profiteroles and serve !

You could as well save the left-over chocolate sauce and the cream in the fridge for the next day !

Cheese pastry

Its a very simple, easy to make pastry puff. You could stock the ingredients as a saviour in your freezer and could make it quickly for unexpected guests !

Ingredients
Frozen Readymade pastries- Thaw them for 15 minutes at room temperature.
Goat cheese - 1 cup
Frozen Parsley - 2 tbls (which you could get in the markets in the frozen section)
Beaten Egg - 1
Sesame seeds

Method
1. Powder the goat cheese and mix it with the parsley.
2. Place a tablespoonfull of this mixture in the center of the pastry and close it to form a triangle.
3. Stick the edges by pressing with a fork. Make sure there are no small openings anywhere !
4. Apply the surface with the beaten egg.
5. Sprinkle sesame seeds for extra taste.
6. Place them on a greased tray and bake it at 200°c for 12 min. (This baking time might vary according to the type pf pastry you have. Please follow the instruction in your pastry packet for baking)