International Cuisine

Ingredients:

Dough:

½ cup water

½ cup whole milk

2 packets active yeast

2 cups bread flour (high gluten flour)

Extra flour for dusting

1 ½ cup olive oil for deep frying dumpling

Filling:

1 large finely minced onion

1 pound ground meat

1 cup sweet pepper sauce (biber)

½ cup finely chopped Italian parsley

Salt for seasoning

Sauce:

6 cloves finely grated garlic

1 cup plain yogurt

½ cup sweet pepper sauce

Olive oil for sauteing sauce

Instructions:

1. Mix water and milk together and warm to 100F/40C. Dissolve yeast in the mixture. Add flour and mix well. Let dough sit for 10-15 mins to rise.

2. Saute the minced onion in a bit of olive oil over medium high heat until clear and soft. Then add the ground meat and cook till brown. Stir in sweet pepper sauce and parsley. Filling mixture should be slightly oily but not watery or runny. Set aside to cool.

3. While cooling the filling, knead the dough a bit. Pinch a marble sized amount of dough and roll out into a circle. Alternatively, roll out the dough to about 3 mm thick and use a cup to cut out the dough. Put about a ½ to 1 teaspoonful of filling into the center and roll into a ball. Make sure that the filling is not leaking. Each dumpling should be smaller than a golf ball. Keep the dumpling small because it will expand further upon frying.

4. Fill a cast iron or stainless steel pot up to 1½ inch deep in olive oil. Do not use a teflon coated pan which may melt from the heat. Heat the oil until about 375F/180C. Test the oil with a bamboo chopstick. If bubbles form around the oil, it is ready. Fry the dumplings until they are light golden brown. Strain on paper towel and arrange in a plate.

5. Start frying the balance sweet pepper sauce in a bit of olive oil till fragrant. Let it cool.

6. Mix the grated garlic with yogurt and pour over the fried dumpling. Now add the cooled sweet pepper sauce over the yogurt and serve.