If you live in Sydney, Gozleme are something that you’ll be familiar with as they’re cooked and served at just about every local market. It’s common to see stalls manned by white-scarved Turkish woman rolling out pastry, stuffing them with a variety of fillings before griddling them to golden brown perfection. Our local Saturday market serves two different fillings, spinach and feta and a fiery minced beef. We love the former which is served with wedges of lemon that brighten up all the flavours. Gozleme are actually pretty easy to recreate at home and make a lovely appetiser or light lunch/snack. Whilst they taste wonderful straight off the griddle and piping hot they’re also lovely at room temperature which make them great for the kids lunch box. The pastry is very easy and manageable and quite unusual as it incorporates yogurt. I often do all the preparation in advance. The pastry can be made and the gozleme filled and kept covered until you’re ready to fry them – which doesn’t take very much time at all and only uses a small amount of oil. I recently made these and cut them up into small wedges as an hor d’oeuvres for a dinner party and they were gone in a matter of moments so make the full quantity as they’ll disappear fast.
Ingredients – Makes 4 Gozleme
200g plain yogurt
1/4 teaspoon salt
250g self-raising flour
100g baby spinach
200g feta cheese, crumbled or cut into thin shards
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Lemon wedges, to serve
Method
Beat the yogurt and salt together in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add the flour until you have a stiff dough. Tip onto a lightly floured bench and gradually knead the dough, incorporating any remaining flour until the dough is soft and only slightly sticky. Transfer to a clean bowl and stand covered for 30 minutes.
On a floured surface, split dough into 4 equal sized round pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 30cm circle. Place ¼ of the spinach over half the circle, then sprinkle ¼ of the feta over it and season. Fold dough over and seal edges with a fork. Repeat this process with remaining dough. Preheat barbecue hot plate, griddle or a large non stick frying pan. Add a little olive oil and place a gozleme on the pan/griddle once the oil is hot. Cook over medium heat until the base is golden. Turn and cook the other side until also golden. It will only take a few minutes per side and the gozleme will deflate slightly as the spinach cooks and the cheese starts to melt. Place on a board and cut into 4 – 6 pieces. Serve hot or warm accompanied by lemon wedges.
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