Click on the arrow next to the ingredient to see the recipes.
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Perfect Easy White Bread
Nothing can beat an impressive loaf of crusty, rustic bread coming out of a home oven. Won’t you agree? I love homemade breads. Bread baking is one of my favorite kitchen activities, if...
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No-Knead Bread
A couple of years ago, when mom was visiting from Baku, I wanted to proudly demonstrate my new baking skills to her. She watched curiously, expecting difficult techniques and methods, but soon realized...
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Classic Dinner Rolls – Best Ever!
These days the family likes to hear “Dinner rolls are served!” more than “Dinner is served!” because they can’t get enough of homemade dinner rolls, especially when they are utterly, sinfully, ultimately good,...
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Turkish Sesame Ring (Simit)
If you ask a Turk living away from Turkey to name 5 foods he or she misses the most, chances are one of them will be simit. Some will also add cheese and...
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Honey Rolls
I love baking rolls, especially those that garner me lots of praise and compliments (that’s how modest I am), and this is exactly what mi amiga Marysol’s honey rolls have been doing for...
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Lahmajun and Yogurt Drink, Ayran
I am a huge fan of Turkish food. Have been even since I tried my first doner kabab in Baku, sometime back in the early 90s (boy, was I excited!), when the Soviet...
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Pizza – Daring Bakers Challenge
It´great that it is still October 29 here and I am not late to post my October challenge. It’s not 12 am yet:) Makes me feel like Cinderella for a day:) The reason...
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Danish Braid – Daring Bakers Challenge
Time’s up! Posting the June Daring Bakers Challenge. This month we had to bake Danish Braid, something I had always wanted to make but never dared, up until I had to:)) The hosts...
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Pirojki (Piroshki) with Potato or Meat
The family just can’t get enough of pirojki or piroshki—hand pies stuffed with delicious savory fillings, including mashed potato, sauteed ground beef, cabbage or green peas. Pirojki are believed to have originated from...
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Tandoori Bread or Tandir Bread
Occasionally, I have major cravings for tandir bread, or tandoori bread as it is better known in the US. Nothing comes close to the taste of a freshly baked crusty bread coming out...
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Turkish Carrot Salad with Yogurt Dressing (Video)
This post was originally published on April 15, 2008 and is now updated. I have added a recipe video and tweaked the recipe for best results. _____ Nutritious, vibrant, and delicious. What’s not...
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Mango Lassi
Recently, I attended a culinary event organized by Melissa’s Produce and Chef’s Toys, where produce connoisseur, cookbook author, and chef Cathy Thomas, talked about the many kinds of produce available in the markets...
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Soft Spinach Pie (Ispanakli Borek)
I’ve already posted a spinach borek recipe here, long ago. But this one below is a bit different. The filling is made with spinach but with cooked spinach rather than fresh as in...
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Golden Rice Crust
Azerbaijani rice pilafs prepared with the “drain-and-steam” technique are called by their general name, suzme plov, which literally means “drained pilaf.” The name stems directly from how the rice is prepared. Thoroughly washed and...
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Purslane Salad with Yogurt Dressing
Meet purslane. It is a weed, but a good one. Purslane has succulent fleshy leaves and stems with a slightly acidic flavor, close to that of spinach and watercress. This leafy vegetable offers some...
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Pasta With Ground Meat and Yogurt Topping
On chilly winter days a few things can be as comforting to Azerbaijanis as gathering around a table to enjoy warm and satisfying pasta dishes, khemir khorekleri (dough dishes), that come in a...
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Roasted Zucchini Salad with Garlicky Yogurt
I first tried this roasted zucchini salad with garlicky yogurt that originates in the Aegean regions of Turkey at my friend Canan’s house many years ago. I was hooked. A subtle sweetness of roasted...
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Chicken-Celery Salad with Yogurt Dressing
This chicken-celery salad with yogurt dressing my favorite salads from Turkish cuisine. I love how tender chicken meat pairs with crunchy celery, cucumber, and walnuts. I also love it that this salad is...
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Yogurt Soup with Fresh Herbs and Chickpeas (Dovgha)
I wrote on AZ Cookbook facebook page that the epitome of spring and summer in Azerbaijan was soon coming to my blog. I gave a hint, alright, that it was going to be...
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How to Make Curd Cheese and Farmer Cheese
Indian paneer, Italian ricotta, Russian tvorog and Azerbaijani kesmik. What do they have in common? A lot. These are similar variations of soft cheese made from curdled milk. (In fact, curdled milk translates...
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Turkish Yogurt Soup
Just like in the neighboring Azerbaijan, yogurt is an indispensable kitchen staple in Turkey, too. It is added to salads, made into sauces with garlic to scoop onto pasta dishes, used to moisten...
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How to Make Plain Yogurt at Home
When I lived in Baku, every Saturday an old jiguli would stop in front of our nine-story apartment complex and an energetic woman in her late 60s, known to many as sud satan...
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Eggplant Salad with Yogurt and Mint
As you may already know, I can’t have enough of anything eggplanty. I absolutely love this vegetable. It is, perhaps, the most versatile vegetable on earth (eggplant haters, did you hear that?). Really,...
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Lahmajun and Yogurt Drink, Ayran
I am a huge fan of Turkish food. Have been even since I tried my first doner kabab in Baku, sometime back in the early 90s (boy, was I excited!), when the Soviet...
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Summer Berry Yogurt Loaf Cake
When I saw the recipe for Raspberry Lime Yogurt Pound Cake on Elle’s New England Kitchen, I knew I had to make it as soon as possible. I love berries and I find...
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Cheese and Yogurt Cake with Lemon Zest
The other day I was going through my old notebook recipe collection and this recipe caught my attention. I had all the ingredients available so I decided to give it a try for...
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Creamy Yogurt Soup
Yogurt is widely used in Azerbaijani kitchen. Yogurt soups are especially popular. Some chilled, some warm. There is yogurt soup with fresh herbs, chickpeas and small meatballs, there is chilled yogurt soup with...