Lokum (Turkish Delight) Recipe

Next week is Kurban Bayramı (Sacrifice Feast) for muslims. In Turkey lokum is one of the traditional foods of Bayrams, so I made home made lokum for this Bayram. I made it with raspberry and pistachios. You can use different flavors according to your taste. But when  doind this, you shouldn't chage the rates of the ingredients.

Instead of raspberries, you can use strawberries, blackberries or black mulberries in the same amount. For orange flavor you can use juice and grated peels of a half orange. You can also use the same amount for lemon. For rose flavor, 2-3 tablespoons rose water will be ok. For the mastic flavor you can use two small pieces of mastic, crush them while using.

You can use food coloring to give a more vibrant colour, but do you need it for a homemade food? I thought so.

Some ingredients are used twice in the recipe, so I wrote them twice in the ingredients, it's not a mistake. I also wrote the amounts in the preparation each time not to confuse when to use which amount.

Lokum is not hard to make, but it takes a while. Separate half a day to make it comfortably. Never leave the pot alone in the boiling phase. It gets hotter than boiling water. So be careful of yourself and keep children away from the kitchen.

There are preparation stages in the photographs. The first photo corresponds to the seventh step of the recipe, it's a little thick but still fluid. It starts to thicken very quickly after this point, and as it thickens, the possibility of sticking to the pot rises, so at this point we decrease the heat. The second photo shows the consistency of step 8. When you put it together with the spoon, it does not flow, it stays as it is.

As it is very hot when you first take it on the powdered sugar mixture, the sugar melts and lokum sticks to the parchement paper. So after we give shape to the lokum (pic 3 of the collage), we turn it upside down and save it from sticky parchement paper. You do not need extra starchy powdered sugar at this stage since you have plenty on, under or around it.

There is no easier way to smoothen the surface with the back of a greasy spoon. Do not touch even with the tip of your finger, it is really really hot. Lubricate the spoon again in each touch. If you happen to accidentally stick the spoon to the lokum, it will be easier to continue with a new spoon.

The hardest part of the recipe is slicing it lengthwise. For this step, choose a strong, sharp and long knife and cover it with starch+powdered sugar mixture. But still, do not panic, when it sticks to the knife a little. Hold the lokum with one hand and push the knife with the other hand gently. The chopping part is not that hard.

You can keep the Turkish delights in an airtight container for a long time. Prefer a large bowl and place them in one row, so that the delights do not overbear each other and change shape.

Enjoy the recipe...

Bon Appetit...