Rahatlokum - Bosnian Turkish Delight

One of the national desserts of Bosnia is "rahatlokum" or basically Turkish Delight. It it not exactly Turkish Delight although the name, shape, and maybe even flavor implies. The texture of this lokum is slightly more gooey or malleable than the lokum found in Turkey. It is as if the baker added extra jam in it making it the slightest bit runnier and more like a candy gum drop. Another feature is that this lokum is sweeter.

From the variety pack purchased at one of the cafes in the old town section of Sarajevo, Bosnia, it appears that the flavor of choice leans toward walnut. The rose flavor is light and not too sweet and had a better texture than the others sampled. However, this sampler missed the favorite pistachio that is not too sweet or salty. Perhaps the hunt for the elusive pistachio lokum will be found on a deeper endeavor through the small streets of Sarajevo. Butik Badem on Abadžiluk 12 in the old town carried the Bosnian variety of lokum, but the pistachio here was jazzed up to an almost unrecognizable sweetness.

Manzara - Borek

En route to Portobello Road, the window displays at Manzara catch the eye with its varieties of pide and borek lining the window shelves. Turkish borek at Manzara is a pastry made of phylo dough filled with spinach and feta cheese. Outside, borek may be found with a number of differnt fillings. It is a simple food made for take away for easy consumption while walking.

£2.95 will get you an order of borek for take away. They will stick it back in the oven for you to heat up nicely and put it in a paper bag with a napkin. The filling is adequate and tasty, though the dough is not necessarily cooked the way through (the least bit soggy or uncooked closer to the filling) while delicately flaky on the outside. Very tasty and light.

Manzara. 24 Pembridge Road, Notting Hill, W11 3HL

Paticlan Dolmasi (Stuffed Eggplant)

The light and delicious stuffed eggplant from Çiya Sofrasi in the Asia Side neighborhood Kadıköy in Istanbul induced an intense craving for more. No longer reaping the benefits of the foodie destination, a home-made version of this dish was attempted.

When roasting the eggplant, the skin was left on for its nutritional value. After roasting, the eggplant shells were a little tough and pliable, not soft for easy cutting. Perhaps this was user error as the oven used tends be hotter than the dial indicated and the eggplant did not need to be roasted as long. The original recipe for the filling was generous requiring more eggplants. The extra filling would perform well in a wrap with fresh greens as it is flavorful and wholesome.

The final result was more aesthetically pleasing though the taste was not what was expected. Although the flavor of the meat in this recipe was subtle, the stuffed eggplants served at Çiya were made without meat and if they were, the taste was even less noticable.


Recipe ideas that resulted from this run were:

• Leaving more of eggplant pulp in the shell
  
• Substituting ground beef for roasted eggplant pulp
  
• A combination of the first two

Patlican Dolmasi (Stuffed Eggplant) Serves 6 People adapted
6 Japanese eggplants uniform in shape
Olive Oil
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs Lemon juice

For stuffing:
2 Tomatoes, sliced thin
1 lb very lean Ground Beef
1 large or 2 medium Onions, chopped
1 small can Diced Tomatoes
1/2 bunch Parsley
1/2 cup Pine Nuts
4 cloves chopped Garlic
1 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Clove
1/4 tsp Dried Mint
1/4 tsp Dill
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (add more if desired)
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
Olive Oil
1/2 cup basmati rice

Cut eggplants in half (not lengthwise). Remove pulp. Slather the eggplants with olive oil. Place in baking dish and cook in the oven at 375°F until tender (about 1 hour).

In a large skillet, sauté onions, garlic and pine nuts in olive oil. Add ground meat and brown, making sure the ground beef is in uniform small pieces. Add spices, currants and stir well. Add can of tomatoes and rice. Stir, reduce to simmer and cover until rice is cooked (about 20 minutes - you may want to add more water for rice). Remove from heat.

Remove the eggplants from oven. Place the ground beef mixture in the center of each eggplant. Place tomato slices on top. Drizzle liberally with water and lemon juice to the baking dish and cover the dish so that it is air-tight. Bake at 450°F for 30-45 minutes. Serve.