Rumelia immigrants are familiar with the recipes made with pumpkin and presented with the general name “zucchini pita”. We come across a pumpkin pita and a pumpkin pie prepared with more or less similar touches in many corners of Thrace. Zucchini pita, which we encounter in Velimeşe town of Tekirdağ’s Ergene district, is a flavor with its own identity that we do not even encounter in the surrounding villages. The interesting thing is: This product, which they call black zucchini pita, is actually a palatable dessert. Don’t we come across the same interestingness in the “Laz Böreği” of the Black Sea Region? Here is such a surprising dessert before us. Although it does not contain phyllo or dough, it resembles a pastry in terms of its shape when served. This is probably why it uses the definition of pita rather than dessert.
Velimeşe is a settlement established by the immigrants from the Velika Tırnova region of Bulgaria together with the 93 war. We do not find a recipe for the dessert that comes from the roots. We do not even come across this tariff even in the surrounding villages, where they are related to the places where they migrated from Rumelia. However, this recipe, which was based on a preparation method with trial and error, was also prepared by previous generations and passed on to the next generation. They have a strong ownership.
We have compiled the black pumpkin pita recipe, which we have put into a general dimension below, from Ayşe GÜLER, who lives in Velimeşe. While we note that you can play with the measurements up and down according to your taste, let’s add to our words that the preparation of the dessert requires full dexterity and a careful eye during the cooking phase.
Materials :
- 1 medium zucchini
- 1.5-2 glasses of sugar
- 6 glasses of milk
- 6 cups of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of cheese or sour milk
- Butter
- And
Preparation of :
- Peel the outer skin of your black squash and slice into large pieces.
- For convenience, cut the pieces you sliced largely, either by shaving them with a sharp knife or by using a vegetable peeler, as thin as chips.
- Mix the cut black zucchini that you have taken into a deep mixing bowl with 2 glasses of sugar and leave it aside for an hour or two to congeal.
- Prefer a deep tray (cooking pan). Brush the bottom and side walls of your sink with oil and add a pinch of flour.
- Take some of your black zucchini that you have set aside and treated with sugar and lay a finger or two on the bottom.
- Place as much cheese on them as you can see with your fingers, eye to eye. Make sure it is a meltable cheese. Although there is a lot of sugar in the syrup of the dessert, make sure that your cheese is not too salty.
Not : Meltable white cheese is preferred. Alternatively, sour milk can be used. However, although curd cheese is recommended for this recipe from time to time, we should remind you that it is dry compared to others.
- Sprinkle flour on this layer with your fingertips.
- Lay the black pumpkin slices mixed with sugar on this layer again.
- Continue the same process by laying cheese on this layer at intervals and scattering flour.
Not : Observe the following while doing this. You can make as many folds as you want, but this arrangement should form at most ¾ of your sine. It should be taken into account that milk sherbet will be added to the remaining portion and that there is a risk of overflowing while it is boiling in the oven.
- When you reach the top floor, add pieces of butter between the zucchini.
- Again, add a pinch of flour from time to time.
- Prepare a syrup by whisking 6 glasses of milk, 6 glasses of sugar and 2 eggs in a mixing bowl.
- Carefully pour this syrup into your lined zucchini and cheese casserole.
- The milk should rise an inch above the zucchini. In fact, this mixed image may not even convince you what kind of flavor it will taste at first…
- Take your sine into a high-temperature oven first. 200 degrees is ideal for this.
- As your milk cooks, it may start bubbling or even splashing out of your pan, don’t worry.
- Starting from the place near the side walls of the tray, when your zucchini starts to brown, turn the oven temperature to 160 degrees and continue cooking.
- The time you cook your black zucchini dessert by grinding the milk syrup may take 3-4 hours depending on the cooking ability of your oven. Continue cooking until it is like a pomegranate, with a bit of patience and visual inspection.
- The volume of the zucchini you stack on top of each other will be reduced by half with the milk being extracted.
- Cut it like portioned pastry slices and serve after cooling.
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