Topik Recipe
There is a famous Turkish song about meyhane, Turkish tavern. It has a line "has the topik just finished? ok, no problem". Sorry for my lazy translation. It sounds better in Turkish. I shared this just to show the place of topik in Turkey. It is an Armenian meze and an important part of Turkish cuisine. You can find topik in most of the Istanbul taverns and if you are a little late, it's possible that they run out of it. As it's shelf life is not too long, it's just prepared in small portions.
Topik has undergone a slight change over time. It used to be wrapped in some kind of cloth and then boiled in water. Even the girls in Istanbul used to have topik clothes in their dowries. Boiling the topik is meant to prevent the leakage of the oil in the filling. Normally you don't need to cook it as the ingredients are already cooked. But the plastic wrap wraps the topik so tight that it doesn't leak. Therefore, technically no need to cook.
But if you want to do it in accordance with the original version, you can cover the topiks with thin clothes and boil them. Bu still you have to let them rest in the fridge overnight.
You can use canned or frozen chickpeas for topik. This will shorten the time you need to spend for making topik which takes a considerable amount of time.
Enjoy the recipe ...
Ingredients
For the outer part;
- 400 g boiled chickpeas,
- 2 boiled potatoes,
- 2 tablespoons of tahini,
- 1 teaspoon of sugar,
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
For the filling;
- 3 onions, sliced,
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts,
- 3 tablespoons currants,
- 1 teaspoon of brown sugar,
- 1 tea cup of tahini,
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon,
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper,
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice,
- Salt,
- 4-5 tablespoons of oil.
Preparation
- For the filling heat the oil, add the onions and roast until caramelized,
- Add brown sugar and stir,
- Add tahini, currants and pine nuts and roast for a few minutes more,
- Add the spices and salt, stir and remove from the heat,
- While the filling is cooling, pulse chickpeas and potatoes with the addition of tahini, sugar and salt in a food processor until it becomes puree,
- Divide the mixture into six parts,
- Take one piece and spread it on a wide piece of plastic wrap,
- Place one-sixth of the filling on it,
- Roll the topik together with plastic wrap,
- Prepare the remaining ingredients separately,
- Put the topiks in the fridge and let them rest overnight,
- Next day, remove the plastic wrap and serve with cinnamon, currants, pine nuts and lemon.
Enjoy...
- Zara Hacopian: Topig is an authentic Armenian dish from the Goghtan region of Nakhichevan which was Armenian territory for millenia. February 23, 2022 7:08 pm
- Kevser: It's also known and made by The Armenian living in Turkey. It's hard to tie food recipes to one region as people move to and live in different places. February 24, 2022 3:30 pm