​Recently I started cooking at a Bowling Club, it's like a little what's cooking Ella hobby kitchen, I cook what ever I want, no set menu and the members can buy dinner to eat in or they can have it take away.

Some nights I make things I've made for years, sometimes I'll just try something new, this was a something new dish.

This was very popular with those that tried it. It's not too spicy, the meat is super tender and the flavours were very very nice.

I love how easy this is to make, it's great for those days that you don't want to spend hours in the kitchen. Here a few minutes of initial prep, then it simmers away on it's own and dinner is done.

Some people frown upon the use of curry pastes, I do not. I love the convenience of a quick fix every now and then and in this dish it works perfectly.
​
You can make this dish in a slow cooker, just add all the ingredients, except the fresh coriander, into a slow cook, mix to combine. Turn on slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours or turn it on high and cook for 4 hours.

This is an easy dish to make and you'll save money not getting take away for the family.

​Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'The Slow Cooking Collection'

Serves 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
​​1.2kg pork scotch fillet (neck), cut into 3cm pieces, discard fat
2 large onions, sliced thinly
5cm piece fresh ginger, grated finely
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup vindaloo curry paste
400g tin diced tomatoes
3/4 cup (180ml) beef stock

1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, to serve, to taste
White Rice, to serve
or
Naan Bread 
​

Place oil in a large saucepan over a medium high heat. Add pork, cook in batches 4-5 minutes until coloured on all sides, remove, set aside.

​To the same saucepan add onions, sauté for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add ginger and garlic, stir for about 1 minute. Add in tomato paste, stir for about 30 seconds, then stir through the curry paste, diced tomatoes and beef stock. Return pork the the saucepan, stir to combine. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 2 hours or until the pork is tender. Remove lid if your vindaloo is too watery and continue cooking until it reaches your desired thickness. Taste for seasoning.

Serve hot with coriander leaves, rice or naan bread.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/pork-vindaloo.html 
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​Burek is something my family loves and we are lucky enough where we live that you can buy great bureks. It is the most delicious pastry, nothing like store bought filo, with a simple mince filling, but it is delicious. Honestly when my husband calls and says he's in Rockdale do we want burek, we never say no.

But like with everything else, I love trying to make things myself. So I give burek making a go.

If you listen to people who make bureks all the time they will tell you, you make the dough by feel, no recipe is needed. Now to a novice like me or for someone whose grandmother or mother never made bureks, this is not something that can happen, we need a recipe as a guide, so that one day we can also say I make the dough by feel. But until that happens, here is a beginners recipe for burek making, experts look away, it will never be as good as your grandmothers or your mothers bureks, but it is really good.

Now this is not a midweek meal dish, this is a lazy Sunday where you have loads of time, and you just want to play in the kitchen a bit.

Where the recipe tells you to divide the dough into two dough balls, those new to stretching dough can divide it into three dough balls.

I use half of my dining table, I am no where near as good as those that can stretch it over an entire table.

​Don't add extra mince, I did once when I had a 500g pack and though why not, well because it was too much mince.

If you get ​holes in dough, don't stress, once you roll the whole thing up, no one will now.

​Next time I make this I will add more detailed photos.

Anyway here is beginners 101 in burek making, lets become experts together.

Recipe adapted from Andrea Pisac's cookbook Croatian Savoury Baking

​Makes 1 large burek or 6 individual bureks

For the phyllo dough:
500g bread flour
4g salt
280ml water, lukewarm
20ml sunflower oil, plus more to coat the dough
10ml apple cider vinegar

For the meat filling:
200g onion, finely chopped
350g beef mince
10g salt
2g pepper
30ml water

For the coating:
100ml water
50ml sunflower oil

​40g bread flour, extra, for dusting
​

For the phyllo dough: Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and whisk to blend evenly.

Combine water, oil and vinegar in a bowl, stir then pour into the flour mix. Using a wooden spoon, bring the dough together-it will be shaggy at this point.

Use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to work the dough at medium speed for 5-6 minutes, The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl easily. Transfer it to a work surface and give it a few kneads. The dough should not stick to your surface or your hands.
(If you don't have a stand mixer, knead by hand for about 20 minutes).

Divide the dough into two equal parts/dough balls. Place each in a separate dish, brush with a thin layer of oil and cover with cling film. Set aside to rest for at least one hour at room temperature.
​
For the meat filling: Add the chopped onion to the beef mince. Mix in the salt, pepper and water. Mix with your hand until it becomes a compact mass. Cover and leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
​
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan forced. 
For individual bureks you will need to grease a large rectangular baking tray.
For the large bureks you will need to grease two large pizza trays.

Cover your worksurface (I use 1/2 my dining table) with a clean tablecloth and dust it all over with flour.

Place the first dough ball in the middle and flatten it with your hands, aiming for a rectangular shape if you have a rectangular dining table or round if using a round table. Using a rolling pin, stretch the dough further, uniformly in each direction. Sprinkle with a little oil and gently spread it on the dough with your hand. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
​
Place your hands underneath the dough, palms facing upwards, as far as you can towards the centre. Gently stretch the dough, always from the centre to the edge. By the end, your dough should be virtually transparent. Trim off any thick edges.
​
The size of one dough ball is enough for three burek shapes so run a knife along the dough area to divide it into three parts.
Take half of your mince (set the other half of the mince aside for your other dough ball). From the first half of the mince divide it into three equal parts. Scatter 1/3 of the mince on one long end (usually the end closest to you) of each of your dough pieces and in the middle, but leave 1/3 of the dough mince free. This empty length will form the outer layers of the burek and adds crunch.
​
You will use the tablecloth to help roll up the bureks. Lift the edge of the tablecloth using two hands that are spread out to the width of the dough and roll up the dough, the rolls should be slightly thicker than your thumb. Now you will shape this roll, then repeat this process with the middle mince filled piece of dough, then the last mince filled piece of dough.
​ 
How to shape them: Now you can make individual bureks where you will get 6 bureks or you can make 2 large bureks, that is up to you.

​For the large ones: Lift up the dough roll and place one end in the centre of your greased pizza tray, now roll up the dough into a spiral shape (think a snail shape). Now your second mince filled roll, you will put one end right next to the end of your first roll and continue the spiral pattern. Do the same with your third mince filled roll. Brush the bureks lightly with a little oil.

​For the individual shapes: You are going for a more oval shape here than round, take each mince filled roll and you will swirl it around itself four times. Place each burek on your greased baking tray. Brush the bureks lightly with a little oil.
​
Repeat this whole process with the second dough ball and the remaining mince until you have 2 large bureks or 6 individual bureks.
​
Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180C/160C fan forced and bake for a further 25 minutes.

In a bowl mix together the water and oil.

Take the bureks out of the oven and brush them with the water and oil mixture and return to the oven for about 5 minutes until you have a golden crust,

Serve warm. Individual ones serve whole, the large ones cut up into triangles like a pizza.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/burek-with-meat.html 
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​​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​This is what you make when you want a Jam Doughnut but you don't feel like making jam doughnuts. You want to make something that tastes like a jam doughnut, but it involves far less effort. 

Bread making has honestly become a central part of my cooking adventure, I'm loving it. You get a different bread every day, different tastes, different textures, it's honestly very rewarding.

Here a simple focaccia is converted into a sweet treat. Every bite is delicious.

You will need a piping bag here, or a sturdy snap lock bag.

​If you do want to try making doughnuts, here is my favourite recipe. 

And anyone that wants to learn how to make different focaccia flavours should follow lace bakes on instagram, she's amazing.

This really is so much easier to make than doughnuts and definitely something you need to try.

​Recipe adapted from Instagram _lacebakes_

Makes 1 focaccia

For the dough:
500g white bread flour
420g warm water
6g instant yeast
5g honey
1 tablespoon caster sugar
15g extra virgin olive oil
10g fine sea salt

For the filling:
1 cup raspberry jam
(piping bag needed)

For the glaze:
1 cup (125g) pure icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the pan: 
Sunflower oil


In a large mixing bowl, add the warm water, yeast, honey, sugar and extra virgin olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour and salt and mix together until you have no dry patches. Sometimes I find using a damp hand, I give the bread 5-6 kneads, just to incorporate the flour better. The dough does not stick to a wet hand.

Cover the bowl with beeswax wraps or plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Now it's time to stretch and fold the dough. Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it. Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hand, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 8 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball. 

Cover the bowl again and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and folds again. After this stretch and fold, using damp hands, gather your dough and place it seam side down into the bowl, so the top is smooth.

​Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 1.5 hours at room temperature.

Prepare your 22cm x 33cm baking tray. Put a teaspoon of sunflower oil in your tray, spread it around. Scrunch up a piece of baking paper that is cut larger than your tray, unscrunch it and place it in your baking tray, pressing into the corners.

Pour 2-3 tablespoons of sunflower oil into the centre of your pan. 

Place dough in your prepared pan. Now, oil your hands and fold one side of dough towards the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other side, like folding paper into thirds. The flip the dough so the seam is at the bottom and spin it so that the long ends are parallel with the long sides of the tray.

Let it sit to proof, at room temperature for about 1.5 hours. During this time the dough will puff up and fill up the tray.

When you have 30 minutes left of proofing time, preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan forced. Place your oven rack in the lowest position in the oven.

Dimple the focaccia dough (no need to drizzle any extra oil here) then bake for about 20-22 minutes or until it's a deep golden brown. 

While the focaccia is baking, fill a piping bag with your jam.

Now make the glaze by whisking together the icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until smooth. If too thick add a little extra milk, but only so it is a drizzling consistency.

When the focaccia is out of the oven, place it on a cooling rack and let it cool for 5 minutes. Poke the focaccia with holes, use a piping tip or large metal straw. Fill the holes with jam.

Place the cooling rack onto a larger baking tray and drizzle on the glaze. Brush the glaze evenly over the top and sides of the focaccia and then remove the cooling rack, set it aside, and rub the bottom of the focaccia into the glaze that has dripped onto the tray.

​Place the focaccia back onto the cooling rack.

​Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes for the glaze to harden.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/jam-doughnut-focaccia.html 
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​​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​So it's my anniversary, my husband and daughter are in Croatia visiting my husbands parents, my son is France with his girlfriend and I'm home with my youngest son as he's in his final year of high school and couldn't go to Europe this year. So I ask my son what should we eat today, he suggested my Ham and Cheese Pastry Sun. I though ok, I had all the ingredients at home, but the ham, but I had pepperoni, so I suggested we change it to Pepperoni Pizza Suns so I don't have to go to the shops, and he agreed.

It was brilliant. My son and I finished this off in minutes. We loved it. We would tear off an end and eat it, it was perfect as a light lunch. The filling was delicious and the crisp pastry amazing. The centre piece .I gave to my son as it his favourite part.

Now you can trim the pastry to make it round, more sun shape, but I find that just a waste of pastry and in all honesty, I'm okay with imperfection.

Don't make the strips too thin, use the picture as a guide.

This recipe is a guide only, use whatever salami you like and as much as you like, but it needs to be really thin so it will bend easily. With the cheese, I didn't really measure it, just put on a good sprinkling.

I added mushrooms and capsicums as I had them leftover in the fridge from a pizza night, don't add too many thinking it will taste better, you only need a little and too much will make your bottom pastry soggy as both release water when cooked.

I used my own pizza sauce which is delicious and easy to make. You only need 1/2 cup so make as much as you need, definitely halve the recipe at least. If you do make the whole sauce it covers 3-4 pizzas and for you to have a few spoonfuls of just sauce, my kids love just eating the sauce. It's also great as a dipping sauce with polenta chips. You could probably freeze the sauce, I haven't tried as my kids eat it.

2 x 400g cans Italian diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Place the oil and garlic in a medium saucepan and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

If you are looking to make a quick snack for your kids, or you have some leftover pepperoni (or even ham) to use up, try this, it is delicious.

​2 sheets puff pastry, I used Borgs
30-40 slices thinly sliced pepperoni, enough to cover the pastry in a single layer
1 cup grated tasty cheese
1 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup tomato pizza sauce
2 mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/4 small red capsicum, sliced thinly
1 egg, beaten


Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place one sheet of the puff pastry onto your baking paper.

Scatter the tasty cheese all over the pastry.

Place the pepperoni over the cheese in a single layer.

Dollop over the tomato sauce, and try and spread it out. It does not need to cover the pepperoni entirely.

Spread over the mozzarella cheese.

Place the second pastry sheet on top of the cheese, try and press the edges together.

Now place a drinking glass in the centre of the pastry, don't press it down, you don't want to cut the pastry, just mark it.

Now cut out from the glass to the edges, making sure you cut through to the bottom pastry sheet. Make the slices thicker, rather than thinner. The pastry can't be too hard here or it will rip.

Remove the glass.

​Now take each strip and gently twirl them, press the ends down a little.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/pizza-pastry-sun.html 
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​I love pies, I really do. I get excited when I watch old movies and see them cooling on farmhouse window sills, or when I watched TV shows where pies were on the counter, like at Luke's Diner or the Peach Pit. There is just something beautiful about pies.

A great pie is the perfect bite, crisp pie crust base, a deliciously fruit centre and either a pie crust top or in this case a crumble topping.

Now some people have one favourite pie crust, I don't, I have many. Just like I love different fillings, I like different pie crusts. Sometimes I have a pie crust top, sometimes I have a crumble topping. Sometimes when I don't have enough pie crust for the top, even though the recipe says I do, I have a plan B happen and I make a crumble but add pie crust 'scraps' to the crumble topping and magic happens. Here you get a crumble but you also get pie crust, I didn't know if it would work, but it sure did. 

The apple and rhubarb filling is delicious, it is my favourite pie filling, if I had to choose one. The pie crust is perfect, crisp and delicious and the crumble topping I just love, one because I don't have to rub butter into flour, here you just melt and mix, and two I love the addition of the pecans.

If you are looking to make a simple yet delicious pie , look no further, make this, it's perfect.

Recipe adapted from New Idea Food 

Serves 8

125g unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup custard powder

Filling:
1kg Granny Smith apples (about 6), peeled, sliced
300g rhubarb (about 4 stalks), cut into 3cm lengths
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour

Crumble topping:
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
75g unsalted butter, melted
150g (1 cup) pecans, chopped
​ 
Vanilla Custard or Ice Cream, to serve
​

Lightly grease a 22cm round loose based flan tin. Place on an oven tray.

To make the filling: Combine apples, rhubarb, sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for about 12 minutes, or until fruit is just tender. Add blended cornflour and 1 tablespoon of water to pan. Cook, stirring, until mixture boils and thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Cool to room temperature.
​
Meanwhile make pastry: Whisk butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a large bowl until combined. Stir in sifted flour and custard powder to form a dough. Cut 1/4 from the dough, shape into a flat disc. Shape the remaining pastry into a flat disc. Wrap both in plastic wrap. Refrigerate both pastry discs for 1 hour.
​
Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Roll out the larger pastry disc between two sheets of baking paper to a 24cm round. Remove top sheet of baking paper, invert pastry over tin, then remove the other sheet of baking paper, The pastry might break or crack, no stress, just press pastry together and make sure it goes up the sides of the tin. Cut off any excess pastry, just put it aside, you will use this.
​
Make the crumble topping: In a bowl add the plain flour, sugar, butter and pecans, mix it all together, to combine. Now the second disc of pastry and any leftover pastry, needs to be crumbled into the pecan mix. Just break it off into smallish pieces and mix it all together.
​
Spoon filling into your pastry case. Sprinkle crumble mixture evenly over the top.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until crumble and pastry is golden brown. 

​Stand pie for 20 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla custard or ice cream.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/apple-and-rhubarb-crumble-pie.html
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​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Now this dessert, what can I say about this dessert, this is delicious. Perfect custard, with a hint of citrus and blueberries added, not too sweet, wrapped in filo and baked to produce a dessert that for me is perfect. I love this and so does my family.

It is one of those desserts where you can make the custard in advance, just keep refrigerated until needed, then just assemble the dessert, just before you need to bake it.

Eat it warm or at room temperature, just eat it.

If you overfill them, they can burst. It will look worse than it is, just carefully push the custard back in, very little actually comes out.

Now you will need two packets of filo only as one packet isn't enough, two is too much, however, just refrigerate the leftover pastry and make something else with it, like a spanakopita or my quick apple strudel.

If you don't want to buy two packets of filo, you can layer 4 sheets together then cut them in half horizontally. then put in custard and roll up into a parcel. There will be less filo around the parcel, but it is still great.

This is a dessert you have to make.

Recipe adapted from antonioufillo.com.au/

2 x 375g Antoniou Filo Pastry 
200g unsalted butter, melted
4 cups milk
2/3 cup fine semolina
2/3 cup caster sugar
50g cold unsalted butter
Zest of 2 lemons
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice, to taste
2 eggs
150g fresh or frozen blueberries 
Icing sugar, for dusting
​
Take your Filo Pastry out of the fridge to bring it up to room temperature in its packaging.

Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Add the milk, semolina, caster sugar, 50g butter, lemon zest and lemon juice to a pot over medium heat. Continuously whisk to melt the butter and until the mixture forms a custard like consistency (approximately 10 minutes). Add the eggs and whisk them through quickly to prevent them from cooking in the hot custard. Set the custard aside to cool before mixing through the blueberries.

Using three sheets of Filo pastry per Bougatsa parcel, lay out each sheet vertically, one on top of the other, brushing each layer with melted butter.

Spoon about 4 tablespoons of the custard in the bottom half of the filo Pastry, and fold the pastry over the custard. Bring in the sides to seal the custard and carefully fold the pastry over to form a parcel. Transfer to the baking tray with the seam side down. 

​Brush each parcel with more melted butter and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden. ​

​Sprinkle with icing sugar.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/lemon-and-blueberry-bougatsa-parcels.html 
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The 21st country in our Eating Around the World Adventure is Türkiye.

Now I was excited by this one as we used to have a Turkish restaurant one minute walk from my house in Bondi called Pashas, it was fabulous. Although the meat was great there, you honestly went there for their dips, and their sides, these people know how to cook vegetables. I don't love carrots for instance, however I loved Pasha's carrot dip, it was so good, I am forever trying to find a recipe for it. There wasn't a side dish that I didn't love there. And pomegranate, who knew how exciting pomegranate can make a simple tomato and cucumber salad. Or who thought to put currants into rice, I don't even like currants, but I love it with rice, it just works.

So I have a few Turkish cookbooks, so I had access to many recipes, now with everything I wanted try, I knew I couldn't do this in a week, so Türkiye will get a month.

Turkish food is a fusion of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European Cuisines. They have absolutely taken the best of these regions and turned it into amazing, flavourful food. What they do with vegetables is truly amazing. I find they do meat really well, but what they serve with meat, is not just a side, it's a flavour combination that equals the meat.

Turkish food is worth trying, you will not be disappointed.
​

So for Türkiye I decided to make:

Cilbir
Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa
Alcati Borek
​Pide Bread
Bazlama-Flatbread
Flatbread/Pizza Dough-Gozleme
Turkish Pickled Vegetables
Lahmacun
​Chicken and Orzo Soup
Tarhana Soup
Turkish Red Lentil Soup
Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad
Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes (Kapuska)
Ali Nazik-Lamb Stew
Ali Nazik-Lamb Mince
Ottoman Lamb Shank Stew with Pilaf
Turkish Vegetable and Beef Stew with Pasta
Light Chicken Stew with Spring Onions and Turkish Rice
​Sebze Guvec-Vegetable Stew
Oven Roasted Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate Molasses and Chilli
Charred Sumac and Oregano Chicken Wings
Classic Spoon Salad
Green Beans in Tomato Sauce
​Blackened Cauliflower
Turkish Spiced Pilaf
​Turkish Rice

If you can't see a written recipe below, just click on the title of the recipe and it will take you to the recipe page.

Cilbir: This ones an interesting one, I made this for my son and he actually liked it. It does need to be spicy, so we added more spice, but I would have this again. You can fry the egg if you prefer, I did it both ways and once mixed with the yoghurt, you couldn't tell. You can add mashed avocado to this, just add under or on top of the yoghurt, it works well.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

100g Greek style yoghurt, loosened with 1 tablespoon milk or water
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
Vinegar, for poaching
15g butter
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
Pide, to serve

​Melt the butter and add the chilli flakes.

Mix the yoghurt, garlic and salt together and divide between 4 plates or bowls.

Poach the eggs in simmering water with a splash of vinegar for 3-4 minutes.

Top each bowl of yoghurt with a poached egg and drizzle over the spicy butter.
Serve with Turkish bread.
Enjoy!

Fried Halloumi with Herby Salsa: This is a great lunch idea, the hot salty halloumi with the fresh salsa, yum!. I have reduced the pomegranate molasses from the original recipe as it made the salsa too sweet for me, so add it to taste. My preferred choice, when in season, would be to replace the pomegranate molasses with fresh pomegranate seeds. If you don't like mint, leave it out.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

​1/2 red onion, finely chopped
150g cherry tomatoes, quartered, or diced
a handful finely chopped flat leaf parsley
a handful of roughly chopped mint leaves
seeds of 1 pomegranate or 1/2 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
4 tablespoons olive oil
a pinch Turkish pepper flakes
500g halloumi, cut into 5mm slices
salt and pepper, to taste

Put the onion, tomatoes, parsley, mint, pomegranate seeds (or molasses), 2 tablespoons of the oil and pepper flakes into a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly, seasoning to taste.

Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to develop.

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Fry the halloumi for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden.
​
Place on a serving dish and top with salsa.
 Enjoy!​

Alcati Borek: We enjoyed these, the mince filling was tasty and we felt they are far better than store bought 'pastizzi'. Definitely a make again dish.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon olive oil
250g lamb mince
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
a handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
250g ricotta cheese
5 sheets filo pastry
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon seasame seeds
sea salt

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the lamb and onion for 2-3 minutes until the lamb is just cooked through.

Add the garlic and fry for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Remove from heat and tip into a mixing bowl. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then add in parsley, black pepper, Turkish pepper flakes, ricotta and a good pinch of salt. Mix everything together well.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

Cut each of the filo sheets into 3 long strips. Place walnut sized filling in one corner of a filo strip. Fold the pastry across the triangle. Keep folding the triangle-shaped filling up the strip until it is used up. Seal with some of the beaten egg. Place on your baking tray. Repeat until all the mince is used up.

Brush all your triangles with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crispy. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Enjoy!

Pide Bread:-I love baking bread, it's fun and I just love the end result. This pide bread is so easy to make (especially if you have a strong free standing mixer) and the dough is so beautiful to work with. I also love that you can have bread ready in about and hour and half, so it's a great recipe when you don't have bread in the house and you don't want to go to the shops just for bread. It was a great side to the Ali Nazik as it was a great vessel to mop up all the sauce.

Bazlama-Flatbread: This bread was easy to make and very soft and delicious. It's made with yeast and yoghurt, I used Greek yoghurt as it is easy to find in shops. We loved this as a side to many dishes like stews, dips, anything really. You can also use it as a wrap or a pizza dough. It was even great the next day. You can make them thicker, thinner, bigger, smaller, roll them how you like them.

Flatbread/Pizza Dough: This dough I used to make Gozleme and it was delicious, slightly thicker than my normal gozleme dough (as it is a yeast dough, it puffed up a little while cooking, so I should have rolled it out thinner), but it was fabulous. But what's even better is I think this would be an amazing dough to use for pizza or for calzones. This dough is amazing and will get a page all to itself soon, once I have made calzones and pizzas with it also. For the filling I used one that we love, but I think Turkish people would tend to use lamb mince.

Here is how I made it: 

Makes 4 large, 8 small or 60 mini flatbreads/pizzas

Makes 4 Gozleme
​
500g bread flour
7g sachet fast acting yeast
pinch sugar
10g salt
275ml lukewarm water
60ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

For the filling:
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
500g pork and veal mince
3/4 cup Feta cheese
2 cups baby spinach
8 button mushrooms, sliced, sauted (optional)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 lemon, cut into quarters​

You can make this by hand, just knead for 10 minutes, until you get a soft, elastic dough. You may need to add a little more flour if too sticky to knead. I however, do it in a strong freestanding mixer with a dough hook.

Place the flour in a large bowl of a freestanding mixer, add the yeast, sugar and salt. I tend to not put the salt directly on the yeast, but on the edges of the bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the water and olive oil.

With a dough hook attachment, on slow speed, bring the dough together and mix for about 5 minutes or until you get a soft, elastic dough.

Place in clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile make the filling: Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion and garlic, saute for 3-4 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add the mince, break up lumps, season with a little salt (as feta is being used and can be salty) and pepper, to taste. Cook until well browned. You want the mince to be cooked at this stage. Cool for 10 minutes.

Add the feta cheese and spinach to the mince and mix well to combine.

Divide the dough into 4 even portions (remember you are rolling the pastry out only as large as your frying pan).

Shape the portions into balls, roll out one ball of pastry as thinly as you can get it, about 2-3mm thick, you need it to hold the filling without tearing too easily.

Top half the dough with 1/4 of the mince mixture, leaving a 1-2cm border. If you are using mushrooms, scatter them over the filling now. Carefully flip the side with no filling over the filling and press down the edges to seal the filling in.
​
Repeat with the remaining dough and filling, until you have four gozleme.

(If by chance you have over filled the first few gozleme, and you don't have enough filling for your last one, and you have leftover dough, fill it with nutella or nutella and strawberries for a quick dessert gozleme).
​
Heat the frying pan on medium heat and add about 1 tablespoon oil. Carefully lift one of the gozleme and place it in the frying pan. I immediately press down the edges again, get them as thin as you can, as thick edges don't cook properly. Fry the gozleme on one side until golden brown, then flip it over and fry until also golden brown. 

Slice into wedges and serve hot with lemon wedges.
Enjoy!

Turkish Pickled Vegetables: These pickles can be serves alongside grilled meats, fish or even put in sandwiches. Use vegetables that you like. I don't like fennel, but the original recipe adds it. To sterilize the jar, place the jar with the lid next to it in a preheated 140C/120C oven for 30 minutes.

Here is how I made it:

Makes a 1 litre jar

For the vegetables:
650g total weight of any of the following vegetables:
Carrots, cut in half lengthways and widthways
Radishes, halved
Spring Onions, trimmed
Zucchini, halved lengthways and widthways
Fennel bulb, sliced, I did not add this
Cauliflower florets, sliced
small handful fennel herb, I used dill instead

For the pickle:
250ml water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
250ml white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 red chilli, sliced, seeds in

1 litre sterilized jar

In a small saucepan bring the water to the boil, then dissolve the salt and sugar in it. Add the vinegar, coriander seeds and red chilli, bring it back to the boil. Turn off the heat.

Meanwhile, ​pack the vegetables into your sterilized jar with the fennel herb/dill.

Pour the vinegar mix over the vegetables in the jar and seal. If by chance your vinegar mix did not fill your jar, you can add a little boiled water to fill. Turn your jar over onto it's lid. Leave two minutes. Turn back over and store for a few weeks before eating.
Enjoy!

Lahmacun: are spicy lamb flatbreads, like a Turkish Pizza. The dough is amazing, and the topping was good but once I added some spices to it, it was delicious. It needed some freshness so I added tomatoes and cucumbers to it on top after baking. 

Here is how I made it:

Makes 12

For the flatbread:

500g bread flour
7g sachet fast acting yeast
pinch sugar
10g salt
275ml lukewarm water
60ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing

For the topping:
500g lean minced lamb
1 medium onion
1 red capsicum, stalks and seeds removed
1 green chillii, stalk removed
1 garlic clove, crushed
small handful flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1½ teaspoons Aleppo pepper flakes
1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
1/2-1 teaspoon ground paprika, to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
200g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed
Salt, to taste

Flat-leaf parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, to serve
Diced tomatoes, cucumbers and red onion, to serve
Greek yoghurt, to serve

​Make the dough: You can make this by hand, just knead for 10 minutes, until you get a soft, elastic dough. You may need to add a little more flour if too sticky to knead. Or you can do it with a freestanding mixer. I've done it both ways.

Place the flour in a large bowl of a freestanding mixer, add the yeast, sugar and salt. I tend to not put the salt directly on the yeast, but on the edges of the bowl. Make a well in the centre, add the water and olive oil.

With a dough hook attachment, on slow speed, bring the dough together and mix for about 5 minutes or until you get a soft, elastic dough.

Place in clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to rise for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.

For the topping: Roughly chop the onion, capsicum, green chilli and garlic, put them into a food processor and process, using the pulse button, until finely chopped but not to a pulp. Tip into a sieve set over a bowl and press out the excess liquid. In a large bowl add the minced lamb add the capsicum mix, chopped parsley, Aleppo pepper, tomato paste, chickpeas and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together, being careful not to crush the chickpeas to a pulp. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C fan forced.

Punch back the flatbread dough, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead once more until smooth. Divide the dough into 12 evenly sized pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll out very thinly, 3mm in thickness, on a lightly floured surface into oval shapes. Place on baking paper lined baking trays. You will bake these in batches.

Using your fingertips, spread one twelfth of the lamb mixture evenly over each base, taking it right up to the edges because the mixture shrinks as it cooks. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the dough is lightly browned.

Serve straight away.

The traditional way to do this is to add on a few parsley sprigs down the centre of the  flatbread, squeeze over a little lemon juice and roll it up, much like you would a wrap.

But we liked the addition of greek yoghurt, diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Diced red onion would be great to. 
Enjoy!

Chicken and Orzo Soup:-We really liked this one. It was lemony and really tasty. I have never made a soup this way, completely different ingredients and method to my usual soups. My family all want this again. I added vegeta, which is a vegetable stock powder as I like it in soups, but it is optional. If you can't find the Turkish red pepper paste, use ajvar, although it has eggplant in it, it serves a similar purpose in this soup.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 8

1 whole chicken, I used a medium sized one
½ lemon, plus the juice from 1½-2 lemons
1 onion, peeled and halved
1 garlic bulb, cut off roots, cut in half horizontally
a handful of flat leaf parsley, leaves and stalks
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
½  teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vegeta, optional
100g butter
3 tablespoons red pepper paste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
300g orzo
salt and pepper, to taste

Place the chicken in a large saucepan. Add the ½ lemon, onion, garlic, parsley, peppercorns, salt and vegeta, if using. Cover with 3.5 litres of cold water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 1½ hours, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Reserving the cooking liquid (stock), remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Pull off the breasts (you won't need them for the soup, save them for another use-salad or sandwich). Remove the skin and shred the rest of the meat, discarding the bones, and set aside.

Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the red pepper paste and tomato paste, stir for about a minute. Whisk in a little of stock to loosen (I just put a fine mesh sieve over my new pot, to strain the stock first before adding onto the pastes), then slowly pour in all of your stock (again strained through a sieve) and stir to combine. Add the lemon, keep adding it, tasting as you go, until you are happy with the flavour. Taste for seasoning. Bring to the boil and add the orzo, simmer for 10 minutes or until the orzo is tender. Add in the shredded chicken, mix to separate the meat, simmer for 2 minutes to reheat the chicken.

Remove from heat, cover and leave for 3-4 minutes, then serve immediately. 
Enjoy!

Tarhana Soup: This is a flavourful soup, if you love capsicums and tomatoes you'll love it. My kids loved it, it's thick, hearty and tasty. My husband pretended to not love it, just to annoy me, but confessed later on that he to loved it. With the mint, I'm not used to adding mint to food, so if you are like me, you can leave it out, the soup is great without it. Or you can add it only to the butter, then if you don't like the flavour, you just don't add it, it's easy to remelt some more butter.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 4

​3 red capsicums, deseeded and quartered
4 red onions, halved and each half quartered
6 garlic cloves
6 tomatoes, halved
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoons dried mint (optional)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
100g Greek yoghurt
250ml boiling water
25g butter
​1 teaspoon dried mint, extra
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan forced.

Put the capsicums, onions, garlic and tomatoes on a roasting tray. Pour over 4 tablespoons of the oil and the dried mint (if using), the oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of the Turkish red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and mix together well.

Arrange the vegetables so that the tomatoes are sitting at the top, cut side up, and drizzle over the remaining oil. Roast for 35-40 minutes until soft and a little golden. Leave to cool.

Tip the roasted vegetables into a food processor (or blender) and make sure to scrape out all the lovely oil and juices. Blend for 4-5 minutes until completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan and stir in the yoghurt and a good pinch of salt. Add the boiling water and mix together. Cover and heat over a low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lovely and hot.

Heat the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat until bubbling. Add the extra dried mint and remaining Turkish pepper flakes. Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle the infused butter over the top. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Turkish Red Lentil Soup: I really liked this soup, I found it had great flavour. It wasn't my families favourite soup. But I would definitely make it again for myself.

Here is how I made it:

​Chicken and Pearl Barley Salad: This salad was loved by some of us and just liked by others. For me salads can be a dinner, my husband didn't think so. I would add more chicken next time to bulk up the meal.

Here is how I made it:

​Serves 4

250g cooked pearl barley
200g red cabbage, finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 red onion, finely sliced
a handful of roughly chopped flat parsley leaves
a handful of roughly chopped mint leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
300g roast chicken, shredded
salt and pepper, to taste

For the dressing:
100g Greek yoghurt
50g mayonnaise, I like Thomy
juice of 1/2 lemon

Lemon wedges, extra, to serve

Put the pearl barley, cabbage, carrot, onion, parsley and mint into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Mix well.

Place all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl along with 2 tablespoons of cold water and season with salt and pepper. Whick together to combine.

To serve, spread the barley mix onto a large serving plate. Arrange the shredded chicken over the top and drizzle over the dressing. Serve immediately with extra lemon wedges on the side.
Enjoy!

Turkish Spiced Cabbage and Minced Lamb Stew with Tomatoes (Kapuska): This dish is so easy to make. My whole family loved this, there was nothing left, some wished I had made more. Turkish people just know how to make vegetables shine.

Ali Nazik-Lamb Stew:-We loved this. The stew was aromatic and delicious and the eggplant and yoghurt base was absolutely delicious with it. This flavour combination was so good. I served it with homemade Pide Bread.

Ali Nazik-Lamb Mince: so if I had to choose, we loved the version above more than this one. But this to, was very good. The smoked eggplant yoghurt compliments this dish so well. I served it with the bazlama flatbread I posted above. Turkish food never disappoints.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 4

2 eggplants
200g Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
500g lamb mince
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2½ teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
½ teaspoon dried oregano
30g butter
a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
bazlama flatbread, to serve

Prepare the eggplants: In the meantime, prick the eggplants using a knife or fork. Place the egg plants directly over flame–stove, barbecue or grill, and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side. You want the skin to be charred and black, and the eggplant will be soft. If by chance your eggplants are not soft and the skin is black, just pop them on baking paper lined baking tray and place in a preheated 180C oven for about 10-20 minutes until cooked through. Undercooked eggplant is not good, make sure they are cooked through. Set aside for 10-20 minutes until the skin has softened. This can also be done in advance.
​
An hour before needed, peel the eggplant and mince it using a knife. Mix it with the yoghurt and season with salt and pepper. Leave out of the fridge.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and add the lamb. Fry for 8-10 minutes until golden. Add the tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of the Turkish pepper flakes, the oregano and a good pinch of salt. Mix together and then remove from heat.

Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat for 1-2 minutes over a medium heat until bubbling. Add the remaining Turkish pepper flakes and mix well. Remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes to infuse.

To serve, spread the eggplant dip onto a serving platter. Spoon over the lamb and scatter over the parsley. Drizzle over the red butter and serve immediately with flatbreads.
Enjoy!

​Ottoman Lamb Shank Stew with Pilaf:-This dish is fall off the bone meat, so soft, so delicious, cooked with minimum effort, but giving maximum results. As the meat is not fully submerged in the sauce, it gets a roasted feel to it as well as a stew vibe. The sauce is delicious, full of flavour, it's just a great dish.
I served it with Pilaf, a rice dish with onions, currants and pine nuts, it worked really well with it. 

​Turkish Vegetable and Beef Stew with Pasta: This stew is for those that love vegetables, there are so many vegetables in this dish, the meat is just a small addition. From the moment the aromas started wafting through my house, I knew this would be great. The flavours of this dish are great, the vegetables are cut into chunks so they don't get lost in the stew. I served it with tagliatelle, which some in my family loved, while others would have preferred it with polenta.

Light Chicken Stew with Spring Onions and Turkish Rice: When I first picked this dish to cook, I never thought it would taste as good as it does. It was way to simple to be great. But this sauce is so good, it was perfect with the rice. We loved it. The recipe said to use 30 spring onions, I used 20, as I thought it was enough.

Here is how I made it:

20-30 spring onions, trimmed
40g butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, cut into 2cm chunks
4 small sticks celery, cut into 2cm lengths
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 heaped tablespoons tomato paste, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper, to taste
1 whole chicken, about 1.5kg, jointed into 6-8 pieces
300ml chicken stock
Turkish Rice, recipe below, to serve

Heat up the butter and oil in a large flameproof casserole pan over high heat, brown the spring onions. Remove from pan, set aside.

Now brown the carrots and celery, add the garlic, tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, oregano, salt and pepper, mix well. then add the chicken pieces. Return the spring onions to the pan, pour over the chicken stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover with a lid, and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with Turkish Rice.
Enjoy! 

Sebze Guvec-Vegetable Stew: This was very flavourful, one of my kids loved it, he said the cumin gave it mexican vibes, everyone else although really liked it, said they preferred some of the other dishes without cumin more. But I would definitely make it again.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
500g baby potatoes, halved and quartered
2 zucchini, halved, roughly chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g tin diced tomatoes
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
80g pitted black olives
2 tablespoons Turkish red pepper paste
2 teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
a pinch saffron
300ml boiling water
a large handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes until soft.

Add the potatoes, zucchini, capsicum, garlic, tin tomatoes, chickpeas, olives, red pepper paste, pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, saffron and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in the boiling water and mix everything together well. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the lid, mix well, cook for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce thickens to your liking. Stir in the parsley, mix together and serve immediately.
Enjoy!

​Oven Roasted Chicken with Sumac, Pomegranate Molasses and Chilli: My favourite way to roast chicken is to spatchcock it, this way the breast does not dry out. The chicken was juicy and tasty.

Here is how I made it: 

Serves 6

1 whole chicken (about 2kg)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

For the marinade:
2 tablespoons sumac
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all the marinade ingredients together.

Butterfly the chicken: ​Turn the chicken over so the breasts are down and you're looking at the back. See the backbone in the middle, cut along both sides of that backbone to remove it. Flip it over so that the breasts are now facing up. Use the palm of your hand and press firmly down on the breast meat, right over the breastbone. You should hear a little bit of crunching. The goal here is to flatten this area so that the breasts and the thighs are basically at the same level.

Rub the marinade well all over the chicken, both sides and leave for 1 hour.

Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

​Put the chicken, skin side up on a baking paper lined oven tray. Drizzle the chicken with the olive oil and scatter over sesame seeds. Roast for 50-60 minutes.
Enjoy!

Charred Sumac and Oregano Chicken Wings: Chicken wings are always popular in our house and I love trying them with new flavours. These I did in the oven, but I think they would be great on the barbecue also. If the chicken wings come with wing tips, remove them and freeze to make a stock another day.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1kg chicken wings, each wing cut into 2 pieces

​Marinade:
2 teaspoons Turkish pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sumac
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt, to taste

Put the marinade ingredients in a bowl, mix together to combine. Add the chicken, mix well to combine, cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

Take the chicken out of the fridge one hour before baking them.

Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Place wings in a single layer skin side up on your prepared tray. Place in the oven and roast for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Classic Spoon Salad: This salad is just perfect, if pomegranates were in season I would have added the seeds as it would make it even better. This is a great side for meat dishes. When we had it at Pasha's it was a finely chopped salad, I'm a little impatient for that.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

​1 red onion, finely chopped
150g cherry tomatoes, quartered, or diced
1/4 cucumber, deseeded, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, deseeded, finely chopped
2 handfuls finely chopped flat leaf parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
seeds of 1 pomegranate
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Put everything into a large mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly, seasoning to taste.

Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the flavours to develop. Serve.
Enjoy!

​Green Beans in Tomato Sauce: Now this recipe can in all honesty also be Italian, Greek, Croatian etc. The flavours are Mediterranean and it's delicious, and you will find variations of this recipe in cookbooks from any of these countries. I served this as a side for a chicken dish I made and my family loved this more than the chicken.

Blackened Cauliflower: Now this one is not traditionally Turkish, but it has the flavours of Türkiye. I regularly bake broccoli, but this was my first time baking cauliflower to a blackened state. It is delicious and I love it with the yoghurt.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1 cauliflower, cut into florets
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Turkish pepper flakes
150g Greek yoghurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon tomato paste
salt and pepper, to taste
​
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan forced.

Put the cauliflower florets into a mixing bowl and add the oil, half the pepper flakes and good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and tip onto a baking tray. Roast for
40-45 minutes until charred and tender. Set to one side to cool.

Meanwhile, put the yoghurt into a mixing bowl and add the lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Mix well.

Put the butter, tomato paste, the remaining pepper flakes and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan. Mix together and heat over a low heat until melted.

To serve, spread the yoghurt onto a serving dish. Place the cauliflower over the top and drizzle over the hot butter. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

Turkish Spiced Pilaf: This is a flavourful rice dish, that I did not photograph, but will do so next time I make it. It can be served with stews or with meat dishes as a side.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

300g basmati rice or long grain rice, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, halved, sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
white pepper, to taste
450ml water
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons currants

Soak the rice in plenty of cold water for 30 minutes, then drain.

In a saucepan with a lid, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and fry the onion for 3-5 minutes until soft. Add the rice and toast in the oil. Add the ground cinnamon, salt and pepper and stir in the water. Bring up to the boil, then immediately turn down to a gentle simmer and put the lid on the pan. Cook for 10 minutes or until the water is just absorbed.
Turn off the heat, keep the lid on the pan, and leave to rest for 5 minutes before stirring through the parsley, dill, pine nuts and currants. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

​​Turkish Rice: This can be served with any stew really, it's easy to make and we enjoy it. The vegeta just gives it extra flavour.

Here is how I made it:

Serves 4

1½ tablespoons butter
60g orzo pasta
200g medium or long grain rice
500ml water
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vegeta, optional
2 tablespoons currants, optional

In a saucepan with a lid, heat the butter and lightly brown the orzo, then add the rice and water, vegeta to, if using. Bring up to the boil, then immediately turn down the heat. Add the salt, put the lid on the pan and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave, still covered, for 5 minutes. Stir through currants, if using. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!

There is so many more recipes I wanted to try, but I ran out of time. As I make them in the future, I'll add them on.

Next stop: Colombia

​Some times I make curry pastes from scratch, sometimes I don't, here I don't. This dish I cook on days when I want a quick and easy meal to make. You get home from work, throw it all together in a pot, the prep work is minimal, the oven does all the work.

The chicken here is super juicy and the sauce is delicious and your house smells amazing. I put rice in a rice cooker, it cooks itself. All I really have to do, is cook Asian greens, five minutes of work also.

You could use chicken thigh fillets instead of cutlets, but I think meat is juicier when cooked with the bone in. If using thigh fillets, decrease the 'lid on' cooking time to 20 minutes, instead of 30 minutes.

Buy whole chicken thighs and debone them yourself, it is easy to do, and you can use the bones to make a chicken soup.

The Asian greens I just cook briefly in boiling salted water. I don't dress them with anything as there is plenty of flavour in the curry.

This is a super easy introduction to cooking curries, and it tastes great.

​Recipe adapted from Donna Hay's cookbook 'The New Easy'

Serves 4-6

8 X 125g chicken thigh cutlets, skin on
⅓ cup (100g) store bought Thai red curry paste, I like the AYAM brand
1 X 400ml can coconut milk
1 cup (250ml) chicken Stock
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 kaffir lime leaves

To serve,
Coriander leaves and Lime Wedges
Steamed Greens and Jasmine Rice
​

​Preheat oven to 220°C/200°C fan forced.

Place the chicken, skin-side up, in a heavy-based ovenproof casserole dish. 

Combine the curry paste, coconut milk, stock and fish sauce and pour over the chicken. Add the lime leaves, cover with a lid and bake for 30 minutes. 

Remove the lid and bake for a further 20–25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and golden. Taste for seasoning. 

Sprinkle with the coriander and serve with lime wedges, steamed greens and jasmine rice.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/baked-red-chicken-curry.html 
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​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​This is one of the best burgers I have ever had. The chicken is juicy and delicious and the crispy chilli oil, I don't have the words to describe how good that is. Add in the mayonnaise, fresh cabbage and coriander leaves (not photographed above as this is my sons burger and he doesn't like coriander, but is is on mine below) this is one of the best flavour combinations you will ever try.

You need to make this.

​Recipe adapted from Donna Hays cookbook 'even more Basics to Brilliance'

Serves 4

½ cup (125ml) Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine
¼ cup (60ml) soy sauce
1½ tablespoons finely grated ginger
4 X 125g chicken thigh fillets, trimmed
1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (130g) cornflour
½ teaspoon table salt
Sunflower oil, for deep frying

To serve:
4 Burger Buns, halved
Mayonnaise
Finely shredded cabbage
Coriander leaves
Crispy Chilli Oil


Combine the Shaoxing, soy sauce and ginger. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Combine the flour, cornflour and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and press to coat. Heat 6cm of oil in a saucepan over medium–high heat. In batches, cook chicken for 6–7 minutes, turning throughout, until golden and cooked through. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.

​To assemble, spread the burger buns with mayonnaise. Top with cabbage, coriander, chicken and crispy chilli oil. 

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​Recipe adapted from Donna Hays cookbook 'even more Basics to Brilliance'

Makes 1½ cups

1 cup (250ml) sunflower oil
6 eschalots, thinly sliced
10 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
¼ cup (25g) dried chilli flakes
¼ cup (60ml) sesame oil
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes


Heat a large frying pan over medium heat.

Add the oil and heat for 1 minute. Add the eschalots and garlic and cook for 12–15 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly golden and the garlic is crispy.

Remove from the heat and stir through the chilli, sesame oil, sugar and salt.

​Transfer to a sterilised glass jar.

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​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella