Monday, August 30, 2010


Gözleme is a Turkish flatbread that is made usually from all purpose flour and is stuffed with a veg or meat filling and cooked on a griddle. It is from Anatolia region in  Turkey and on cooking on a griddle gets brown spots on it or 'göz' in Turkish.As per wiki, it is a pastry but the way it is made is similar to the way we make maida roti or  kulcha or even a Tortilla.In some sites I have also seen it referred to as a pancake.The filling inside the gözleme makes it similar to quesadilla and here(1,2,3) you can see the video of making a gözleme just like a quesadilla.In most of the sites it is given as a yeasted bread but I found a rectangular,non yeasted  gözleme at Binnur's Turkish CookBook and have adapted from it.As I said it is the simple mixing of flour and salt with enough water to form a dough which after resting is rolled out and stuffed and cooked.For filling,I simply crumbled tofu and mixed it with onion and cilantro and spices and went for a vegan filling.

All Purpose Flour: 1 cup
Salt: 1/2 tsp or as per taste
Water: 1/4 -1/2 cup as needed to make a dough

Tofu: crumbled: almost 1 cup
Onion:6-8  tbsp finely chopped
Cilantro: few sprigs chopped
Red chilli flakes (optional)


Filling: Mix all the filling ingredients and keep aside.Let tofu absorb all the flavours for atleast 30 minutes.You can go for your choice of filling -veg or non veg as well.

In a bowl,sift together flour and salt.Adding enough water knead to form a smooth elastic dough.Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for atleast 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 equal parts.Take a piece,roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a thin circle and then place 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle.Fold the opposite sides of the circle to cover the filling.The pic with the first side folded is ...

Then fold the 3rd and fourth sides as well to form a rectangle.After 3 sides it looks like..

and finally ready to cook,...

You can checkout the pictures in the original recipe at Binnur's as well.

Heat a pan/skillet/tawa to medium heat and place the rectangular gözleme on it and cook for max 1-2 minutes till the brown spots appear on it. The brown spots similar to eye or goz in Turkish has given the gözleme its name.Turn over and cook the the other side also.Brush the already cooked side with melted butter or oil for a vegan version.I used oil.Also brush the other side with oil/butter as well.Alternatively before placing the gözleme on the skillet you can spray the skillet with oil and cook it. Repeat the process with all the other dough balls as well.Serve with thick yoghurt or your choice of accompaniments. 

The bread was hearty and filling.The gözleme can also be used as a lunch box item and we can try out various fillings as well.This also warms up AWED:Turkey at Janet's Saveur,an event by DK.


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