Turkish Meat Gozleme

Every country has their own recipe of stuffed bread. This is one of the best. I normally do not like Turkish food. I feel it is too bland. But this recipe and the dish are awesome. My family loved it. I am going to be making more variations of it in near future :)

The original recipe is from here

Turkish Meat Gozleme (Meat stuffed bread pocket)

Meat and Spinach Gozleme

Ingredients

Gozleme Pastry

1. 3 cups all purpose 
2. 3 tablespoon  extra virgin olive oil
3. water
4. 1/2-3/4 tsp salt

Spiced lamb

1. 1 tbsp olive oil
2. 2 garlic cloves , minced
3. 1 onion , finely chopped
4. 1 lb beef or lamb mince (ground)
5. 1/2 cup frozen spinach squeezed of all water or  3 oz baby spinach
6. 1 teaspoon each of  cumin powder, paprika
7. 3/4 tsp each salt and pepper
8. 4 oz  feta cheese (I got Mediterranean blend)

Filling:

Cook beef in a hot pan without oil (if it has more than 90% fat) else add 1 teaspoon oil, breaking it up as you go.

Add cumin, paprika, cayenne (if using), salt, pepper and water. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add spinach, stir until wilted.

Cool before using.

Add the salt to the flour and add water to it as needed to make the dough. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the dish you made the dough and start kneading it for 5 minutes. Repeat 2 more times with the remaining oil until the dough becomes pliable, and smooth. If you have a hand mixer, mix the dough for 7 minutes.

Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle work surface with flour. Cut dough into 4 pieces.

Roll out into 35cm/14" x 20cm/8" rectangle.

Add the filling to the dough and sprinkle with feta cheese and close the edges.

Heat a griddle and add some oil to it. Fry the Gozleme for 3 minutes on each side. Enjoy

Confetti Soup

This soup is super delicious an looks pretty too and one of the healthy soups you would eat. I made this soup to serve with my chicken stuffed bread

Confetti Soup (Broccoli and carrot soup)

Confetti soup

Soup and chicken stuffed bread

 Ingredients:

1. 4 cups broccoli florets
2. 1 cup chopped carrot
3. 1/2 cup chopped onion
4. 2 large or 4 small garlic pods
5. 1 chicken buillion
6. 2 tablespoons each of flour, butter
7. 1 tablespoon olive oil
8. 1/2 teaspoon garlic
9. 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
10. 2 cups milk
11. 1 cup water

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions for 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and carrot and cover and cook for 8 minutes. Add garlic and cover and cook for 2 more minutes. Let cook and grind to a small coarse pieces.

In the same pan heat the butter and fry the flour stirring continuously for 3 minutes on medium low heat. Add heated milk and water to it and mix until there are no more lumps. Add the ground paste and everything else and simmer for 10-15  minutes. Give it a taste test and adjust the salt. Serve with breadsticks 

Chicken stuffed bread

Long long time ago I made stromboli...at that time I was a novice at baking and I felt it was very difficult to knead the dough and all. But now I have become a pro - baking things for kids lunches every single week.

So, today I made buffalo chicken stuffed garlic bread and man its delicious. And I made green and orange confetti soup to go with it. The combination was sooo filling and great on a cold night. SO here you go

Chicken stuffed bread (Shredded chicken stuffed in bread and baked)

Turkey Stromboli with caramelized onions and mushrooms

Ingredients:
For Shredded chicken:

1. 1 chicken breast butterflied
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, lemon pepper, ground cumin
3. 1 teaspoon garlic powder, onion powder, coriander powder

Sprinkle the chicken with all the ingredients and set aside for atleast 15 minutes. Spray a pot with tight fitting lid with cooking spray. On medium heat fry the chicken on each side for 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup hot water to the pot and reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered for 8-10 minutes. Drain, let cool and shred

recipe for dough

After the dough is ready, divide the it into 2 part. roll the dough on a clean counter until it is 12 inch thick and 8x6 flat. Spread half of the chicken, top with it 1/2 cup mexican 3 cheese blend, roll the edges 1/2 inch and the roll it the longer side. Put it on a prepared baked sheet seam side down. Poke the bread a few times.

NOTE: for spice loving adults, I added 1/2 cup spicy salsa to the shredded chicken before using it to top the dough

Set it in a warm place for 20 minutes.

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Brush the bread with 2 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic and 1/4 teaspoon salt

One other way of shredding chicken

Ingredients for Turkey Stromboli with caramelized onions and mushroom:

1. Oven roasted deli turkey
2. 1/2 cup  onions chopped
3. 4 oz button/cremini mushrooms sliced
4. 1 teaspoons olive oil
5.  for filling along with turkey provolone cheese and feta cheese

In a pan heat the oil and add the onions and mushrooms and cook on low heat for 7-8 minutes. Let cool and assemble the stromboli with laters of turkey , cheese, little marinara sauce, some onions and mushrooms and repeat. Make into stromboli, let rest for 20 minutes and bake and enjoy with marinara sauce on the side

Tuna buns

The trip to Hawaii was a memorable one. It was one of the most relaxing vacations we have taken in a very long time. The sunrise was awesome, but I didn't get to see the sunset. One of the things on my bucket list is, to see sunrise from the water and the sunset into the water on the same day. That didn't happen on this trip.

Anyway, on one of those days on Oahu, we went to get breakfast and there were these tuna filled buns which I had to try. I am not a big fan of fish and fish for breakfast was just weird. But I had to try it cause I wasn't sure we will be back at that place again.

I have never eaten something so good. The bun was super soft and the tuna salad inside was delicious. So I made it and they turned out great. My kids loved it...which shows the success of any recipe.

The original recipe is from Cucumbertown.com

Tuna buns

Tuna Buns (Fresh baked buns with Tuna filling inside)

Tuna stuffed bun

Ingredients:

1. 1 package dry yeast
2. 1/2 cup warm water
3. 1/2 cup each of milk, oil, sugar
4. 3 cups all purpose flour
5. 1 egg beaten 

Tuna Filling Ingredients:

1. 2 can tuna drained
2. 1/4 cup each of sweet relish, mayonnaise
3. 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients for the tuna filling and set aside until ready to use

Add the yeast to the warm water and 2 teaspoon sugar and set aside for 10 minutes.

Heat the milk to warm and add sugar oil and salt and mix till sugar dissolves. Add 1 cup all purpose flour and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the beaten egg and yeast mixture and the remaining flour and mix well with your hands. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Oil and bowl and leave the kneaded dough in it covered with a kitchen towel in a warm place for about and hour or until the dough doubles.

Once it doubles punch the dough down and divide it into 12 equal parts. Flatten them into about 5 inch discs, add a heaped teaspoon of tuna filling and reshape them into balls. (My tuna filling was enough for 8 buns) (The rest I filled it up with a teaspoon each of strawberry jam in 2 and peach jam in 2). Leave the buns aside for 20 minutes

Pre heat the oven to 325 degrees. Bake the buns for 20-25 minutes. After 20 minutes brush the buns with white egg wash and sprinkle with dried oregano and bake for 2-3 more minutes until golden brown. Let it cool for atleast 5 minutes before serving

Strawberry jam filled bun