Saturday, May 31, 2008

MENEMEN





Menemen is for special breakfasts for me but it covers lunch very well with a slice of bread.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium size of onion
  • 1 medium size of jalapeño pepper
  • 3 medium size of tomatoes
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbs of vegetable oil
  • salt, black pepper
Heat a medium skillet over medium heat, add vegetable oil in it. Chop onion and pepper and add them to the skillet. Cook them until onion is just golden. Peel and chop tomatoes and add them to the skillet, stirring occasionally until the juice of tomatoes comes up. Season with salt and pepper. Crack eggs into the skillet. Reduce heat to low. Cover, cook very gently until egg whites are just opaque.

Tips:
.Serve menemen with bread.
.Crack 1 egg per person.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

POĞAÇA



Everybody has their unique recipe for pogaca. The nice part of it, pogaca is always delicious:) Don't get confuse, if you see one with different shape and filling.


Pogaca is perfect for breakfast with a cup of Turkish tea.

Ingredients:


Dough:


  • 4 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup of warm milk
  • 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 egg+1 egg white
  • 3 tbs of sugar
  • 1 tbs of salt
  • 1 tbs of instant yeast
  • Filling:
  • feta cheese
Topping:
  • 1 egg yolk
  • sesame seeds or nigella seeds

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add milk, vegetable oil and eggs. Knead them all together with your hands until becoming dough. The dough should be soft. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest until the dough rises to double its size. It takes one to two hours.

Take the bowl and knead the dough again until it is bubble free. Take a small piece of dough ( about the size of an egg) and make it flat with your hands.Place 1 tbs of filling in the middle of the dough and close it up. Give the dough a shape of small ball with your hands Place them on a baking tray and let them rise for half an hour.

When putting the pocaga to the tray, the closed part of it should face to the surface of the baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350F. Brush all of the pogacas with egg yolk and sprinkle nigella on top. Bake them until the color of egg yolk turns to brown.



Tips:


  • You can also fill the pogaca with cream cheese.
  • If the dough gets so hard, you can add more milk.
  • If the dough gets watery, you can add more flour.