Içli köfte or Kibbeh

Kibbeh or Içli Köfte ( in Turkish) is probably best known as a 7 to 15 cm-long torpedo-shaped bulgur shell stuffed with a filling of spiced minced lamb or beef and fried until brown. It's a dish that really requires skills and patience to make but as soon as you learn, then you can improvise with different filling or different ways of cooking. In Turkey, içli köfte are generally fried in oil, but boiled or boiled and baked versions are also very popular. I am eager to learn how to make them as it's my husband's favourite dish. However, I still need loads of practice in shaping them. So these köfte were made by my mother-in-law, the only thing I made was frying them. But still, if you feel you are ready for them, give them a try. Here you can find some photos of how to shape them.

What we need:

Dough:
500gr fine bulgur
2 eggs
1 glass of flour
1 teaspoon of red pepper paste
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
boiling water

Filling:
500gr of minced beef or lamb
150gr of olive oil or butter
2 onions
pepper and salt
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
cumin
red pepper flakes
mint

oil for frying

What we have to do:

1. Pour some hot water over bulgur and let it soak it. Then add eggs, flour, red pepper paste, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and mix the dough for 10 minutes. You can also find some people adding some minced beef in the dough too. But it's definitely a matter of taste.
2. Fry onion in a pan with some olive oil, then add minced beef, and fry until soft and done. Add tomato paste ( optional) and spices. Mix it and get ready to shape the köfte.
3. Take a ball of dough and with a finger make a hole into the dough. Add the filling and shape them into torpedo shape.
4. Preheat the oil and fry each köfte for 3-4 minutes until they are golden brown. Serve with some lemon wedges, and vegetable salad. Enjoy!!

Breakfast for summer

Yesterday it was about +30C in Istanbul so it makes you feel like in a souna or so. So this morning I decided to start my day with a very fresh breakfast! It can really make everyone's day!!!

What we need:

300ml natural yogurt
3 apricots
10 blackberries ( frozen)
2 teaspoons of frozen blueberries
3 tbsp of breakfast cereal

What we have to do:

1. Put yogurt in a bowl, add fruit and cereal. If you want, add some honey.
2. With a glass of fresh fruit juice or tea it's a perfect start of the day! Have a lovely day everyone!!!

Blueberry cheesecake

It's still not the best season for blueberries but my husband and me decided to cheer ourselves up and stopped next to frozen fruit section and bought a great variety of frozen fruit. So today it's the time to do something with blueberries.

What we need:

210gr of flour
1 egg
50gr of butter
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
100gr of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt

Topping:

250gr of blueberries ( fresh or frozen)
300gr of riccota cheese or cream cheese
3 tbsp of natural yogurt
2 tbsp of starch
2 eggs
1 tbsp of flour
100gr of sugar
2 lemons zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla

What we have to do:

1. Make the pad by mixing dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder. In another bowl mix butter, oil, sugar and an egg. Then add vanilla and all dry ingredients. Put in a baking dish, spread it evenly and bake in 180C oven for 15 minutes.
2. For the topping, mix yogurt and cheese, add sugar, starch, eggs, flour, vanilla, lemon zest.
3. When the pad is baked, sprinkle all blueberries on the top and then add the cheese topping. Put in the oven and continue baking for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!!!