Tag Archives: schafskäse

Around the World: Turkey – Sigara Böreği

Around the World: Turkey – Sigara Böreği
Around the World: Turkey – Sigara Böreği

Hey there!!

So today is the first day of the Turkish Week on my blog taking part in the Around the World, Week by Week – Series!

Around the World, Week by Week: Turkey: Appetizer: Sigara Böreği by gingerlemonandspice

Why did I chose Turkey as the first country to be featured?

Well, I got the chance to visit this country for two months in the summer of last year. I went there through a partnership of my university in Germany with the Ege-University of Izmir for an internship in the milk technology departement. I didn’t expect much as the turkish people living in Germany often keep very much to themselves and their culture kind of stayed a mystery to me. But boy was I wrong!

süt tecnolojisi

The people were so open and friendly – it was amazing!! Even if it was hard to communicate with some because they didn’t really speek English or German and my Turkish was well, let’s say, just not existing 😉 We got along so well using our hands to gesticulate and some google-translate for more difficult things!! The people were very hospitable and obliging and the boys real gentleman! I felt at home right away and made many great friends!!

Also I found a family there which adopted me, at least figuratively speeking 🙂 It is the family of my neighbour who died unfortunatly and very sudden two years ago. His wife went back to Turkey to stay with their son and daughter and their grandchildren who are already in their late teens. I last saw them all when I was little, they didn’t come to Germany often to visit because most of the time my neighbour and wife went to Turkey and spend some weeks each year there. So when he died everything was really quick. They gave up the house and moved back to Turkey in just like two weeks or something – a time in which I couldn’t come to my parents house to say goodbye. I had to stay and go to university. So when I found out they actually lived near Izmir and I could probably see them during my stay I got really excited!!

gingerlemonandspice

And then I finally met them and it was like coming home to your family. Everybody was kissing and hugging and I was instantly adopted as a family member! They called me their daughter, cousin and sister and it was how I felt too!! This sounds all very emotional – but it is how I felt!!

I stayed at their house, was invited to their cram-ful tables for breakfast and dinner, I  was cooking with them Turkish food and I even cooked a German dish for them at the last evening as a thank you. I guess I got some first-hand experience there 😉

gingerlemonandspice

It was awesome!! I miss them all very much!!

 

But now let’s go on to the food part! There has to be something to tell for the next days too 😉

Today is Monday, so we will have a little talk about appetizers in Turkish Cuisine. Small plates with different dishes to snack on have a long tradition in Turkey. They even have a special name for it: Meze! It is kind of like the Tapas of Turkey 🙂 You can get them in nearly every restaurant, and in the better ones you even get some for free. It can be things like a salad, bread, a joghurt dip or different spreads – it’s all possible.

Around the World, Week by Week: Turkey: Appetizer: Sigara Böreği by gingerlemonandspice

What I have here for you is Sigara Böreği, a savoury snack in the form of thin rolls. They taste a little bit salty and very crispy – once you start eating you can never stop 😉 They are really delicious and probably gone faster than anything else on a buffet!!

Here is a little picture to help you visualize what the dough sheets look like and what to do with them 🙂

Around the World, Week by Week: Turkey: Appetizer: Sigara Böreği by gingerlemonandspice

 

Have you been to Turkey yourself? Have you tried or even cooked Turkish food? What were your experiences?

I would love for you to share in the comments! 🙂

 

Sigara Böreği
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Turkish
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 package triangular shaped yufka-sheets (about 25 sheets -turkish store)
  • 300 g beyaz peynir or feta cheese
  • 1 handful of parsley, finely chopped
  • water
  • rapeseed or sunflower oil
Instructions
  1. Prepare the filling first by squishing the feta cheese or beyaz peynir as finely as you can. Mix with parsley and set aside.
  2. Arrange your workspace: Put a clean and slightly wet towel on your surface. You need a bowl with water, your filling, the yufka sheets and a clean plate in arms length!
  3. Now you can start rolling your Sigara Böreği: Place one sheet of yufka on your towel, the wide side facing towards you. Sprinkle with water, especially the sides that will be folded in!
  4. Take some of your filling (about 1 tablespoon) and distribute in a line near the end of the round side of the triangular. Fold the sides in and roll your Sigara Böreği up! Tip the pointy end of your yufka into your bowl with water and close the roll. Set aside on your plate and continue until all the yufka sheets are used up!
  5. Heat the oil in a wide pan. You need about 1 cm of oil in your pan. Use a wooden spoon to test if the oil is already hot enough. There will be bubbles forming on the spoon when you put a corner of it into the oil. When the oil is hot enough put some Sigara Böreği in. They have to be in one layer and you need a little bit of space to turn them. Turn them once after the bottom side is golden and lay them on a paper towel to drain excess oil when you take them out.
  6. Enjoy preferably with some salad or çaçik!
Notes
I have tried to make them with less oil already but the results were always a disaster! The dough was still raw inside and the outside was burned and it never got crispy and flakey.

Around the World, Week by Week: Turkey: Appetizer: Sigara Böreği by gingerlemonandspice

Afiyet olsun!!

– That means enjoy your meal in Turkish 🙂

 

Here are the other recipes I shared during this series:

An Introduction to the new series

Main Dish – Köfte, Cacık & Pirinç Pilavı

Dessert – Künefe

Drink – Ayran 

Salad – Kısır

Pastry – Kurabiye

Snack/Fast Food – Lahmacun

Guest Post – Acılı Ezme

 

~ Kathrin

Zucchini, Corn And Feta Muffins

Zucchini, Corn And Feta Muffins
Zucchini, Corn And Feta Muffins

Hello everybody!!

 Zucchini & Feta Muffins with Walnuts and Corn by ginger, lemon & spice

Sorry it took me so long to get back writing on my blog. There was so much on my plate the last 3 weeks or so… But more about that in my brandnew post later today.

Right now I want to tell you about my very first guest post!! Carrie from Chicago Foodie Sisters asked on her Facebook page if someone would be willing to share a recipe and a bit about themselves on her website. And I said yes!

Actually it then took some time until it all happened, but now I am very proud to say: It is finally up!! Hop on over and read on Chicago Foodie Sisters about my savory Zucchini and Feta Muffins with Walnuts and Corn!!

Zucchini & Feta Muffins with Walnuts and Corn by ginger, lemon & spice

I liked them so very much – they were the perfect snack through any time of the day, be it breakfast, afternoon or the middle of the night! As I knew they wouldn’t be eaten all at once I froze most of them and they were even better after thawing!! I just left them at room temperature until they weren’t frozen anymore and enjoyed them 🙂

Zucchini & Feta Muffins with Walnuts and Corn by ginger, lemon & spice

Also I tried myself on a little bit of ‘food decorating’ for this shoot – how do you like the pictures?

 

Zucchini, Corn And Feta Muffins
 
A perfect and delicious little snack, which keeps well and is ideal to put in lunchboxes or take on picnics!
Author:
Recipe type: Savory
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 2 eggs
  • 80ml (1/3 cup) oil (rapeseed or sunflower)
  • 300ml (1¼ cup) buttermilk
  • 300g (2½ cups) flour (I used half white/whole wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 100g corn* (canned or frozen)
  • 100g zucchini*, finely grated
  • 100g chopped walnuts*
  • 150g feta* in small cubes
Instructions
  1. Grease a muffin tin and put in muffin paper cups if you want. Preheat oven to 180°C (350 °F).
  2. In a bowl mix eggs, oil and buttermilk well. Add flour, salt and baking powder on top and distribute the dry ingredients a little with a spoon. Then mix wet and dry ingredients slowly until just incorporated.
  3. Add corn, zucchini and walnuts. Then fold in feta carefully with a tablespoon.
  4. You can use the spoon now to transfer the batter into the muffin cups! You can make the cups pretty full, at least in my case the muffins just rose but did not spill and sank back when cooling!
  5. Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes. Check with a wooden skewer!
  6. Enjoy!! 🙂
Notes
* I am sorry I can't tell how much of those ingredients you need in cups. Corn, walnuts and feta it is approximately 1 big handful of each and zucchini about ¾ of a smaller one.

 

 

 Zucchini & Feta Muffins with Walnuts and Corn by ginger, lemon & spice

Lots of love,

~ Kathrin

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad
Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

Hello everybody!!

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

I hope you are great, all of you? Well, I took some time off to have my second birthday party with my family and friends at home. Then I did a whole lot of nothing, resting my brain from all the work 😉 But now I am back again!! Ready to show you some more food and stories and finally being creative again! 🙂 Last night I had a great time with my godchild. She always wanted to do a sweet yeast bread with poppy seeds on her own, so we just made a date and did it!! It was very much fun and the two braided buns turned out beautifully, too!! Of course everyone had to make their own. I would love to show you a picture, but I was so very clever to bring only my camera and not my charger to my parents house and we already took too many pictures at the wild animal park we went as a family last sunday. Well, things happen 😉

With a little luck my godchild remembered to take a picture of hers when she got back to her house!! But I can’t promise. At least I can say it wasn’t very difficult at all, so maybe  I will make it again soon with proper pictures! To round up the evening we had a lot of fun eating pasta with pesto, watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in English  and laughing about the silliest scens and of course – trying the first pieces of our sweet bread!! It tasted as good as it looked!

 

Today I have a recipe of a couscous salad for you. Well, it is not any couscous salad!! As I already told you, I live in a flat with two other girls – and this is what we eat a lot. And I really mean A LOT!!! We eat it on mondays or tuesdays, for lunch or for dinner, together or seperately – just all the time!! It is soooo very quick and definitly way too delicious to not been eaten at least twice a week!! I also take it to university if I don’t have time to eat at home which works perfectly too.

I don’t want to keep you in the loop any longer!! Here you go:

 

Simple Everyday Couscous Salad

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups couscous (the easy cooking type)

4 cups boiling water

2 tea-bags (about 6-8g, or as much as you want) of mint tea – fresh might be better, but that’s all we have on hand in winter

2 teaspoons of granulated vegetable broth

1/2 cucumber (Salatgurke in German)

3-4 big tomatoes (or the equivalent in small ones)

200g feta cheese (in Germany that is one package)

about 8 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

6 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, Pepper

optional: 1 bell pepper

 

directions:

1. Put couscous, mint, vegetable broth and hot water into your salad bowl. Stir a little bit with a fork, then let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Cut cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese and bell pepper into squares.

3. If the water is soaked up by the couscous already, loosen up with a fork. If not, just wait a little bit more and then go on. Put the vegetables and feta into your bowl and continue loosing up the mixture.

4. Season with salt and pepper, be careful with the salt as the feta already is salty. Pour olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the salad and mix well. Have a taste! We never measure olive oil or vinegar, we just go on taste. So if you feel you need more of anything, just add it. I like a little tingling from the vinegar on my tounge 😉

5. Enjoy lukewarm or cold!! We usually eat this as a whole meal, but it would be great as a side dish or at a barbecue too!!

simple everyday couscous salad with tomatoes and cucumber recipe

~Kathrin