Halva di Semola / Semolina Cake

As a child brought up in the 70's if anyone would ask me what I remember most about school meals, the first thing that would come to mind is semolina, hot semolina served with a dollop of jam and a biscuit on the side. This was the only way I knew how to eat semolina. Amir had never eaten it this way before and I had never eaten it the way his Mum makes it. I was astonished to see a cake like shape come out of the fridge made of semolina. It turns out that my children love it and I often make this sephardie style dessert especially during the summer months as it has such a delicate cool texture and taste and with non baking wholesome ingredients it's a winner all round. The traditional Turkish way of making semolina is fried, this is also very tasty indeed but naturally harsher on the calories.

Halva di Semolina

6 glasses of liquid (eg. 3 glasses milk, 3 glasses water)

equal to approx 1.5 litres

Just under 1 and a half glasses of sugar

equal to approx 250g

1 glass of semolina

equal to approx 200g

Cinnamon

If you use the same glass throughout, the weight measurement will make no difference. You may prefer more or less sweet.

Place milk, water, sugar & semolina in to a saucepan and boil on a low heat stirring constantly until thick.

Prepare your cake tin by dripping a little water in the bottom, this allows the cake to come out easily from the tin without sticking. I use a loaf tin 13x24cm but any shape tin or baking dish will do.

Pour the thick semolina mixture in to the tin and leave to cool. 

When cooled, place in the fridge to chill.

Ease sides away from the tin and give a little shake. Place serving dish on top of the tin and turn upside down.

Slice & serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.

I have also experimented with this dish by pouring half the amount of semolina in the dish then mixing kakoa powder in the second half and pouring it on top. When chilled it has the two colours, however, eaten plain with cinnamon is our favourite.

 Kavrulmuş irmik / irmik helvası (Turkish style)

3 tablespoons of oil

1 glass of semolina (200g)

Pin nuts, as much or as little as you wish, I usually put approx 2 tablespoons.

300 ml milk

Half a glass of sugar (100g)

Place oil, semolina and pine nuts in a frying pan, heat and stir constantly until brown. keep on a low heat.

Add the milk and place a lid on top of the pan.

Cook on a gentle heat until milk has absorbed.

Add the sugar, mix and turn off the heat.

Serve warm and add cinnamon if you wish.

Bamya / Okra / Lady's Fingers

Walking through the streets of Burgaz fill my senses to full capacity, especially along the busy back street where most of the shops are. There aren't many shops but perhaps just enough to serve those who are resident. The fruit and vegetable stores always catch my eye, it amazes me how their displays are arranged so perfectly piled up like a game of Jenga and the fresh vibrant colours make you feel healthy just looking at them.

I sometimes used to walk with Amir's Mum to buy groceries. One evening she wanted to buy okra. She asked the vegetable seller “bamya taze mi?” “ Are the Okra fresh?” I thought it was rather a pointless question as surely the seller wouldn't reply “no, they are all stale.” Then, shortly after that, she asks “incir güzel mi?” “Are the figs nice”? “Tabi tabi,” “of course” he replies,  I was giggling to myself almost willing the man to say “no, they are horrible.”

The same evening, after we had finished our dinner, Amir's Mum drank her coffee and smoked her cigarette then sat outside on the balcony with a bowl of okra on her lap and an empty bowl on the table. She then began preparing the vegetable to cook the following morning, peeling each individual one. I thought to myself how much easier it was in England to buy vegetables ready prepared, ready cut, ready sliced and even ready washed (but never as tasty!)

The following evening, Amir's Mum served the cooked okra and as she put the dish on the table she said the word “sheheyanu.” This was then echoed around the table “evet” “yes” “sheheyanu.” I thought to myself could this vegetable have so many names? Okra, bamya, lady's fingers and now they are calling it sheheyanu. I then learnt that it is a Hebrew word used when eating something for the first time in the year. Fruits and vegetables are eaten seasonally in Turkey. It's like a blessing.

It was the first time I had tried okra. It didn't look terribly appetising, it had a kind of slimy texture to it and the inside was very gooey but there was something about it I liked.

It is quite difficult to find fresh okra in regular high street supermarkets here, so we usually buy it in a jar but still re-cook to add flavour.

1 650g Jar of okra

1 tablespoon of oil

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

Half a lemon

half a glass of water

1 teaspoon of sugar (more if required to taste)

sprinkling of salt

Pour all contents of the jar into a saucepan including the juice and any tomatoes from the jar.

Add the juice of the lemon and the rest of the above. Do not stir as mixture will become mushy.

Leave to cook until the water has reduced and you are left with a thick sauce.
If you can find and want to cook fresh you will need to sit with a bowl of approximately 500g of okra on your lap and one bowl on the table. Peel gently around the top of every one. Don't cut too deep or you will cause the inside to ooze out. 
You can add a fresh tomato and cook as above for longer until they are soft and you are left with the thick sauce.

some vegetables sold in Burgaz

Borekitas - Savoury Pastries

It's been a while since I've written on my blog. The main reason being that I have had the pleasure of my Mother-in-Law staying with us for 5 weeks.

Whilst she was here, I took the opportunity to ask her to teach me how to make my ultimate favourite Sephardi pastries, borekitas. I have made a similar version to this in the past, called tapada, it's basically a large version of borekitas made with a lot less fuss fiddling around rolling individual parcels. I had tried and failed on so many occasions to make borekitas and what ever I did, they would just fall apart.

We organised ourselves to put aside a morning dedicated to baking. When I came home from the school run all the ingredients were on the table top ready to start. I told her that I needed to write down everything she is doing and the correct quantity. She told me that there is no correct quantity, she just bakes by eye. I explained that I couldn't write a recipe based on how it looks, I needed to write by weight and measurement. We started preparing the ingredients and whilst I was writing her instructions she started pouring the flour in the pan to make the pastry. I yelled out  "WAIT, how much flour did you put in the mixture?" she said "I don't know, I just put like that". She started kneading the pastry and told me "you can tell when the pastry is ready when the texture feels like your ear lobe". I then asked her if she had ever read a recipe in her life where it was written... put as much flour in until it looks right and knead it well until it feels like your ear lobe! She began to laugh but all joking aside, I had given up writing down the recipe. I told her that I would have to make them myself another time with her guidance so I could write down correct quantities. She still couldn't quite grasp the fact that anyone would need a recipe to follow.
So finally, another day came and we made them again, this time using weight and measurement. The result was perfect. At last I had learnt to make delicious borekitas. My favourite filling is with aubergine and cheese but they are also nice with potato and cheese, or spinach.

(makes approx 20)
Half a jar of roasted aubergine (350g)
60g Feta cheese
60g Grated cheddar cheese or any hard cheese
3 Tablespoons of oil for filling
1 glass of oil for the pastry
Half a glass of water
pinch of Salt
400g Plain flour

Make the filling first by putting the aubergine in a frying pan.

Add 3 Tbls oil and cook on a low heat until the oil evaporates. Keep stirring whilst cooking otherwise the aubergine will stick to the pan.

Add the feta and the grated hard cheese, stir in until melted, then turn off the heat.

Heat oven at 180c

Now for the pastry:

In another pan pour 1 glass of oil and half a glass of water, add a sprinkle of salt and bring to boil. Once bubbling, turn off the heat.

Add the flour 100g at a time and stir in. Let the mixture cool enough to enable you to handle it. Place in a bowl and knead well.

The consistancy shouldn't feel oily, if it does then add a little more flour. 

Remember, have a feel of your ear lobe to see if the texture feels the same!

Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface ready to roll out the pastry.

Take a small handful of pastry in the palm of your hand and roll it in to a ball, then squash it down and place on the work surface. 

Start to roll the pastry, you need to aim for a kind of oval shape, nearly the length of your hand and about 2mm thick. Take a teaspoon of mixture and place in the centre of the pastry.

Roll over one end of the pastry to meet the opposite end, press the sides down well so the filling doesn't come out and with your fingers puff up the shape like a pillow. Take a clean glass and place it around the edges to slice off the excess pastry. The shape should resemble half a moon and should be plump.

Place the pastries on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Wet the top of each borekita with a little water and sprinkle grated cheese on the top.

Place in the oven and bake until golden.

These pastry parcels can be frozen unbaked. Place in the oven from Frozen.

To make tapada just divide the pastry in half, roll out and place one half at the bottom of a baking dish, put the filling on top and then cover and close with the other half of pastry to make a pie.

This is a tapada I made with aubergine and feta cheese filling.

Tip:  If you have any left over aubergine you could make a creamy salad dip. Just add yogurt, mayonaise, add a little lemon juice and garlic if you wish.

If you have any left over pastry you could make boyikos, little pastry biscuits. Just shape them in to small squares or circles, sprinkle cheese and red pepper spice on top and bake.

Passover: Dan's Meringues

Passover is almost over and I still haven't baked everything I wanted to. It seems the Sephardi recipes took major priority in the house this year as I did not have any chance to make my Mother's recipes. Her specialities were cinnamon balls, coconut pyramids and almond macaroons. I have to admit though for some reason I could never get any of these recipes to taste as good as my Mother's.
Today, I'd like to share with you a recipe that my son, Dan, makes so perfectly. Suitable for passover or at any time. I had to ask his permission of course if I could share his recipe and I'm happy to say he agreed. Dan has become an astonishing chef in the kitchen. We first noticed his talents when he began to critise us on our cooking!

Makes 12

50g Chocolate

2 Eggs

100g Sugar

Heat oven to 110c

Line baking trays with greaseproof paper.

Break up the chocolate in to a bowl and place the bowl on top of a saucepan with boiling water. Chocolate must melt until smooth.

Seperate the egg whites from the yolks and place only the whites into a mixing bowl.

Whisk well until it begins to thicken, then add sugar and carry on whisking until firm enough to form peaks.

Drizzle chocolate over the egg mixture and stir around twice to make a marble effect.

Scoop up a tablespoon of mixture and scrape off with a teaspoon on to the baking trays.

Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Turn the oven off but do not take the meringues out, leave them in for a further 15 minutes.

Take out of oven and leave to cool.

Crispy on the outside, gooey marshmallow like on the inside

(You may wish to use slightly less sugar as they do turn out very sweet)

Passover: köfte de prasa / leek meatballs

Passover brings lots of questions for me. Why do we do this? Why do we do that? I am never satisfied with the answer of "because that's what we do". I was reading the ingredients on the side of the box of matzo and it said, wheat flour and water. I couldn't understand why then we are not allowed to use normal flour in recipes as it too is made from wheat flour. It took me a phone call to someone in Turkey to be able to have that answered.
Another thing I have learnt this passover thanks to one of Amir's friends is why leeks are used in Sephardi recipes during passover.
It's appearance resembles reeds which reminds us of the parting of the Red Sea.
Köfte (meatballs) are very much a signature dish in Turkey and I remember Amir's Mum roaring with laughter when I told her I had made et toplar. Yes, Turkish friends you will understand the misinterpretation I had made. Et means meat. Toplar means balls, so you would think meatballs would be et toplar, wouldn't you? No, they are called köfte.
These leek meatballs are so delicious, I really don't understand why we only ever make them during passover.

Based on making approx 16

7 or 8 large leeks = approx 750g when cut

150g Minced meat

1 egg

1 matzo

oil

salt & pepper to season

Discard the outer layer and cut the ends off the leeks, slice length ways twice and then slice into pieces.

Wash well and leave to drain.

Boil until soft

Tightly squeeze all the excess water out of the leeks and place in a bowl.

Soak the matzo with water until soft then squeeze out the  excess water and place in the bowl with the leeks

Add minced meat, egg and seasoning.

Knead mixture together with hands 

Take small handfuls, roll and pat down to make rounded oval shapes.

Pour oil in the bottom of a large frying pan and shallow fry the leek balls until golden brown.

These can be eaten warm or cold the next day.

You can also make the above using spinach. Your guideline is approx 750g of spinach to 150g minced meat. Use the same process as above by boiling the spinach and squeezing out the water.

köfte de prasa

together with köfte kon spinaka (spinach)

Passover: Houevos Haminados / Marbled eggs

Passover and Easter more often than not, fall at the same time of year. Apart from its seasonal similarity there is also one other thing that the two festivals have in common. Eggs. 
Whilst Amir & I have been busy preparing food for passover, Dan has been enjoying Easter activities at school. These activities are centred around eggs. There is an Easter egg hunt where they search for chocolate eggs wrapped in colourful tin foil, there's the egg decorating competition and the egg rolling competition. According to google research, the egg symbolises "life" for the Christians to remember the Resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified. Eggs in the Jewish tradition however, represent mourning.
When I was a child and Easter fell at the same time as passover, I wasn't allowed to eat my chocolate Easter eggs until passover had finished, so my Mum would store them away in a cupboard until I was able to eat them. If only I had the same will power now, as I did then.
Houevos Haminados is I believe Ladino for baked eggs. I call them marbled eggs as that is the effect given after they've been cooked. Each one is unique in design and they are always a talking point at our passover meal. These eggs are supposed to be baked for hours and hours in the oven but here is the quick version which is just as effective.

The secret of this recipe is onion peel. You will need as much as possible, so start collecting it months before or perhaps ask your supermarket if you can collect some in a bag. There isn't a measurement of quantity needed. I use handfuls and handfuls.

Eggs (based on 10 eggs)

Onion peel (mostly red but mix in some brown)

1 small teaspoon of black pepper

salt

2 large tablespoons of oil

Place the onion peel in a saucepan

Bury the eggs inside the peel 

Add the oil and the seasoning

Cover with water so the eggs are just peeking

Cook for the longest possible time you can until the water has almost gone.

Whilst cooking, the eggs should crack from the heat, this is how the eggs get their marble effect. If you see that the eggs haven't cracked and the water has reduced a lot then tap each egg very lightly with a spoon, put a little more water and carry on cooking.

Eggs placed in saucepan ready

to cook.

Water reduced, white eggs turn red.

Chocolate Easter eggs - Simply no will power left!

Passover and Prasinagua

Over the next couple of weeks I will be preparing dishes for Passover. I will post recipes as and when we make them. 
It's a very busy time in the kitchen as I like to prepare ashkenazi recipes that my Mother traditionally used to make and Amir likes to cook sephardi recipes from his side of the family. 

 Passover, a time for Jewish people to remember the liberation of slavery and to remind ourselves of the suffering endured. So, I am not sure if I am supposed to feel guilty or not by immensely enjoying all the traditional biscuits and cakes baked during this festival.

My Mother-in-law will be coming to stay with us in England for 5 weeks as she does every Spring and she will be bringing something with her of great importance. Prasinagua - the best translation of this I can give is 'green growing without water'. It's written in Ladino. As Yiddish is to the ashkenazi Jews, Ladino is for the sephardi Jews. In Istanbul, Amir's Mum will go by the edge of the road side to search for wild grass. She then picks the grass and dries it. When dry, she will make little parcels with the grass and bring them to England. It amazes me that she hasn't been stopped and searched by customs who may be under the impression that she is smuggling in weed or some kind of drug! 
On arrival at home in England the first thing she does is give all of us a little bundle of grass to put in our purses or wallets. She then scatters some of the dried grass all over the hallway by the front door and tells me not to clean it up for 24hrs! She has great pleasure in giving us the parcels of grass and tells the children every year that the grass will bring good luck and prosperity in to our lives. This grass grows wild and in abundance and shows the coming of summer and so with it, it will bring an abundance of luck and prosperity in to our home, inşallah, we hope.
In Greek the word prasino means green and one of the recipes we traditionally eat over passover is meatballs containing leeks. Leeks in Turkish is pirasa. So there is a connection with the meaning of prasinagua.
So, to all of you who celebrate Passover and all of you who don't, I wish you prosperity, luck and all good things to enter your homes and in to your lives.
I look forward to sharing our Passover recipes with you. XXXX

This is a bundle of grass still kept in my purse from last year.

*I will welcome any other information about prasinagua and please let me know if any corrections are needed.*