Flatbread or Flat bread

Bread is an ancient food and the original form was likely flat.  The simplest formula is to make a dough based on  flour and water.  Flours are made from may crops: cereals such as wheat, maize, rice or rye; legumes such as peas, or lentils;  and starchy root vegetables such as potato, cassava,
A leavening agent,  from the Latin levare - to lift or raise, is used to entrain bubbles of a gas - such as carbon-dioxide - into the dough.   Adding living yeast,  which coverts starch into carbon-dioxide,  is a common leavening method.

Unleavened Flat Breads

Unleavened flat breads are arguably older recipes.   

Yufka , "saj bread" bread made on a saj pan. 

• Markook,  shrak,  also called sac ekmeği (saj bread) , or yufka,  in Turkish,  are made with a saj or tava , a large metal pan. Traditional village sac pans are large and convex facing up. They are mounted over a wood fire on stones, brick or metal frames.   The thin dough, also called yufka in Turkish, is similar to filo dough - see below.
• Roti -  also known as chapati, is made from atta flour - a whole wheat durum flour - and baked in a tandoor oven.   Paratha is a related bread.
• Paratha -    Paratha is made by using a roti dough and making layers by repeatedly coating with ghee and folding - creating a puff pastry effect.  Parathas can be filled with layers of potato or
  meat.
• Filo dough , called yufka  in Turkish,  is the base for many flat breads and pastries.  Filo (phyllo), leaf in Greek, is about as thin as a sheet of writing paper.   
• Börek is a class of filo-based pastries many of which can be considered flat breads.  
• Su böreği - 'water börek'  -  a thin filo-like dough (with eggs) is boiled briefly in large pans, A mixture of feta cheese, parsley and oil is scattered between the layers. The whole thing is brushed with butter and laid in a masonry oven to cook.
• Lavash - (Armenian) is soft, thin, unleavened flatbread baked in a tandoor oven.  It is common all over southwest Asia.  
• ....

Leavened Flat Breads

• Bazlama -  is a Turkish, sourdough flatbread with a light yellow color.   A fermentation starter is added to the dough and it is left for a day to ferment .  It is baked on a hot plate. 
• Pita -  is a slightly leavened flat bread that puffs up during baking and forms a internal pocket. This is due to high oven temperature, thickness of the dough form, leavening, and moisture content. 
• Naan, or nan,  is a  leavened, oven-baked, south Asian bread.  Nan tends to be made from refined, white flour these days. Nan is traditionally baked in a tandoor.
• Sangak - from Persia,  based on whole-wheat flour,  is baked on a bed of small river stones in an oven.  
• ....

Ashure, Aşure, Noah's Pudding: A Turkish Delight

Aşure  with walnuts, pistachio and pomegranate
July 18, 2015 - David Cohen

Aşure,  or Ashure,  also known as Noah's Pudding , is a Turkish dessert porridge made of a mixture of grains,  legumes, fruits and nuts. It is an ancient and symbolic dish.  The word comes from the Arabic for ten or "tenth" -  ashura -  عاشر   - derived from the Aramaic and Hebrew word for tenth,  asor .  It is served during the first month of the Islamic calendar, Muharram.    The Day of Ashura (Arabic: عاشوراء‎ ʻĀshūrā’ , colloquially: /ʕa(ː)ˈʃuːra/; Urdu: عاشورا‎; Persian: عاشورا‎ /ʕɒːʃuːˈɾɒ/; Turkish: Aşure Günü),  is on the tenth day of Muharram. 

Recipe Template for Aşure: 

Note: Not all ingredients are needed -  the basic idea is to have at least one of each group: grain, legume, fruit , nut and spice. The dish can range from simple to quite elaborate.

Grains Wheat, dehusked (Aşurelik Buğday or dövme=dehusked wheat (buğday) )  Barley, dehusked (dövme arpa) Rice - dry	Quantity ~250 ml - 200 gm ~200 ml ~150 gm ~60 ml  - 50 gm	Processing Boil - water ~ 500 ml add water as needed similar Boil - water ~200 ml
Legumes White beans Chickpeas	100 ml ~60 gms  dry similar.	Soften by soaking overnight  - then boil  about 400 ml  water , add water as needed.
Nuts Walnuts Almonds Sesame seeds Pine nuts Pistachios	150 ml   ~60 gms	Note:  not all types are needed
Fruits Apricots - dried Figs - dried Raisins Fresh orange	~60 grams one small
Sweeteners Sugar	~200 ml ~150 gms	Sweeten to taste
Spices Cinnamon Orange peel Rose water Cloves	Two sticks Optional Optional A few	Spice to taste

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A bit dry at this point

• Cook, or par-cook, each grain and legume separately.
• Combine for final cooking in a double- boiler. (~ 60 minutes)
• Add the spices to the combination..
• Add water if needed to keep the mix liquid.
• Add some diced, dry apricots or other fruit . 
• Add sweeteners carefully, we don't want it too sweet.  
• Taste in process. The mix should be soft but some body should remain. We are not making baby food. :)

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Add water as needed - note the use of the double-boiler
technique.

Do not add nuts to the hot mixture. Allow the mixture to cool.  We want the fresh flavors in the final mix. 

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Cold Soups - Gazpacho, Ajoblanco and Okroshka

Gazpacho is a Spanish cold soup from the region of Andalusia. It's similar to the Russian  okroshka and popular in warm weather. In this post I focus on gazpacho and note the differences with okroshka. and ajoblanco.

The standard gazpacho base ingredients are tomatoes and cucumbers. Ajoblanco , sometimes called  "white gazpacho" is based on almonds. Okroshka is special in that it is uses kvass ; a low-alcohol, beer-like, beverage made from rye bread. Typical okroshka ingredients are raw vegetables, potatoes, ham, and sometimes hard-boiled eggs.

Basic Gazpacho Andalus Recipe

• Fresh tomatoes, peeled and seeded. - ~ 1 kg
• Raw cucumbers - peeled and seeded. - ~ 500 gm
• Raw sweet pepper - any color. - ~300 gm
• Onion - ~ 200 gm - amount depends on mildness.
• Garlic - to taste - I like to add several cloves of lightly fried garlic in olive oil, or one clove of raw mashed garlic.
• Olive Oil - ~ 60 ml
• Lemon juice - ~ 50 ml - the amounts, and ratios, of lemon juice and vinegar depend on your preferences.
• Vinegar - ~ 50 ml - I like an interesting tasting, wine, or sherry, based vinegar. Balsamic is a nice choice.
• Salt - to taste - I add it slowly after everything is mixed together. Salt can mask sour flavors so you need to balance sour, sweet and salt as in any soup.

Additional Flavors and Spices (optional but interesting)

• Cumin - fine ground (lightly toasted in a bit of olive oil)
• Black pepper
• Hot chili pepper e.g. Tabasco sauce.
• Jalapenos
• Coriander leaf or seed
• Fennel
• Basil

Texture Options and Thickening

Typically soaked, mashed, white bread is added to thicken the soup if needed. Gazpacho texture can range from completely smooth to very chunky. If you choose to make it very smooth, you can add garnishes before serving. Not all ingredients need to be blended in total You can choose to leave some in chunk form.

Garnish Options

• Croutons
• Chopped cucumber or other vegetables
• Chopped nuts
• A blob of mayonnaise or aioli,

This is it so far. Updates likely

Russian Food #3: Pancakes

Russian Pancake Types.  

Blini (Russian: блины)  Somewhat thicker than crepes.
Blinchiki, Blintzes  (Russian: блинчики ) are thin crêpes made without yeast.
Filled blintzes are also referred to as nalysnyky (Ukrainian: налисники), nalistniki (Russian: налистники) or nalesniki (Russian: налесники)

Anna's Cabbage Oladyi 

 Oladyi (оладьи) (diminutive: oladushki оладушки, further abbreviated as ladushki ладушки), oladky (Ukrainian: оладки).  Small thick pancakes made from yogurt-, kefir- or soured milk-based batter (without yeast).  The batter may contain various additions, such as apple and raisins.

Draniki   дранікі -  Potato pancakes -  Belarusian (as дранікі draniki), Czech (as bramborák or cmunda), German (as Kartoffelpuffer or Reibekuchen), Hungarian (as tócsni and other names), Iranian, Jewish (as latkes or latkas, Yiddish: לאַטקעס, Hebrew: לביבה levivah, plural לביבות levivot), Latvian (as kartupeļu pankūkas), Lithuanian (as bulviniai blynai), Luxembourg (Gromperekichelcher), Polish (as placki ziemniaczane), Russian (as draniki, драники), Slovak (as zemiakové placky,haruľa or nálečníky), Ukrainian (as deruny) and any other cuisines which have adopted similar dishes. It is the national dish of Belarus.

 Syrniki (Russian: сы́рник[и]; Ukrainian: сирники; Belarusian: сырнікі) are fried quark pancakes, garnished with sour cream, varenye, jam, honey, or apple sauce. The cheese mixture may contain raisins for extra flavor. In Russia they are also known as tvorozhniki (творо́жники). The name syrniki is derived from the word сыр in Russian or сир in Ukrainian (transliteration: syr), meaning "cheese" in both languages.

Russian Food #2: Stews

Russian stews

In Russian, the names of many cooking methods are based on the Russian word for heat - жара  (zhara).   

Fried -  жареные,  zharenyye

Broil -  жарить ,  zharit

Roasted - жареный - zharenyy

One Russian stew is called Zharkoye .   Here is a photo of one of Anna's versions. 

more to come.

Russian Food #1: Dumplings, Buns, Pies

Some Russian Dishes

Dumplings

Close up of Anna'a pelmeni

Pelmeni  Russian: пельме́ни — plural, пельмень pelʼmenʼ — singular) are dumplings consisting of a filling wrapped in thin, unleavened dough. The Polish version is called pierogi - not to be confused with the Russian term pirog meaning pie (see below).

Anna's homemade pelmeni - ready for freezing

Varenyky (Ukrainian: варе́ники, singular "варе́ник") are stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough. The name varenyk means literally "a boiled thing". The word is cognate with the adjective "boiled" (Ukrainian: варений).   Varenyky are generally larger than pelmeni.

Galushki , Lazy varenyky (Ukrainian: книдлі, ліниві вареники, Russian: ленивые вареники) in Russian and Ukrainian cuisine are gnocchi-shaped dumplings made by mixing tvoroh (curd cheese) with egg and flour into quick dough. The cheese-based dough is formed into a long sausage about 2 cm thick, which is cut diagonally into gnocchi, called halushky in Ukrainian, galushki in Russian, and kopytka in Polish. 

Uszka,   Russian: ушки (úški)   (meaning "little ears" in Polish), are small dumplings (a very small and twisted version of Polish pierogi) usually filled with  wild forest mushrooms and/or minced meat. They are usually served with barszcz, though they can be eaten simply with melted butter and herbs (usually chives) sprinkled over. When vegetarian (filled only with mushrooms and/or onion) they are a part of traditional Christmas Eve dishes in Poland and Ukraine, and are either added in the soup, or eaten as a side dish.

Belarusian: вушкі (vúški) Ukrainian: вушка (vúška)

Kalduny or kolduny (Belarusian: калдуны́, Russian: кoлдуны́, Polish: kołduny, Lithuanian: koldūnai, used in plural only) are stuffed dumplings made of unleavened dough, filled with meat, mushrooms, etc,  in Belarusian, Lithuanian, and Polish cuisines, akin to the Russian pelmeni and the Ukrainian vareniki.   In Slavic languages the word means “magicians” or “sorcerers”, but it is unclear how the word became associated with the dish. 

Manti or Mantu (Turkish: mantı; Kazakh: мәнті; Uzbek: manti; Kyrgyz: мантуу; Pashto, Persian, Arabic: منتو‎; Armenian: մանթի) are dumplings filled with spicy meat. 

Buns and Pies

Pirog or pyrih (Russian: пиро́г), pl. pirogi пироги; Belarusian: пірог; Northern Sami: pirog; Ukrainian: пиріг, pl. pyrohy пироги) is a pie that can have either a sweet or savoury filling.

A coulibiac (Russian: кулебя́ка kulebyáka) is a type of Russian pie (pirog) usually filled with salmon or sturgeon, rice or buckwheat, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, onions, and dill.    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coulibiac

Kurnik, Russian savoury pirog with layers of blini, filled with chicken, mushrooms and rice

Pirozhki (plural form of pirozhok, Russian: пирожок, пирожки, which means a little pirog), sometimes transliterated as pyrizhky (plural from Ukrainian: пиріжок), is a generic word for individual-sized baked or fried buns stuffed with a variety of fillings.  The Russian plural of this word, pirogi (Russian: пироги, with the stress on the last syllable [pʲirɐˈɡʲi]), is not to be confused with pierogi (stress on "o" in Polish and English) in Polish cuisine, which are similar to the Russian pelmeni or Ukrainian varenyky. 

Girl Scout Cookies Contain Trans Fats

Girl scout cookies contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.  Hydrogenation, a chemical process , creates trans fats.   In the USA, unlike in many other countries, trans fat levels of less than 0.5 grams per serving can be listed as 0 grams trans fat on the food label.

Roasting Nuts At Home

Roasting nuts at home is a great step up in flavor and texture from store-bought roasted nuts.  It's pretty easy to do but there are a few things to avoid.   The main risks are time and temperature:   too long or at too high.     I

Pistachios - roasted today at home

roast my nuts (yes, I know)  at 350 F  ( 175 C) for 15 minutes at most.   Pre-heat the oven and place the nuts,  one layer thick,  on a baking pan.   Roast for about 7 minutes and then open oven and stir the nuts to roll them - you can also rotate the whole pan for more even heating.   Now comes the critical point -   continue roasting but smell,  look and listen to your nuts.  :)   Peeking often is OK -  it's better to get then out a bit early if you are unsure.   Sampling hot nuts is dangerous (in all domains).   When ready,  pull the pan out and place in a cool dry spot - try not to melt furniture or burn yourself.   After they have cooled to room temperature - place them in an airtight container.   Bon appetit.