Monday, 27 February 2017

Week 5 - Azerbaijan

Only one country this week, as there were not enough non-European countries to do one a week for a whole year. So, once every four weeks, I just cover one country!

Well, this was interesting. I decided that I would do several dishes all together, but smaller sizes. The boys hovered over me as I dished up (does anyone else experience that!) and my son thought, delightedly, that we were having jacket potatoes of a sort when I got three wrapped up parcels from the oven. His poor face dropped, as did my husbands, when thy discovered they were stuffed apples! However, they all loved the meal - despite it looking far from appetising...

Azerbaijan has half the worlds mud volcanos. Mud volcanoes are one of the visible signs of the presence of oil and gas reserves hidden deep beneath land and sea in the Caspian region. Gas seeps are a related phenomenon and occur when a pocket, filled largely methane gas under the ground, finds a passage to the surface. One such famous gas seep is Yanardagh (Fire Mountain) on the Absheron Peninsula where a continuous fire burns along a hillside.

So, here is what we ate...

Dushbarra (Dumpling Soup)
Milk pilaf recipe (Südlü plov)
Stuffed apples recipe (Alma dolmasi)
Feseli, Flaky Flatbread

We had two meals
Milk pilaf recipe (Südlü plov) with fish and the rest on another day!

Dushbarra (Dumpling Soup)
Preparation time: 60 min
Cooking time: 20 min
Serves: 6-7
Ingredients
For the broth
lamb bones
water
a few saffron threads soaked for at least 30 minutes in warm water (optional)
salt, to taste
For the filling
200 g/8 oz minced lamb (or 100 g/4 oz minced lamb and 100 g/4 oz minced beef)
1 medium-sized onion
1/2 tspn turmeric
salt & pepper
For the dough
500 g/1lb 4 oz wheat flour
1 egg
1 glass water
To serve
dried mint or fresh coriander
grape vinegar
crushed garlic
Preparation
Peel and grate or finely chop the onion.
Mix the minced meat, grated onion, salt & pepper and turmeric.
Make a light dough from the flour, water, salt and egg.
Divide the dough into four large balls. Place the balls on a tea towel and cover with clingfilm. Leave to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1.5 mm/1/16th inch. Traditionally, a thin, light rolling pin is used. Add flour when rolling out if the dough is too sticky. The thinner the dough, the better the dushbara!
The rolled dough should be cut into strips and, in turn, the strips cut into squares 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm/3/5 inch x 3/5 inch. If the dushbara are too large, the meat will not cook in the middle. The best dushbara are those small enough to fit 10 to a tablespoon.
Put a pinch of filling in the middle of each square. Fold the corners together to make a square or triangular dumpling.
Bring the pan of stock to the boil. Add the water and soaked saffron threads (optional) and salt. Put the dushbara in the pot and bring to the boil. Simmer until the dushbara rise to the surface (usually around 15 minutes).
Serve the dushbara in bowls. Crumble dried mint or chopped fresh coriander over the surface of the dushbara. A mixture of crushed garlic and grape vinegar is served with the dushbara.

Milk pilaf recipe (Südlü plov)
My son did not like this, but we did. I served it with fish, and it was so lovely it really surprised us.
Serves: 2
Ingredients
1 glass of rice
1 1/2 glasses of milk
75-100 g/3-4 oz of unsalted butter
50-75 g/2-3 oz of golden raisins
10 dates
5 dried apricots, separated in half (optional)
a few strands of saffron
2 teaspoons of sugar (optional)
pinch of salt

Preparation

Put a few threads of saffron in a cup and add boiling water. Cover and leave to infuse.
Rinse the dried fruit.
Wash the rice and drain well.
Put the rice in a saucepan and add the milk, butter, salt and saffron infusion. Put the pan on a low flame.
Simmer until almost all the milk has been absorbed by the rice. When some two-thirds of the milk has been absorbed, add the dried fruit.
Place a well-fitting lid on top of the saucepan, covered underneath with a clean tea towel. The towel helps to absorb the steam. Turn the heat down as low as possible and leave the rice to finish cooking.

Stuffed apples recipe (Alma dolmasi)
Preparation time: 40 min
Cooking time: 30-45 min
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
For the filling
200 g/8 oz lamb or veal or a combination of the two
1 medium-sized onion
25 g/1 oz melted butter or 1 tbspn of vegetable or olive oil (butter is traditional)
a handful of chestnuts
1 tspn of ground cinnamon
1 tspn of allspice
a pinch of turmeric or a couple of strands of saffron
salt & pepper
6 large apples (dessert or cooking apples can be used; in Azerbaijani cuisine only dessert apples are used as cooking apples are not grown here)
2 dessertspoons of sugar or honey (or slightly more if using cooking apples) and 1 dessertspoon of lemon juice
1 glass (or more, depending on cooking time) of bouillon or hot water
Preparation
If using saffron, put the threads in a cup and add 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Cover and leave to infuse.
Pierce the chestnuts. Cover with water in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the water and shell. Don’t take all the chestnuts out of the water at once, as they are difficult to shell when dry. Roughly chop the shelled chestnuts.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
Put the minced meat, finely chopped onion, chopped chestnuts, spices, melted butter or oil and salt into a bowl and mix well with your hands.
Mix the honey and lemon juice in a saucer.
Wash the apples and pat dry with a cloth or kitchen paper.
Slice off the tops and set aside. Remove the cores and some of the flesh of the fruit to create a hollow for the stuffing.
Rub the inside of the apples with the honey and lemon juice mixture. This helps to prevent the apples from going too brown and to bring out the flavour.
Stuff the apples with the meat mixture, pressing the filling down hard. Put the tops back on the apples as lids.
Wrap each apple in foil (to help them keep their shape and moisture) and stand upright in a baking dish or ovenproof shallow pan.
Add half a glass of bouillon or hot water to the baking dish.
Place the dish in the hot oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes until the meat is cooked.
Pour the cooking juice over each apple before serving. Serve with fresh crusty bread and yoghurt (optional).

The above three recipes were adapted from ; https://www.azerbaijancuisine.com/category/azerbaijan-cooking/baking-recipes (accessed 16FEB2017)

Feseli, Flaky Flatbread
This was lovely, and great fun to make! I used my combination of spices...
source: http://azcookbook.com/2017/01/28/feseli-flaky-flatbread/ (accessed 17FEB2017)
Makes 2 flatbreads

Ingredients
Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading and work surface
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water

Filling:
Variation 1: Simple Butter Filling
6 tablespoons clarified butter (ghee) or unsalted butter

Variation 2: Spiced Butter Filling
6 tablespoons clarified butter or unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon anise seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon star anise (badyan) seeds, ground
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, ground to a powder with a mortar and pestle
¼ teaspoon turmeric
About 2 tablespoons clarified butter or unsalted butter, for frying

Instructions
  1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Add the salt and water and stir with your hand until a rough ball forms. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. If the dough sticks to your hands, add more flour. Cover with a kitchen cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
  2. Divide the dough into two equal parts and shape each into a ball. Work with one ball at a time and keep the other covered with a kitchen cloth.
  3. Transfer one ball onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it into a disk. Sprinkle some flour on top. Using a thin rolling pin, begin to roll out the dough. Wrap the near edge of the dough around the rolling pin and roll the dough away from you. Flour the circle lightly between each roll. Continue rolling until you obtain a very thin 16-inch circle.
  4. If you plan to use simple butter filling, melt the butter in a small pan and cool to room temperature. For the spiced butter filling, melt the butter in a small pan and combine it with the spices. Stir to mix and allow to cool to room temperature.
  5. Using a spoon, spread about 3 tablespoons of the plain melted butter or the spiced butter over the circle, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges. Gently roll the circle into a tight cylinder. Now, gently pull the sides of the cylinder to stretch it as far as it can go (this will thin the layers further). Next, holding one end of the cylinder with one hand, gently twist it (as if twisting a wet cloth) with your other hand a few times (this will yield a flakier bread).
  6. Now, holding one end of the twisted cylinder with one hand, coil it with your other hand to form a tight spiral. Leave the spiral aside to rest for 10 minutes. Then, using a rolling pin, roll out the spiral into a flat 10-inch circle. Repeat the process for the remaining dough ball.
  7. In a nonstick frying pan large enough to fit one flatbread, heat 1 tablespoon of butter (do this for each flatbread) over medium-low heat. Cook each flatbread on one side until it is golden, then turn to cook the other side, for a total of 7 to 10 minutes. Another method would be to cook, alternating the sides from time to time, to allow for even cooking, until both sides are nicely golden. Serve immediately.

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