Turkish Spinach and Feta Cheese "Shortcut" Gozleme

For Day2 of Blogging Marathon, I decided to make Gozleme and the cheese I used is "Feta". Gozleme is a Turkish pastry with savory vegetarian or meat filling all made from scratch!I find making the pastry from scratch a bit tedious so I follow this "shortcut method" that was taught to me in a Turkish Cooking Class -- Using Tortilla instead of the pastry. You should check out the YouTube Videos of Turkish women making this the authentic way. Its quite fascinating!

To make the Tortilla as soft as the hand-rolled pastry it will have to be "dipped in milk and oil mixture" and then cooked on the stove-top for a minute or two until the tops are slightly browned. While nothing can beat the taste of food made from scratch, the dipping in the "milk-oil mixture" step ensures that there isn't a remarkable difference in texture between the made-from-scratch and shortcut version.I have eaten both versions and love them both without bias! :) Note: With all the pepper and red pepper flakes this is NOT spicy, at-least not for me.Next time I will think of adding some hot peppers in the filling.

A few of my favorite Turkish Recipes: Muhellebi(Milk And Flour Pudding With Walnuts), Turkish "Spinach and feta cheese" Borek, Kisir(Turkish Tabbouleh)

Ingredients(For 2 Servings, 2 Tortillas per person):

• 4 Whole Grain Tortilla (I used Santa Fe)
• 5 Cups Packed Chopped Spinach
• 8 Tbsp Greek Crumbled Feta Cheese (I used Athinos)
• 3 Mini Peppers, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 1 Large Yellow Onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
• More Oil for cooking the Tortilla

For Dipping the Tortilla(s):

• 1/2 Cup Skimmed Milk
• 1 Tsp Olive Oil

Procedure:

• Wash the spinach in several changes of cold water. Completely dry it of moisture and finely chop it. Set aside.

• In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and saute the chopped onions along with cumin seeds, red pepper flakes and cracked pepper.

• Once the onions brown, add the chopped mini peppers and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped spinach to the pan.

• Wilt the spinach for a couple of minutes. Add salt as needed and more cracked pepper if needed.

• Pour the milk and oil for dipping in a deep dish. Dip "one side" of the Tortilla in this milk-oil mixture.

• Add the spinach filling to the other side of the tortilla. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of crumbled Feta Cheese on the top of the spinach mixture and fold it in half.

• Transfer the tortilla to a non-stick skillet and drizzle a tsp of olive oil to the sides. Cook for a minute per side and transfer to serving plates.

• Cut the Tortilla into wedges and the "shortcut" Gozleme is ready to be consumed.

Enjoy!