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Tasty Turkish Gozleme in a plate.

Turkish Gozleme

April Freeman
A savory kind of turnover, our recipe for Turkish Gozleme relies on ground lamb and a host of seasonings to bring this international sandwich to life. You can create this recipe for dinner and serve it with a side salad, rice, or some veggies with tzatziki sauce.
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Cuisine Turkish
Servings 4 Gozleme

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • Plastic Wrap
  • Large skillet
  • Frying Pan

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the Bread

  • 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup plain yogurt
  • ½ cup water

Ingredients for the Meat Filling

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • ½ lb ground lamb
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 1 cup fresh spinach shredded and packed into a measuring cup
  • 1 tbsp dried mint
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 1 medium tomato diced

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, combine the flour and the salt, stirring them together. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and stir in the yogurt along with the water. Keep stirring until the mixture forms a dough. If it is too dry to come together, add a bit more water, a little at a time, until it starts to stick together to form a dough ball.
    A dough ball resting on a bowl.
  • On a lightly floured, clean work surface, turn out the dough ball. Press it together with your hands and knead it well for three to five minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough with a sheet of plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and let it rest.
  • In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and sautee it, stirring it constantly for about a minute, or until it is golden brown and fragrant. Add the ground lamb to the pan and cook it with the garlic, chopping it into small bits.
    Raw and cooked ground beef in a skillet.
  • Cook this for about five minutes or until it is fully cooked and no more pink remains. Drain any accumulated grease if needed.
    Ground beef on a skillet.
  • Add the onion powder, tomato paste, coriander, cumin, paprika, pepper, and salt. Add a few tablespoons of water and toss the spinach into the pan. Cook this mixture together until the spinach is slightly wilted and cooked and the water has evaporated. This should take about three minutes. You should have a mixture that is thick, fragrant, and chunky. Turn off the heat and let this sit.
    Cooked ground beef with spinach.
  • Next, go back to the dough and divide it into four equal pieces, rolling each one into a ball. Use a rolling pin to roll each dough piece into a rectangle that is about four or five inches wide and about ten inches long.
  • Spoon about three or four tablespoons of the lamb and spice mixture onto one half of the rectangle. Spread it into an even square. Add some dried mint, fresh parsley, a fourth of the cheese, and some chopped tomatoes.
    Chopped parsley with tomato and ground meat.
  • Fold the other half of the dough rectangle over the filling and press the edges together to seal. Repeat with the rest of the dough balls.
  • Spray a large frying pan with cooking spray and heat it to medium heat. Add the gozleme one or two at a time, cooking them on each side for 3 to 5 minutes, or until they are golden brown and crispy. You can use more cooking spray as needed.
  • Cut the gozleme in half on the diagonal and serve them for dinner. 
    Tasty Turkish Gozleme in a plate.

Notes

We can walk you through the process of making your own Turkish Gozleme in your kitchen from scratch, using fresh, delicious ingredients. First, you will mix up a batch of soft, yogurt-based bread. Then, you’ll create the filling. You’ll roll out the dough, fill them, and fry the folded pastries in a skillet, making them crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.
If you don’t want to go to all of the trouble of making the bread, you can substitute it with a couple of other things. You could use a rectangular sandwich wrap, or you could use Mexican tortillas. Just follow the recipe as directed, omitting the parts about making the bread from scratch. You can still fry the turnovers in the skillet and the texture of the gozleme will only be slightly different from the ones made with the classic Turkish pastry dough.
This recipe does freeze well, so you can create it ahead of time and enjoy it in the future. Let the fried gozleme cool to room temperature and then tuck it into a ziptop freezer bag with all of the air pressed out. You can freeze it for up to three months. To reheat it, put the frozen gozleme on a parchment lined baking pan and bake it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.
Keyword Gozleme Recipe, Turkish Gozleme, Turkish Gozleme Recipe

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