Cigaratte Rolls (Sigara Böreği)

Sigara böreği takes its name from the shape of cigarettes. Although I truly loathe cigarettes, I love cigarette rolled boreks! Addictive is the right word to describe these little rolls. In Turkey, they are usually served as appetizers, for breakfast and as an afternoon snack with a hot Turkish tea. I have tried making these numerous times using whole fat Turkish white cheese and each time the cheese would leak during frying and ruin their appearance and taste. I have tried rolling them differently, adding an egg white to keep the cheese together but it kept leaking. Then I realized I was using cheese with whole fat which was causing the leaking. Since I couldn’t find low fat Turkish white cheese, I used low fat feta and for the first time I prepared rolls that did have leaked cheese during frying. They were so good to look at I was hesitant to eat them (no, not really) J I do not normally purchase anything low fat or diet so I had to make an exception for this. They tasted incredibly good but I know that they taste even better with whole fat white cheese.

You may substitute the filling with other types of cheeses, minced meat, chicken, potatoes or even spinach. Enjoy hot right after you fry them. They will be so crispy and delicious!

2 cups crumbled low fat white cheese (or feta)

1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 package triangle pastry leaves (about 20 leaves)

4 cups sunflower or canola oil

Place the white cheese in a bowl and add the parsley. Mix well.

Place one triangle pastry leaf on the counter and brush the edges with water. 

Add a table spoon of cheese in the wide section of the triangle pastry leaf. 

Fold from both sides and start rolling. 

Dip hands in water when sealing. 

Repeat the same process until all the triangle leaves are used up.

Heat up the oil. Add a few of the rolls and start frying. 

It should take only a few minutes. As soon as the rolls start taking a golden color remove and drain on paper towel. It is better to fry as little as possible; that way they will fry faster. 

Note: If you cannot find triangle shaped pastry leaves available in Turkish or Middle Eastern stores (ucgen yufka) and able to find regular Turkish yufka, you could cut the large round piece of yufka into eight triangles. If you cannot find yufka, you may substitute regular (thinner) phyllo dough for it.

Simit

Simit is one of the foods that I miss from Turkey. Especially, the kind that is sold on the streets. I had been wanting to make it, but I knew it was time consuming so I never got around to making it. The other night, I decided to try a recipe from a blogger (Farida from AZ Cookbook) who publishes many Turkish recipes which really represent Turkish food. Although, it took me longer to make this recipe as I only worked on the dough when the twins were sleeping, so it rested longer than suggested (the dough was refrigerated overnight), it still turned out fantastic. I actually didn't believe it would taste like the simit in Turkey, but it really did. With a glass of Turkish tea, it was all I needed. It was so good that I couldn't resist the urge to take a picture and post it here. Thank you Farida!

Green Olives Salad (Yeşil Zeytin Salatası)

One of the indispensible food items for breakfast in Turkey is olives. Whether green or black, plain or with sauce, olives must exist on every Turkish person’s breakfast table. In order to break away the bitterness, green olives are cracked but still served as a whole with the pit. In smaller towns, families purchase large quantities of fresh olives once a year which they crack and cure for the year’s supply. Black olives are not pitted or cracked and cured in such away that there is no trace of the bitterness.

I personally find much more flavor in cracked green olives that are not commercially pitted. If using for salad, I usually pit them myself. Pitted olives rarely enter my house as I think that most of the flavor is diminished when the pit is removed commercially. We purchase some very good quality olives here in the States that are not cracked (can’t find cracked ones) and not pitted and I find them a little bitter. Therefore each time I visit Turkey, I bring cracked green olives with me. The following olive salad is made with olives I brought with me during my recent visit to my hometown in Turkey. Our favorite time to eat olives is breakfast/brunch, but olive salad can be eaten as appetizer or side dish during lunch or dinner. Preferably use fresh thyme for this salad. I did not have any fresh thyme on hand so I used home dried thyme that my mother brought with her last year during her visit.

2 cups green olives (pitted)
1 ½ tbsp pomegranate molasses or lemon juice
½ tbsp red pepper paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ tbsp thyme leaves (fresh preferable)

Wash and drain olives. Add pomegranate molasses, red pepper paste and olive oil. If using dried thyme, crumble with hands over olives. If using fresh thyme add whole leaves. Toss together and serve.

Spinach and Spicy Cheese Bread Pockets (Katıklı Ekmek)

Katıklı ekmek is very popular in Antakya, Turkey. Some stuff the dough with spinach and çökelek mixture and some spread this mixture on top of a thin sheet of dough. The preparation of the dough is different than mine because in Antakya, Turkey, the mixture is sent to a bakery and the dough from the bakery is used. Then, it is baked in the wood ovens in the bakery which gives the bread/borek a very distinct and wonderful texture and flavor.

Katıklı can be served during breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a snack with hot tea.


For the Dough:

4 cups flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups water


For Stuffing:

2 bunch spinach
3 çökelek balls
½ tsp salt


For Brushing:

2 tbsp olive oil


Preparation of the Dough Using a Mixer:

Combine all ingredients for the dough in the bowl of the mixer, except the water. Attach the dough hook to the mixer. Make sure to attach and remove it when the mixer is unplugged. Using the speed control knob, put the speed of the mixer to 2. Then increase the speed to 4. Pour the water gradually to the bowl while the mixer is working. Increase the speed of the mixer to 6. Mix for 3-4 minutes. Remove the dough from the mixer.

Preparation of the Dough Manually:

Combine all ingredients in a deep bowl except the water. Pour some of the water in the bowl and start kneading for 5-10 minutes. Keep adding water gradually while kneading until the dough becomes soft.

Let it sit for about 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 small pieces and make small balls with each piece.

Wash the spinach thoroughly so that there is no dirt in the leaves. Boil water in a large pot. Place the clean spinach leaves in boiling water for two minutes and remove. Immediately, run cold water over the spinach to stop the cooking process. Squeeze all the water out of the spinach. Chop the spinach coarsely.

Crumble the çökelek onto the spinach.

Add the salt. Set aside.

Grease two large baking trays. Place a ball of the dough on the tray and start stretching the dough with your hands until each ball is side enough to place some stuffing.

Place the stuffing one side of the dough and cover it with the rest of the dough.


The dough will stretch and the stuffing will become visible from the outside of the dough. Repeat this process for all eight pieces of dough. Brush some olive oil on top of these pockets.

Bake at 375º F in the middle rack of the oven for about 20 minutes. You may need to brush the top of the pockets with olive oil while baking once or twice. When the top portion is golden brown, turn around and brush the other side with olive oil and bake until golden brown.

Enjoy warm with hot tea.

Eggs with Turkish Sausage (Sucuklu Yumurta)

Finally, I am publishing another recipe on my blog. Although I promised more blogging in my previous post, I became unexpectedly busy and could not deliver on my promise. Hopefully, this time I’ll be posting more recipes than I have been in the past few months.

This simple, yet delicious egg and Turkish sausage omelet is perfect for a lazy Sunday breakfast along with warm bread, white cheese, olives and hot Turkish tea. Eggs and Turkish sausage complement each other very well creating a delicious taste. Enjoy.

Note: Turkish sausage can be found in Turkish/Mediterranean grocery stores.

4 eggs
8-9 slices Turkish sausage
1 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper

In a small bowl add the eggs, black pepper and salt. Mix vigorously until the eggs whites and yolks are integrated.

Heat oil on medium heat and cook the sausage slices for about 1-2 minutes on each side. Pour the eggs on the sausage. Leave on heat until eggs are cooked. To cook eggs faster, cover the pan for a couple minutes.

Parsley Omelet (Maydanozlu Omlet)

Parsley omelet is a simple, quick and tasty egg dish that we often had for brunch at home in Turkey. It can be consumed for breakfast, lunch or even for a light dinner. When I am busy and need something quick to eat, I resort to this delicious omelet.

It is customary to use butter or vegetable oil for omelets and some other dishes in Turkey, however for health reasons I always choose to cook with olive oil. In Turkish cuisine, we have a whole new group of dishes called ‘Zeytinyağlılar’ meaning ‘Dishes with Olive Oil’ which are always made with olive oil and always without meat which are usually eaten at room temperature. The hot dishes can be made with olive oil, vegetable oil or butter. For example, rice pilaf and omelets are typically made with butter or vegetable oil.

You may notice that for almost every recipe published in my blog I have used olive oil (extra virgin). Butter is only used for baking purposes in my kitchen and I think that is more than plenty of butter for our bodies. If the butter in stores was natural and completely made from milk, I would not hesitate using it more often. One of those days I will try to make my own butter because I know how delicious natural butter can taste. If you insist on using commercially produced butter, you can substitute the butter for olive oil in my recipes.

Now comes the omelet recipe.

4 eggs
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp olive oil (or butter)
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of salt

In a small bowl add the eggs, parsley, black pepper, paprika and salt. Mix until the eggs are integrated with the parsley.


Heat oil on medium heat and pour the egg parsley mixture on hot oil. Leave on heat until eggs are cooked. To cook eggs faster, cover the pan for a couple minutes.

Traditional Turkish Breakfast (Geleneksel Türk Kahvaltısı)

Have you ever had Turkish breakfast? Those of you who have visited Turkey or have close Turkish friends or family members, probably have had a taste of what Turkish breakfast entails. Breakfast in Turkey is not only about food, but also about family time and gathering.

In Turkish, breakfast is called “kahvaltı” which is derived from “kahve altı” which literally means “under coffee” or “before coffee”. As you may guess, traditionally Turkish coffee (kahve) is not drunk during breakfast, rather after breakfast or in the afternoon. A traditionally brewed black tea is an indispensable part of breakfast. Along with hot black tea, white cheese (analogous to feta), boiled eggs, green or black olives, çökelek (spicy cheese), Turkish sausage, helva, pekmez (grape or mulberry molasses), tomatoes, cucumbers, honey, jam, fresh butter, an omelet called “menemen” and fresh warm bread complete Turkish breakfast. Occasionally, böreks, pides, fried potatoes and various types of pastries are also served for breakfasts. Soups such as “red lentil soup” or “rice soup” can be a part of breakfast in some households. In my household in Turkey, in the summer months, grapes and watermelon are a must during breakfast.




Simit (similar to sesame bagel) is a very popular snack for breakfast. Most people who go to work every morning, will grab a simit on the way to work and eat it with hot tea for breakfast. Students also tend to purchase simit for a quick breakfast. My first and only attempt to make simit at home resulted in failure. Although, when I have some time, I will put my hands to work until I get it right.

Above are some pictures of a typical Turkish breakfast. The breakfast I have set up is very traditional, however does not include everything I have mentioned above. One by one, I would like to describe each of the items in the pictures. I will use the first picture to describe each item.
In the middle of the picture, we have boiled eggs with toasted bread in the plate. This bread is not the traditional bread we eat in Turkey, but since Turkish bread is not available here, we consume this multigrain bread. However, I am including pictures of homemade (after a couple unsuccessful attempts) Turkish flat bread (pide ekmeği) and Turkish somun bread below that are eaten at breakfast. I will post recipes for these breads at another date.

Turkish Flat Bread (Pide Ekmeği)

Turkish Somun Bread (Somun Ekmeği)

To the right of the red plate is Turkish tea, in a slim belly glass which is very traditional. I personally do not get the taste of tea, unless I drink my tea in these glasses. Right above the tea is apricot jam. Straight above the jam is “yayık tereyağı” which is butter that is strained from fresh yogurt. In some parts of Turkey it can be made from milk. For centuries, women in villages have made this kind of butter. It used to be rarely found in supermarkets since commercial butter has taken their place on the shelves. I used to watch my late grandmother when she used to make this butter at home. She used to have a wooden, cylinder shaped item where she would place the yogurt and then shake it vigorously until the butter separated from yogurt. This butter is in its most natural form; no chemicals or any foreign ingredients. It is the tastiest butter I have ever tasted. I guess it is not surprising since it is all natural. I found this type of butter (made from milk instead of yogurt) at the local Turkish market a few months ago and I was very surprised as I did not realize that it was sold in markets. To tell the truth, my grandmother’s butter was much better, but this particular one is still preferable to the other commercial butter that is so detrimental to our health. I actually looked at the ingredients of this butter when I purchased it and it had only two ingredients; milk cream and milk culture.

To the left of the butter, fried potatoes are waiting quietly in a small plate. Straight above the potatoes, a plate full of Turkish sausage, white cheese and kaşar cheese. White cheese is very similar to feta cheese, but I think it’s a little creamier. It can be produced from cow’s or sheep’s milk. No breakfast is complete without white cheese in Turkey. Kaşar cheese is a yellowish cheese that reminds me of swiss cheese. Usually, it is made out of sheep’s milk.

To the left of the sausage and cheese plate is a plate full of black olives. Either green or black olives accompany every Turkish breakfast. Dressing olives is a very common practice even for breakfast. I will post some dressed olive recipes sometime in the future. Below the olives is a pan with a vegetable omelet. Usually “menemen” replaces this omelet, but again it is a matter of preference. That morning, we felt like having an omelet with the veggies we had available in the fridge.

In the left of the omelet is a box of helva with pistachios. This is a sweet that can be based on flour or semolina. Above the helva is a plate of sliced tomato slices with some peppers. The day I set up this breakfast, I did not have any cucumbers on hand, so just imagine that there are fresh, sliced cucumbers next to the tomatoes.

Right below the helva is honey that came with me all the way from Turkey. This honey is produced by my father’s bees that he raises as a hobby. It does taste much better than the commercial honey.

Breakfasts, especially weekend breakfasts are always eaten together with family in Turkey. That is something I look forward to when I visit Turkey. During the summer months, I especially enjoy my mother-in-law’s breakfast which is very rich in variety, set up in the middle of a rose garden, under the shade of an arched pergola covered in bougainvillea vine. It did not take me long to figure out the reason behind my husband’s wanting to have a big breakfast every Saturday and Sunday. Although, we do not have the beautiful setting of his front yard in Turkey, we have the food and each other. Our longest and most useful conversations occur during breakfast and afterwards while sipping our tea. During the week, we have a banana, an apple and some other fruits that are in season such as orange or strawberries for breakfast which we eat at work. Therefore, the weekend breakfast is something we both look forward to.

Note: The picture on the top of my blog behind the title shows a typical Turkish breakfast. My sister-in-law prepared this inviting breakfast table at her house when I visited her in Ankara, Turkey last summer.

Borek with Spicy Cheese (Çökelek Böreği)

Now that I have posted the recipe for çökelek, finally I am able to post this börek recipe. This is one of my favorite böreks. Börek is a type of pastry that is made out of yufka or phyllo dough and stuffed with meat, vegetables or cheese that goes back to the Ottoman Empire era. Börek can range in variety and style depending on the region. In the Hatay/Antakya region, there are other types of stuffed dough that are also called börek. Turkey is so rich in food culture that even regions within the same province may have different types of food and style of making them.

Back home, in afternoon tea gatherings, börek is a favorite snack served along with Turkish tea. It can also be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It’s perfect for any time of day.



1 package Yufka-thin dough (similar to phyllo dough only thicker-available in Mediterranean grocery stores)
2 Çökelek balls (see Çökelek recipe under Breakfast section of my blog)
4 eggs
¾ cup fresh parsley
1 small onion (finely chopped)
1 cup yogurt
¾ cup olive oil
1 ½ tsp salt

Crumble the çökelek and place in a large bowl. Add the onions, parsley, eggs, salt and only 3 tbsp of the olive oil. Mix well. In a separate small bowl, mix the yogurt and the rest of the olive oil. Grease a large Pyrex dish or a tray. Place one sheet of the yufka and dip into the yogurt & olive oil mixture and brush all over the yufka. Cover every part of the yufka with this mixture. Place another sheet and follow the same process. Use half of the yufkas (usually there are 5-6 of yufkas in a package) brushing them with the yogurt & olive oil mixture. Place the filling and spread evenly on the yufkas to cover the inside. Cover with another layer of the yufka and brush with the yogurt & oil mixture. Follow this process until all the yufkas are used up and fold toward the inner part of the pyrex dish if the yufkas have extra dough on the sides. This will not take long if you use the Turkish yufkas since each package has only 5-6. If you are not able to find yufka, you may use the phyllo dough which has many more thin sheets of dough.

Bake at 350º until the borek is golden brown.




Cool and cut in squares.


Serve at room temperature and enjoy with Turkish tea as a snack, lunch or dinner.