Turkish Delight

Turkish delight is a world famous middle Eastern sweet. It is one of the oldest sweet, the invention of the recipe dates back to the era of the ottoman Empire of turkey. Me and my daughter likes watching historical drama from far of lands like Turkey, Korea, China, places we had never been to but never stops fascinating us with its rich culture and traditions. I saw this colourful candy in a historical series about ottoman Sultanate and was literally craving to have these. I have never had the authentic Turkish delight, but after some experiments I finally could make some.
Since I didn't have all the ingredients I used only the available ingredients in my kitchen.

Ingredients

1 cup corn flour 

250 grams sugar

Juice of one medium size lemon 

3 table spoon powdered sugar

1-2 drops red/pink food colour

1 teaspoon rose water

Steps

Step 1

In a pan mix sugar, 1 cup water and lemon juice and medium heat while stirring continuously till the sugar dissolve. 

Step 2

Bring it to boil and make sure it doesn't caramelise. When the mixture becomes sticky switch off the flame. 

Step 3

Meanwhile combine the cornstarch and 1 cup water and heat it while stirring continuously. 

Step 4

Once the mixture thickens, after few minutes of cooking, add the sugar syrup little by little and incorporate well. 

Step 5

Keep stirring it till the mixture thickens well. It will become almost transparent. At this point test the consistency by dipping a spoon into the mixture and placing it into a glass of ice water. 

Step 6

Once it reach the desired consistency add the rose water and mix well. 

Step 7

Add 1-2 drops of red/pink food colour and mix well. 

Step 8

Transfer the contents to a greased square shape tray/ container and keep it to set for 5-6 hours in room temperature. 

Step 9

Once it is set, gently run the tip of a knife at the edges so that you can easily flip the  candy to a cutting board. 

Step 10

Sieve 2-3 tablespoon powdered sugar and equal quantity of corn flour and mix well. 

Step 11

Dust the cutting board with corn starch mixture and gently cut the candy to 1 inch square pieces. Coat it with the corn starch- powdered sugar mixture so that it doesn't stick to each other. 

Step 12

The tasty treat Turkish delight is ready and you can store it in an airtight container. 

Tips

• Since I made it during the lockdown period I could not get ingredients like rose water or gelatine. 
• Rose water is a flavouring agent and to get the real aroma and authentic taste it is a must have ingredients. 
• Even without gelatine or cream of tartar the consistency was satisfactory. 
• The mixture should be really thick, otherwise the final product will be too soft and moist. The ideal Turkish delight should be chewy and gummy in texture at the same time sweet and soft. 
• The ideal colour us pink but red also looks fine. 
• There are many variations that can be made by adding different flavouring agents.