My Favorite Recipes Collection: July 2022

Gözleme is a savory Turkish stuffed turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama but is lightly brushed with butter or oil, whereas bazlama is prepared without fat. The dough is rolled thin, then filled with various toppings, sealed, and cooked over a griddle. Gözleme may sometimes be made from prepackaged hand-rolled leaves of yufka dough. Fillings for gözleme are numerous and vary by region and personal preference, and include a variety of meats (minced beef, chopped lamb, fresh or smoked seafood, sujuk, pastirma), vegetables (spinach, zucchini, eggplant, leek, chard, various peppers, onion, scallion, shallot, garlic), mushrooms (porcino, chanterelle, truffle), tubers (potatoes, yams, radish), cheeses (feta, Turkish white cheese, lavas, Beyak peynir, Cokelek, Kesserim and Kashkaval), as well as eggs, seasonal herbs, and spices. The word gözleme is derived from the Turkish word közleme, meaning "to grill/cook on the embers". This word can ultimately be traced back to Turkish word köz, meaning " ember". Due to the fact that Ottoman Turkish alphabet had no distinction between k and g sounds, it is unclear when the consonantal shift from köz to göz happened. Oldest record of the word in a Turkic language is dated back to 1477. It is first attested in Persian-Turkish dictionary Lugat-i Halimi [tr] and also found in Evliya Celbi's Sevhatname. We recently went to Turkey for vacation and were thrilled to find something vegetarian to eat there. This tasted so good with "Ayran": It is a cold savory yogurt-based beverage of yogurt and water popular across Asia and very familiar to us

Indians especially my family whose roots are based from Kutch Gujrat where this drink was often served with lunch and dinner, it is known to us as "Chhas" and very easy to make at home. It was a delight to see this in Turkey where they sell this in packed small yogurt like container and also in 1/2 gallon jugs in local grocery stores. It is very cooling and delicious. Bread is also very familiar to us as in India we make stuffed Parathas filled with variety of filling like potatoes, cheese, (paneer), cauliflower, spinach, Dikon radish, fenugreek leaves etc... ^{So as soon as I returned from our trip and as usual after coming from
vacation I always recreate the new dishes that I tried in different
countries thus reminiscing the good time. I already posted the recipes
for Turkish Delight and just like when we returned from our trip to
South America I was obsessed with recreating and perfecting vegetarian
Empanadas baking them frying them. This time I perfected this in one
trial by combining my experience with making Parathas and watching these
ladies make this in different parts of Turkey, the picture I have taken
here was us trying this for the first time in Istanbul after our
morning tour of city of Istanbul. Needless to say we had this in
basically every region of Turkey we visited. We also tried other
vegetarian dishes like Turkish Bulgar Pilaf, stuffed eggplants, the
recipes I am going to post in near future.}

Ingredients for Dough:

One cup of all purpose flour
One cup of Durum chapati flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of water

Method to make dough:

Whisk the salt and flours in electric stand mixer bowl.
Add oil and add water slowly while the stand mixer is on, knead the dough for 5 min on medium setting until the dough is smooth.
Set aside covered with plastic film.

Ingredients for filling:

4 small potatoes boiled, peeled and mashes
5 green onions with greens finely chipped
1 or one half jalapeno chopped
1 yellow sweet pepper chopped
1 red sweet pepper chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped (optional)
1/2 cup of cilantro (or can use herbs like mint, dill or parsley)
I made these twice so second time I also used 1 8 oz pack of frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained.
2 tables spoons of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon of ground black pepper

1 teaspoon of Turkish seasoning ( bought several, the one I used here was for chicken seasoning which is like garam masala, (this is optional)
1 teaspoon of Sumak (middle eastern spice)

Method to make the filling:

Mixed the boiled mashed potatoes, cheese, cilantro, and spinach if using it and all the spices with wooden spoon or hand.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, when hot, add cumin seeds, when these crackle, add chopped onions, peppers, and chopped garlic, saute for few min until translucent.
Add mashed potatoes, spice, cheese, spinach and herbs, mix well and take it off the stove and let it cool.
When cool divide the filling in four parts.

To roll the Gozleme you will need mix of rice flour and all purpose flour, rolling pin and clean counter top and to cook them you you will need a large griddle and cooking oil spray or butter or ghee.
You will need little water to brush the edges to seal the Gozleme.

Method to roll, fill and cook the Gozleme:

Knead the dough with hand and divide it in four equal parts, keep them covered while you roll one at a time.
You can roll an fill all of them at the same time and set aside or can do simultaneously rolling , filling aand cooking them on griddle.
Roll over the dough to very thin in to about 12" oval, you will need the rice flour and all purpose flour dusted on the counter top so it does not stick on counter top.
Place the filling one top half circle, spreading it evenly and leaving a half inch border to seal you can brush little water on the edges , and fold the bottom half over the top one with filling and seal by pressing firmly around the edges and also in the middle, so the filling is pressed in the dough (be careful don't press to hard, I actually used he rolling pin gently to do this)

Heat a large griddle on medium heat. ( I used two burners as I used a large rectangle griddle)

Spray the griddle with vegetable oil or brush with little butter or Ghee (whatever you choose to use, not too much though)
Carefully place the rolled Gozleme on griddle and cook one side until golden brown.
Flip it over and cook the other side, adding little more oil, butter or ghee if desires.
Cook about 2 min on each side to desired softness or crunch.
Cut in to small triangle or squares.
Serve hot with desired side and of course with "Ayran" if you like yogurt based drink !
Took me long time to post this, I am sure there may be some typos, I apologize for that in advance.

As I mentioned I made them twice and second time I added spinach in the filling, this time I was making it for party so I tripled the recipe.
However I rolled the dough in two very thing two ovals and make the put one oval on top of another and half cooked them and when cool, I placed them in parchment paper and put them in the fridge.
When I was ready to serve then I cooked them fully by brushing additional ghee an this saved me some time and also was able to have the guest enjoy hot Gozleme off the griddle.

For the party I served it with Turkish Taztziki on side and Ayrna , and when I make it at home I just serve it with either Ayran or Riata (which is an Indian yogurt side dish)
Once you make them few times, you will have your own version and your own side to serve with
In Turkey they used only all purpose flour but I combined all purpose and Durum flour, as it is easy to roll and also adds some health benefits too :)