My two-week series on Turkish food draws to a close with this sweet poached pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi. When I received a small pumpkin in my weekly CSA delivery last week, I flipped through my Turkish cookbook and found the inspiration I needed. This poached pumpkin recipe is delicious and a perfect dessert idea for upcoming Halloween or Thanksgiving celebrations.

When it comes to pumpkin, I don’t think I’m alone in this. I’ve come to realize that pumpkin is an ingredient which I don’t give much respect. Never do I use it in its natural form but instead only when it’s pureed (and nearly always from a can). I love that this recipe celebrates pumpkin and allows it to shine.

The magic of this recipe is that the pumpkin gives off its natural juices which are then used to make a poaching liquid. The recipe is a simple ratio of sugar and pumpkin, 1 part sugar 2 parts pumpkin. You can season with cloves and I like the addition of lemon for a subtle zing.

Poached Pumpkin (Kabak Tatlisi)
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Turkey

4 cups pumpkin (peeled, seeded, cubed)
2 cups sugar
1 lemon, juiced
5 cloves
1/2 cup walnuts

Cut the pumpkin cubes into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes. Place pumpkin into a small pan. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Cover the pan and allow to sit for 3-4 hours. The sugar will draw out an amazing amount of liquid from the pumpkin.

When I uncovered the pan 4 hours later, the liquid had covered the pumpkin. Place on a medium burner and bring to a simmer. Add the cloves and lemon juice. Cook for 20-25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. During the last 5 minutes the pumpkin color will change and will take on a bright orange ‘candied’ look. Remove from heat.

Serve in bowls along with the syrup. Crush walnuts over the top. Grab a spoon and dig in!

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the poached pumpkin. The cloves give a nice spicy warmth to the syrup. The pumpkin flavor is mellow (and thoroughly delicious).

Soon it will be Halloween and everyone will be buying pumpkins from the market. During Halloween, we carve pumpkins for decoration and don’t even use their flesh. After eating this dessert it’s sad to see so much good pumpkin wasted for the holiday. I would much rather eat a bowlful of this than have a carved pumpkin on my doorstep. :-)

With my Turkish series drawing to a close, does anyone have a suggestion for what region or ethnic cuisine I explore next? Leave me a comment and let me know what you’d like to learn more about.

One of my favorite aspects of Turkish cuisine is the use of nuts in both sweet and savory recipes. In the United States, we typically use nuts on for snacking or in desserts so when walnuts are ground with garlic and mixed with chicken, my eyes open wide and my mouth begins to get excited. The resulting dish is fragrant and flavorful, awakening all of your senses.

Doesn’t it look a little bit like a chicken volcano? My photo doesn’t look as sophisticated as the one in the cookbook but I’ve convinced myself that the rustic look of mine is far more appealing. Once plated, the Cerkez Tavugu is drizzled with a melted butter and paprika mixture. The contrast in colors is beautiful but as I drizzled it down the sides I flashed back to a 4th grade science project where I made something similar but much less edible.

This is my favorite Turkish dish so far – the Cerkez Tavugu is amazing. The pale color is deceptive and makes the dish look bland and possibly uninteresting, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The first bite sent a shock wave through my body. You are hit by the garlic instantly then the subtle chicken and walnuts take over. The texture is surprisingly light and somewhat creamy.

Nuts are something which evoke comfort for me. My childhood was filled with harvesting nut trees on our farm and storing them for later use throughout the winter. They were used in all sorts of cakes, muffins, pancakes, and pies but I wish we had known then what I know now. There are so many uses for nuts for me to explore. Not only is the history of nuts lengthy it is filled with a rich heritage of how they’ve been used by cultures throughout the world.

Cerkez Tavugu makes perfect use of tender and rich walnuts. Cenk and Farida both confirmed that this is a much-loved Turkish dish. Although it can be served on its own, you can also serve crusty chunks of bread or even rice alongside of it. I opted to use a crispy pugliese bread.

The dish begins by poaching a small chicken and making a chicken stock. This process is the piece which takes the most time but does yield the best flavor and texture in the chicken. Alternatively, I can image you could poach chicken breasts and use a prepared stock to reduce the time needed to make this dish.

Chicken with Walnuts (Cerkez Tavugu)
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Turkey

1 3-4lb chicken, trimmed of excess fat
4 slices day-old bread, crusts removed
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 cup walnuts
4 garlic cloves

For the stock
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
4 cloves
4 allspice berries
6 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley, tied

For the garnish
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon paprika (or kirmizi biber)
cilantro (coriander) leaves

Place the chicken and stock ingredients into a large stockpot. Add just enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cover the pot – simmer for about an hour. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool until you are able to work with it. Bring the stock to a boil and cook for an additional 15 minutes until reduced. Remove from heat.

Using your fingers or forks, remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Remove the meat and shred into thin strips. Place the meat into a large mixing bowl.

To a small bowl, add the torn up or cubed day-old bread. I didn’t have any old bread on hand so I placed fresh bread into a 250F oven for 15 minutes to dry it out. Add the milk to the bread. It will take a few minutes for the bread to fully absorb all of the milk.

Now it’s time to mash the walnuts and garlic. You are trying to create a uniform paste and can do so with either a mortar and pestle or a food processor. I don’t have a mortar that is large enough, so I opted to use a small food processor (a major time saver as well).

Next, it’s time to begin mixing ingredients together to form the cerkez tavugu. Begin by beating the soaked bread into the nut mixture. The milk and nuts will form a thick and creamy fragrant mixture. Add the chicken to the nut mixture and mix until just combined. Beat in a ladle or two of warm chicken stock until the mix becomes light and fluffy. I estimate that I used about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of stock in total.

Spoon the mixture onto a serving platter and sprinkle with fresh cilantro leaves. Melt the butter and stir in paprika, then drizzle over the cerkez tavugu. Serve at room temperature.

This recipe would be perfect for entertaining and I know my friends would love it. As you can see from the recipe, it uses a large amount of raw garlic so anyone bothered by raw garlic should avoid it. I have seen on a few blogs lately where it’s mentioned that removing the green center of each garlic clove reduces indigestion issues for many people.

I have one more Turkish recipe to come this week, a simple dessert that is timely for our upcoming Fall holidays. Stay tuned — more on that tomorrow!

Sigara boregi literally translates to ‘cigarette pastry’, a shape common in Turkey and filled with either sweet or savory mixtures. The cigarette shape is familiar to me as I have made egg rolls, lumpia, and spring rolls all of which are a variation on the cigarette shape but using different types of wrappers. For this recipe, I used phyllo dough and I am thrilled with how the pastries turned out.

The dough used to make these pastries can vary from a traditional yufka to phyllo or puff pastry. Yufka (somewhat thicker than phyllo) can be hard to located in the United States so I opted to use phyllo. While some people swear by phyllo, others tend to swear *at it*. Phyllo sheets are thin and can be temperamental, especially if you are not prone to having a gentle touch.

I based this recipe on one found in a Turkish cookbook which used a meat filling in a tepsi (a deep tray-shaped pan). In the original recipe, you layer the pan with phyllo and the meat filling to create a sort of pie. It seemed easy enough but I really wanted to try using the filling for individual sized pastries. I have a strange fetish for serving-sized foods. If I could eat finger food for every meal, I would be more than happy.

Sigara Boregi With Minced Meat

Meat Filling
adapted from Layered Minced Meat and Pine Nut Pie, The Food and Cooking of Turkey

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons pine nuts
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Wrapping
1 egg
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons milk
1 lb phyllo sheets (about 18)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Heat olive oil in a large skillet and add the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion begins to soften, then add minced garlic and pine nuts. Saute for an additional 1-2 minutes or until pine nuts begin to turn golden.

Add ground beef to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add cinnamon, oregano and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, then set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, olive oil and milk. This mix will be slightly thick and will be used to moisten the phyllo dough.

Take a sheet of phyllo dough and lay it out on a flat surface with the longest side facing you. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with a moist towel until ready to use. Lightly brush the left half of the phyllo with the egg mixture. Gently lift the right side of the phyllo and fold it over the left side. The phyllo dough will now to half the size of when you started and you will now have the shortest side facing you.

Brush the top of the phyllo with the egg mixture. Take 1/4 cup of the beef mixture (make sure it has cooled) and place it 2 inches in from the nearest edge of the phyllo and leave 2 inches of spaces on either side of the meat. The meat mixture is placed nearest to you as you will begin rolling it away from you. Don’t worry if some of the phyllo sheets have small tears in them. My package had a few damaged pieces and they worked just fine.

Fold in each of the long sides by 2 inches. Beginning at the edge closest to you, fold the narrow end over the meat mixture. Continue rolling the dough away from you as you form a cigarette shaped roll. When you are nearing the end, brush the final 2 inches with the egg mixture. Fold the roll over this final bit of dough to seal it. Place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Next time I will remember to take a photograph of these rolling steps. As I’m writing it, I realize how hard it is to convey the rolling technique. Surprisingly, it’s quite easy to do.

Before baking, brush the tops and sides of each roll with more of the egg mixture. Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

The sigara boregi turned out beautifully. I loved the shape and color, especially the decoration of sesame seeds on top. Remember to let them cool before biting into one … it’s difficult to wait, but you risk burning your mouth otherwise. I always learn the hard way :-)

My only complaint is that the mixture is a little too meaty for me. I like the combination of spices but wanted something sweet to compliment the meat and give it a contrasting flavor. I might try bits of diced dried apricots or raisins as I think the sweetness would work well.

Minced meat is only one of many possible fillings for these pastries including feta, potatoes or other vegetables so let your imaginations run wild!

UPDATE 9/30/08: Kat from A Good Appetite made this recipe and also created a Chicken version with golden raisins. She also provides photos showing how to roll the phyllo cigars which is helpful. They look and sound wonderful!

This versatile flat bread (gozleme) is common to many parts of Turkey and is often made at home but can also be found in cafes. Creamy spinach wrapped by grilled flat bread — sound delicious? I don’t want to give away the ending to this post but let’s just say it is worth making again. But, if you’re one of those people who doesn’t care for spinach there are many different ways you can fill the flat bread: minced beef and pine nuts, eggs, shredded chicken, etc.

I am enjoying the Turkish cookbook and the picture of these Turkish flat breads made me instantly hungry. I love bread in all of its glorious forms, especially when grilled or fried. The creamy spinach filling looked good too, but for me this recipe is all about the bread.

Spinach-Filled Flat Bread
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Turkey

Flat Bread

1 1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra for dining
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
scant 1/2 cup water

Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Use your fingers to create a small well in the center of the flour. Add the water and oil to the well. Using your fingers, begin stirring in the center of the well and slowly move outward until all of the flour in combined.

When the dough forms and the flour is integrated, tip the dough onto a flat surface and knead until smooth (about 3 minutes or so). Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll into small balls. Place on a floured surface and cover with a moist towel for 30 minutes. While the dough rests, begin making the spinach filling.

Spinach Filling

10 oz. fresh spinach
1 tablespoon butter
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon paprika
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan (or kasar peynir)
salt and pepper to taste
4 boiled eggs, peeled and sliced

Place the spinach in a steamer and steam until spinach wilts. Remove the spinach and run under cold water, then drain and squeeze dry. Roughly chop the spinach. ‘Roughly’ sounds so abusive. Don’t abuse your spinach but instead chop it into large pieces.

Melt butter in a small pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook for about 2 minutes or until softened. Stir in the spinach, paprika and red pepper flakes. Next, add the flour and milk, stirring until the mix thickens. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.

Grilling the Flat Bread

Working on a lightly floured surface, roll each dough ball into a circle 6-8″ in diameter. Heat a griddle over medium to medium-high heat and brush will a little olive oil once it is hot. Depending on the size of your griddle, place 1-2 flat bread onto the griddle and cook for about 1 minute on the first side. You will see bubbles in the dough as it begins to puff up. Brush with a bit of olive oil, then flip the bread. Cook for an additional 1-2 on the second side. Place cooked flat breads on a piece of parchment paper.

While still hot, place some of the spinach mixture down the center of the flat bread and top with slices of boiled eggs. Roll up the sides of the flat bread and wrap with parchment to make it easier to eat. Repeat with remaining flat breads.

We enjoyed these alot and can see how they would make for a perfect mid-day lunch. The spinach is creamy and savory, a simple and delicious filling. The eggs were added in order to bulk this up to a dinnertime meal. The parchment wrapping made it so much easier to eat as the filling would have slid out otherwise.

In case you have any leftover flat bread (or wish to bypass the spinach), you can simply drizzle the hot bread with honey, a few crushed pistachios and a pinch of cinnamon. It makes for a simple and amazing sweet treat. In retrospect, I could have made a meal of the sweet version instead and been a happy man!

Apparently, I’m not the only blogger who has come across this wonderful dish. Nearly all of the english recipes I found online for ispanakli gozleme were based on this same recipe from the cookbook I purchased. Gozleme are versatile and can have many ingredients aside from spinach – you’ll find more beautiful gozleme here and here. And of course, you can gain more inspiration for Turkish cuisine from Cenk of Cafe Fernando.

This past week I’ve had a craving for Turkish food. The interesting twist is that I’m not all that familiar with food from Turkey. In my mind, I think of it as being warm, savory and sweet, slightly spicy. I picture sticky desserts, rose water, pistachios, spicy kebabs, and yogurt sauces. Many of my uneducated perceptions are close to the mark, but as I begin to explore the food of Turkey I am finding so many new and interesting dishes.

Today, I am featuring a recipe for small fried rolls made from a mixture of pine nuts, herbs, dried apricots, red chili, sweet potato, onion, and chickpeas. The tender rolls are served with a tangy mint yogurt dipping sauce. Perfect for an appetizer or light meal, we ate these delicious rolls tonight for dinner along with a tomato salad.

I’ve been thinking about Turkish food this past week and researching the web to learn more. I wasn’t finding as much information as I’d hoped, so I ran to the bookstore to immerse myself in the 3 Turkish cookbooks carried at Barnes & Noble. One book, The Food and Cooking of Turkey stood out from the rest and provided a brief culinary history of Turkey along with information on essential ingredients and beautifully photographed recipes.

Flipping through the book, I came across many recipes that immediately intrigued me and I started quickly bending the corners of pages. I kept coming back to a particular recipe every time I picked up the book. Originally called ‘Carrot and Apricot Rolls’, the recipe noted that carrots could be substituted with sweet potato or white potatoes along with different seasonings. The rolls are native to Istanbul and Izmir and rarely found elsewhere.

Sweet Potato & Apricot Rolls
adapted from The Food and Cooking of Turkey
1 sweet potato
1 cup canned chickpeas
4 green onions
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
4 tablespoons pine nuts
1 fresh red chili
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper
1 egg
1-2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour
light vegetable oil for frying

Mint Yogurt Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 cup finely sliced fresh mint
juice of 1/2 lemon

Combine yogurt sauce ingredients and place in refrigerator while you prepare the rolls.

Peel the sweet potato and slice into 1/2″ thick slices. Place into a glass bowl with 1/4″ water and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl into a microwave for 3-6 minutes or until completely tender. Remove and drain. Mash the sweet potato until smooth.

Add Chickpeas to the sweet potato mixture and mash to combine. Stir in the green onions, apricots, pine nuts, red chili, dill and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the egg and stir to combine. Add 1 cup breadcrumbs. If the mixture is still quite wet, add additional bread crumbs until it is only slightly tacky to the touch.

The mixture will make 16 rolls, each about 3″ long. I took the mixture out of the bowl and placed onto a cutting board. I flattened into a dish, then cut into eight wedges. I picked up each wedge and split into two portions. Rolling each portion between your hands, create a short log that is 3″ in length. Dust a surface with 1/2 cup flour. Roll each log gently across the flour to give a light coating.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan, one with thick sides and bottom will work best. I used about a 1/2″ of oil in the bottom of the pan. Place rolls into the hot oil and fry for about 8 minutes, turning every few minutes so they become golden brown on all sides. Remove from oil and place onto paper towel to remove excess oil.

Serve hot with the yogurt dipping sauce.

The rolls are crispy on the outside and tender inside. The flavors mix so nicely, a sweet and gentle tartness from the apricots mixed with the lemony garlic and mint yogurt sauce. The sweet potato and chickpeas worked well together and carry the flavors of basil and dill nicely. The rolls are so good and really not that hard to make. The list of ingredients is long but don’t let it intimidate you!

I plan to feature more Turkish recipes in the week ahead as I continue to explore new ingredients and techniques. What is your favorite Turkish dish or a Turkish food you’d like to try?