My dear friends, I first of all want to start out by saying thank you,for sticking with for the last 6 months.  So much had being going on, even at times I was lost, but now finally everything has settle down and everything is in place. Thank god.  Now my little angle is 5 months and counting, shes growing so quickly and each day I love her more and more.   She is the apple of eye rather of our eyes, she has many friends and admirers already.  She has become our little social butterfly.  I believe she just can not wait to grow up – when she sees children running and playing she watches them with deep admiration.  Silly girl, mommy does not want you to grow up.  More like silly me, wishing such wishes.

Well, if she wants to grow, she much eat and drink lots and lots of milk, which is something she is really good at.  I wanted to make this return post a bit special, something authentic and very Turkish.  Well nothing says it better then two jars of homemade yogurt.  I had described in detail on how to make home made yogurt, lets make these an addition to that posting.  Instead of fermenting the milk in a pot, this time I fermented the milk  into two jars purchased from Ikea.  Plus it takes up less space in the fridge and looks incredibly irrestible. 

If you think you have made too much yogurt, which I highly doubt.  In any case, if you think its too much yogurt for you, try these delicious orange and yogurt cake or this olive oil and yogurt cake.  At one point in time, I made these cakes severals times during the week.

 Whole milk creates a butter like texture on top of the yogurt. Go ahead & spoon it!
It does look delicious doesn’t it?

Or maybe you would like to take the whole jar and start spooning away!

HOMEMADE YOGURT

Recipe is available here – just a few notes to make the yogurt in the jar.

Note 1:

1. Once the milk has cooled down, spoon the created layer of buttery goodness to a plate.
2. Pour milk into the jars.
3. Add in your starter (fermenting) yogurt and give it a stir. DO NOT COVER WITH LID.
4. Dividing evenly, place back the spooned layer of buttery goodness on top.
5. Place in a warm (draft free) area of your kitchen and cover tightly with kitchen blankets.
6. Leave over night or day on kitchen counter.
7. Place into the fridge again WITHOUT THE COVER for 1 (one) day.
8. Place cover after one full day in fridge and serve!

Note 2:

1. For this recipe I used 1 gallon of milk and doubled my yogurt starter.

I make my yogurt using 100% whole milk it can also be made with 2% milk. Visit these websites for various recipes of how to make yogurt at home.
AZ Cookbook – How to Make Yogurt at Home  &  101 Cookbooks – Homemade Yogurt Recipe

All things fried are suppose to be bad for our health, let me tell you this means nothing to me.  I believe that everything in moderation is good and once in while indulging in fried vegetables is good for our health.  Please tell me who can say no to a good french fry or deep fried chicken.  I can honestly say, pass the plate my way.

Frying vegetables is actually very popular in Turkish cuisines as well as Middle Eastern and Greek.  One of the top fried vegetables is zucchini, especially when they are in season like right about now.  Aside from frying zucchinis, these cuisines also fry or saute (a fancier word) green Italian peppers, eggplants, mushrooms, red bell peppers and tomatoes.  A combinations of these vegetables fired is utterly amazing and delicious.  We tend to fry these vegetables because it is becomes a quick, easy and actually very satisfying meal and very refreshing when served with garlic and yogurt sauce. These dishes are often served as an appetizer, a side dish or even as a main course.

The most important thing to remember is to keep the recipe simple and use the freshest ingredients when possible.

FRIED ZUCCHINI 
                   aka GREEN SQUASH

Ingredients:

• 4 medium to long, thick zucchini
• salt
• black pepper
• 3/4 vegetable oil
          (it is better to use this sort of oil when frying – because olive oil will burn very quickly)
• several paper towel – to absorb the excess oil

Yogurt Sauce:

• 1 cup of yogurt (or more if you like)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• salt

Preparation:

1. Wash the zucchini very well and pat dry with a paper towel.  Cut of the head and end pieces.  Begin slicing the zucchini into about 1/4 inch thick slices.  Nothing to thin and nothing to thick.  If it is to thin once it cooks it breaks apart and nothing to thick because the inside will not cook through.
2. Into a medium to large a bit deep frying pan, heat up the cooking oil to about 200-250 degrees. 
3. Slowly and carefully, add in the slices of zucchini, about 10 -12 pieces into the pan – depending on the size of your pan.  Do not dump everything all at once – the objective is to fry the zucchinis in batches. 
4. Let the zucchini cook about 2-3 minutes on each side, until they become a nice brown color.  The first batch will take a bit longer to cook, don’t worry this is normal. 
5. Onto a flat surfaced plate, place a paper towel over the plate.  Once the zucchinis are cooked on each side, remove from the oil using a spatula and place them over the paper towel.  The paper towel will absorb the excess oil.  At this time sprinkle with salt and black pepper over the hot zucchinis.  (I find the seasoning each batch is much easier and better, because you can control the amount of your seasoning.)
6. Continue to cook the zucchinis in batches until they are all fried and seasoned.
7. In the mean time prepare your yogurt and garlic sauce.  Into a small mixing bowl, add in the yogurt, salt and minced garlic and mix well. (I like to grate fresh garlic with the smallest side of the box grater – this brings out the flavor really well.)  Cover with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until serving.
8. Once all the zucchinis are cooked, place on to a serving dish and let cool.  It can be served warm or cold.
9. When serving, place yogurt sauce over the top.
10. Enjoy!

On cold winter days nothing warms you up better then a cup of soup.  I’ve mentioned several times how much I love soups.  At home I make a large variety of soups as often as I can.  The powder packaged soups I purchase from the store come in really handy, when I don’t have the time.  When I have time especially on the weekends, I love to prepare some hearty soups.

This week I’ve noticed I am posting things related to milk & yogurt.  This was not intentional, it just sort fell into place rather into posting.  This soup in particular is very different and very tasty.  The original recipe belongs to a good friend of mine, she is from Konya, she and her sister make this soup and taste is out of the world.  She had once given me the recipe, but when I was looking for it over the weekend, I could not find it.  I used ingredients that I remember that belonged to the recipe and it turned out great.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of white all purpose flour
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup of orzo
• 4-5 cups of water (chicken stock)
• salt (as per your taste pods)
• 2 tablespoon of butter
• 1 teaspoon of mint  – topping
• 1 teaspoon of paprika – topping
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil – topping

Preparation

1. Cook the orzo AL DANTE in small sauce pan – as you would any sort of pasta – drain excess water.
2. In a soup pot, add in the flour, egg yolks and yogurt mix well.  Mix thoroughly making sure the flour and eggs and yogurt are incorporated well. Will have a nice smooth texture.  Pour in your 4 cups water and mix well.
3. Over a medium heat, bring the the soup mixture to a broil.  Add the salt and butter.  Stir continuously until the mixture begins to broils.
   Note: If the mixture is to thick add in that extra cup of water.
4. Once your mixture broils, take off from hear.  Add in your drained orzo and stir everything well.

Topping
          ~ See picture above – drizzled paprika & olive oil

1. In a small sauce pan heat up the olive oil. Once it is hot, just drop in the teaspoon of paprika and mix it a bit.
2. Drizzle the top of the soup with the heated olive oil and paprika and sprinkle some mint!

Serve & Enjoy!

I kept my promise and I’m posting…How to make homemade yogurt!

Making yogurt at home is actually fairly easy.  I’ve been making yogurt as long as I can remember.  My recipe comes from grandmother, she had thought when they were visiting us here in the states when I was about 14 or so.  I can say that I grew up with home made yogurt, don’t get me wrong I love store bought yogurt as well.  Rather I prefer the taste of homemade yogurt because I can taste the real difference between homemade yogurts and store bought yogurt. 

Today at the local super markets one can find a LARGE variety of yogurts and each yogurt a has a different texture and taste to it.  Most well known and culturaly known yogurt that is close to Turkish yogurt is Greek yogurt.  Their are a large variety and numerous brands of Greek yogurt, but not all Greek yogurts are the same.  Some have a taste that is close to an authentic homemade yogurt while others taste a bit more sour and have a runny texture.  Its all of a personal preference, eat what you like!  I like to try a variety of yogurts, once in a while I will purchase different brands of yogurts to experiment and taste their flavors. 

My favorite supermarket brand yogurts are Dannon All Natural only flavors of vanilla & plain.  Dannon all natural plain yogurt is a great yogurt starter.  My # 1 favorite brand is Stony Fields.  I love their vanilla yogurt and plain yogurt, vanilla flavored is awesome in yogurt parfaits.  When I used to work in Red Hook, Brooklyn, before heading into the office, everyday 5 days a week I would stop by a local pastry and dessert shop called Baked.  I would buy there vanilla, granola and fruit yogurt parfaits – it is to die for good.  I have not had a yogurt parfait that well made, in a long time. Except for the ones I make at home. 

Stonyfield 6oz and Dannon 6 oz plain yogurts are great starts for homemade yogurts.  I do not use and prepare my yogurt with milk powder, because I prefer to use whole milk.  Two good brands for yogurt making are Tuscan and Farmland Dairies.  I have not tried to make yogurt with 2% milk or 1% or even skim milk.  The main reason is this, whole milk has full fat, once the fat is reduced and or completely removed in order for the yogurt to get its texture I need to use milk powder and a few other ingredients.  I do not have time or the patience to deal and work with that, for this reason I prefer to use 100% whole milk.  

This recipe makes for 3 liters about 3.2 qrts equal a 1/2 gallon.

Ingredients

• 1/2 a gallon of whole milk (good full fat brand)
• 1/2 cup of yogurt starter
  ~ first time makers - use 1 – 6 oz Dannon or Stonyfields Plain Yogurt or any brand you prefer 
• good stainless steel pot
• temperature reader
• large cloth to cover the yogurt once it had been fermented 
  ~ old table cloths work fine 

Preparation

1. Wet the bottom of the your stainless steel pot – drain excess water.
2. Pour the 1/2 gallon of milk in your pot and bring to almost a broil over medium heat.  Once the top has risen – a foam will have formed – remove from the heat. Be careful not to over flow the milk.
3. Insert you temperature reader and set a side to cool – it will take about 30 minutes for the milk to cool.  Should come down to a temperature of 110 degrees. See picture below.
   If you do not have a temperature reader that’s okay – wash your hands clean and using your pinkie finger, dip your pinkie slightly not going all the way it into the milk.  Be careful, it might be hot, if it is hot to touch then it had not cooled enough.  Check back again, several times if necessary.  The milk should not burn your pinkie rather it should be a luke warm feeling.
4. Once cooled, add in the yogurt starter from one side using a spoon – important DO NOT STIR - just top it with the pots lid.  Once you have added the yogurt – you have fermented the milk.
5. Now this set step is important because the milk has to be kept at a certain temperature for it to become a yogurt - it must be kept a warm surrounding.  This is the reason why it has to be wrapped in the cloth towel.  Wrap the cloth all around your pot, covering all sides of the pot and set it on your kitchen counter.  It will take about 8 hours for the yogurt to form.
   Note: Prepare everything the night before broil, cool and ferment the milk.  Cover and set on kitchen counter and leave over night.  Leaving it over night is the quickest way to make yogurt.
6. After 8 hours, unclothe your pot and cool to see that you have made yogurt. Put your homemade yogurt into the refrigerator and let cool for another 6-8 hours. 
7. Serve cold and enjoy.    

Milk in stainless steel pot, over medium heat. This is how it should look just before it begins to broil.

Cooling on kitchen counter,  should cool down to temperature of 110 degrees.

Add in starter yogurt DO NOT STIR – Top with Lid

Cover well with cloth.

6-8 hours later - your home made yogurt.

At the store we sell a variety of home style yogurts. We have homemade styles that range from full fat to low fat and ones with real butter on top.  Most popular brands are Arabic, Turkish, Greek and American styles.  Most commonly known and used brands are Romi’s, Ethnic International, Babylos & Greek.