Friday, October 30, 2009

Turkish Delights


This week I didn't make my sourdough bread because I'm still suffering from a stiff neck due to some strained muscle from kneading too much dough. I can't turn my neck to the left without feeling pain in a (pulled?) muscle in my neck connected to some muscle in my back/chest - so this really wasn't the best time to try making something I'd never made.

Thing is, the recipe seemed straight forward enough with a little corn flour and a little sugar, etc. I didn't think this little experiment would turn into something that would remind me of what they made Oscar Wilde do in prison!

Anyhow the recipe I used wasn't perfect as it failed to mention some crucial instructions (or omitted something) and if you didn't put the candy batter through a sieve (or so something that was unmentioned), you ended-up with solid lumps of corn starch inside your soft candy. I put some of mine through a makeshift sieve aka a tea strainer - but seriously it was so hard to do I gave-up after I'd done this with less than half of it.

The candy sat in these oil lined small containers with wrap in them overnight and then I cut them and dusted them with a mixture of corn starch & sugar the next day. After I tried some exactly the way they were supposed to be, I tried adding a small amount of green tea powder into the dusting mixture and this turned out to be a very nice thing to do, because it offset the somewhat cloying sweetness. For some reason, when you dust Turkish Delights (flavored with lemon and orange flower water) with green tea powder - the flavor of the green tea really comes alive - more so than if you painted some vanilla cookies with green tea frosting. It wasn't such a bad combination with the lemon and orange flower essence either.



Anyhow I'm not posting the recipe as I believe it was an incomplete recipe that needed some more details. For those of you who would like to try - I suggest you consult a Turkish friend who has a grandmother who still makes these at home!

Addendum: I found this recipe just now. This recipe tells you to boil the mixture until all the lumps are gone, and uses more water. I'm not sure this will work, but it does make sense as your mixture will be much more diluted so you'd be able to boil it more and let all the bits of starch dissolve.

10 comments:

Jhonny walker said...

You won't belive this...A fren of mine went to turkey and she bought back these delights. I had never ever had them before. So it was on the lab table. And I got addicted to them. They are soo good.

Glad to see this post !!

Anonymous said...

Hi M...So sorry to hear of your shoulder troubles... I know it can really put a damper on things.

As for the Turkish delight...THESE ARE MY FAVORITE ! I love love love them...

Will you be trying it again with an improved recipe ? Well then I can't wait ...as I would love to learn how to make this at home from scratch...the seieve part sounds complicated though : (

ann low said...

Take Care, Murasaki :)

Dewi said...

Delightful indeed. One of my favorite sweet.

NKP said...

They do look good!
Hope you are feeling better, or find a chiropractor who will work for bread!

taste traveller said...

One of my best friends married a Turkish guy. They had "delight" at the wedding - it was much better than the store bought garbage of my childhood. Your lumps look good - I may need some sugar. Good idea with the green tea - I haven't even tried it on vanilla cookies but I think I'll freak out all the Germans with Green Tea Vanilla Moons this Christmas.

Murasaki Shikibu said...

Taste Traveller: lol, yes. I'm sure 'green' vanilla moons will freak a lot of people out. ;)

♥peachkins♥ said...

wow! this looks really interesting as I've never had any turkish goodies..

Lori said...

I have always wanted to try Turkish Delight. I still have not.

I feel your pain. I had shoulder pain last year. Me and physical therapy were best friends.

Anonymous said...

my fav!!