Desserts

Baklava with walnuts

Ingredients:

Filling:

Syrup:

Prepare the dough according to the dough for the baklava recipe. Place the dough pieces on each other on a woodwn board. Cut these pieces according to the size of the tray where they will be cooked. Grease the tray lightly and place one layer of dough over. Pour 1/2 tablespoon melted margarine evenly over the dough. Place only half of the pieces of dough on the tray so that there is one layer of dough, and margarine over that. When half of the dough is used up, sprinkle ground walnuts over. Over the walnuts place another layer of dough, spread some margarine, then another layer of dough, continue until all the pieces of dough are used. Cut the pieces of dough into the shape of baklava, place in a moderately heated oven and cook for an hour until the colour of the baklavas turn golden brown. Put granulated sugar, water and lemon juice into a pan, melt the sugar over moderate heat and boil for about 15 minutes until the mixture becomes a syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, brush with but

Tel Kadayif with walnut

Ingredients:

Syrup:

Flake kadayif and place on a shallow cake pan, sprinkle crushed walnuts over evenly and spread the other half of the kadayif on top. Sprinkle melted margarine over and place in moderate oven to bake for 40 minutes.
SYRUP: Meanwhile, put the granulated sugar, the water and lemon juice into a saucepan and boil until moderately thick. When golden brown, take kadayif out of oven and sprinkle boiling syrup over immediately. Cover and allow to cool. When cool, place a plate large enough over the top of the pan and transfer kadayif onto the plate by turningit upside down.

Fried pastry with syrup (Tulumba tatlisi)

Ingredients:

Pastry

Syrup:

SYRUP: Put the sugar, water and lemon juice into a saucepan, and after melting the sugar by stirring, allow it to boil until moderately thick. Set aside to cool.
PASTRY: Heat the margarine in a saucepan, add the water and salt and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and add the flour at once. Stir the mixture constantly with a wooden spool and continue until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. This should take 6 minutes, then remove pan from heat and set aside to cool. When cool, add the eggs and knead for approximately 10 minutes, using a pastry bag with a large nozzle, put 7-8 pastries in a pan containing the heated olive oil. Start frying the pastry over low heat, increase heat when pastry puffs up a bit and fry until golden. Remove fried pastry with a perforated spoon, draining away the oil, the put into the syrup. Strain off the syrup, place tulumba on serving plate and serve cool.

Flour helva

Ingredients:

Heat the margarine in a saucepan very gently, and saute the flour until golden brown in the margarine for 40 minutes over low to moderate heat. When the flour turns light golden, put the sugar and water in a seperate saucepan and make a syrup by boiling gently. Add the syrup to the saucepan with flour and simmer for 20 minutes, then take out small pieces of the helva with a wooden spool, form into balls and place on a serving plate. Serve warm.

Semolina helva (Irmik Helvasi)

Ingredients:

Melt the margarine in a pan, add the pine nuts and semolina, and saute over heat a little less than moderate for 40-50 minutes while continuously stirring until the colour of the pine nuts changes. Add the milk and stir well, add the sugar and continue to stir. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from heat, allow to cool for half an hour, stir the helva thoroughly with a spoon, put a plate and serve.

Baghdad sweets

Ingredients:

Blend the ground pistachio nuts, almonds and 3/4 glass of sugar. Bring 3 glasses of water to the boil and add the lemon juice and 3 1/4 glasses of sugar to it. Stir until the sugar melts, allow to boil until rather thick and add the apricots. Bring to the boil and remove the heat. Meanwhile, place two sheets of wax paper in a deep pyrex dish after decoratively creasing the edges of the sheets. Place one layer of the cooled apricots on the sheets with their syrup, sprinkle some of the ponded nut mixture over and repeat until 6 layers are obtained. Sprinkle ponded nut mixture over the last layer and top with cream. Whip the egg whites with some salt until stiff and spread it over the sweets like icing. Put sweets in moderately hot oven and cook until top becomes brown. Remove from oven, and serve when cool.

Vezir's finger

Ingredients:

Syrup:

SYRUP: Put the sugar, water and lemon juice into a saucepan, and after melting the sugar by stirring, allow it to boil until moderately thick. Set aside to cool.
PASTRY: Heat the margarine in a saucepan, add the water and salt and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and add the flour at once. Stir the mixture constantly for 7 minutes with a wooden spoon. Remove from the hit and set aside to cool. When cool, add the eggs and egg yolk and knead or 10 minutes. Take walnut sized pieces of the pastry and form into finger shapes with hands wetted with olive oil. Put shaped pastry into a pan containing warm olive oil and fry over a low heat until it puffs up a bit. Turning the heat up to moderate, continue frying until golden. Remove pastry with a perforated spoon, straining out, the oil out and put into the syrup. 15 minutes later, take vezir's fingers out of the syrup. Place on serving dish and serve.

Small balls of fried sweet dough (Lokma)

Ingredients:

Syrup:

Put the granulated sugar, water and lemon juice into a pan, place on moderate heat and stir until the sugar melts. Boil for 15 minutes until the syrup thickens.
Put flour in a bowl, make a well in the centre, put the yeast, melted margarine and salt in the well, stir while gradually adding water, until the flour absorbs the water. Mix together until it becomes a dough, put near a warm place and allow to rest for the dough to swell and puff up for about an hour. Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan. Take a piece of dough and squeeze it in the hands, the dough will leap up in between the thumb and second finger; from this, take pieces the size of a nut with a spoon, and then dip in and outof cold water, afterwards, put these pieces into the frying pan. Put 7-8 pieces of dough into the pan every time. As the balls puff up and turn into a golden color, remove from the pan and drain away the oil. Repeat this until all the dough is finished and place the fried balls in syrup. After the balls absorb the syrup, place in a serving dish, and serve.

Flour biscuits

Ingredients:

Frosting:

Put the margarine and sugar into a bowl and knead until the margarine turns white. Add the flour while kneading to make into a dough. From dough into a long round shape on a wooden board, cut into pieces of desired sizes, form pieces into balls and place on greased baking sheet leaving 1 inch between each. Put in moderately hot oven to bake for 30 minutes. Make sure that the tops do not brown too much. Place biscuits on serving plate, frost with icing sugar and serve when cool.

Boza (a beverage made of fermented millet)

Ingredients:

Boza is the favourite drink of particularly cold winter nights, and is sold by the boza sellers as they walk around the streets. Boza sellers who frighten the children with their deep voices are traditional characters of old Istanbul.
Clean the stalks and stones from the bulgur, wash several times and cook in plenty of water until it becomes a mush. Remove from heat, cover with a piece of cloth to keep warm and let it stand overnight. Strain the mush which is almost solidified through the strainer. In another bowl dissolve the bread yeast in warm water, strain and add to the bulgur. Add the sugar and put in a glass jar or glazed pan, close to lid tightly. Once in a while stir with a scoop. After 3-4 days a not too sour boza will be obtained.
Put the boza in glasses, sprinkle cinnamon over and serve along with roasted yellow chick peas (leblebi).

Asure

Ingredients:

Soak wheat and rice overnight in cold water. Pour out that water and add 30 glasses fresh water, cook over heat a little less than moderate for 6-7 hours until the wheat is tender. Pour through a strainer, press with a wooden spoon in order to strain. Stir this wheat essenced water thoroughly and measure it. There should be about 12 glasses, add to this wheat essenced water, sugar and milk, place on heat and stir until the sugar melts. Boil either once or twice until the mixture becomes the consistency of quite a thick soup. Soak the beans; dried broad beans and chick peas overnight in cold water. Boil them the next day and add to the mixture along with the cleaned and washed sultanas, currants, dried apricots cut into small pieces, white pine nuts, boiled almonds after removing their skins, chopped walnuts and rose water. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat and pour immediately into various bowls. After completely cooling, decorate with almonds, walnuts and pomegranates.

Rose jam

Ingredients:

Put the water and rose leaves into a pan, cover and boil until the rose leaves go almost a white color. Then add the sugar and boil with the lid off until the syrup thickens. Dissolve the lemon salt cubes in 1/8 glass water (or add the lemon juice to the water), pour this into the pan after the syrup has thickened, bring to the boil once, remove from heat, and with a perforated spoon remove the foam on the syrup. Pour the jam into a bowl, and after it has completely cooled down, put into a jaar and close the lid tightly. Eat as desired.

Pumpkin dessert

Ingredients: Put the pumpkin pieces into a big sauce pan. Cover the pumpkin with as much sugar as possible and let it rest overnight. Boil the pumpkin with the juice and the sugar over medium heat about 45 to 60 minutes. Cool it before serving. Serve with walnuts garnished on top.