Breathtaking scenery , great architecture, good looking people and scrumptious food … Turkey is everyone’s favourite destination these days for vacations.
I find it really amazing how similar Pakistani, Afghani, Persian and Turkish cuisine are. Like vegetables are “sabzi” , cheese is ” paynir”, watermelon is “turpuz” (tarbooz), halwa is “halva” in Turkey too. But then again Urdu is basically an amalgamation of so many languages …. including Persian and Turkish!
Baklava and Turkish delight (Lokoom) are tourist’s favourite. I have tried making baklava using filo pastry but it is a lengthy procedure. I prefer sharing recipes which can be made easily anywhere. There is gelatin in this particular recipe which is from a “halal” source in Pakistan. Not so sure about the rest of the world.
ingredients: ( makes about 18 pieces)
5 tsp unflavoured gelatin
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/8 cups water
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 – 2 tsp rose water
food colouring
icing sugar
method:
In a small heavy based pan combine gelatin, sugar and salt and mix well. Add water. DO NOT stir. Bring to a slow boil over low flame and simmer for 5-7 minutes WITHOUT stirring. Sugar would be dissolved and mixture would be thickened.
Remove from flame, add lemon juice and rose water. taste to check if it requires more juice. Add colouring. At this point you can stir a little but don’t over do it.
Take a rectangular 6 x 6 pan and rinse it with cold water; do not dry it. Pour the mixture into the pan and refrigerate till set, preferably overnight.
Cut into squares and roll in icing sugar.
Note:
Adjust the quantity of rose water and lemon juice according to your taste.
You can use orange juice or orange blossom water.
Add citrus rind, mint or nuts for variation.
I put a very small drop of red liquid colour.
heenie's food blog 
Leave a reply to GeoGirlGlutenFree Cancel reply