By Casey Neill
Gozleme is a traditional Turkish village food with a crispy pastry outer and a melting savoury middle.
Ismet ‘Izzy’ Ozyurek and Emel Yilmaz run Dough Works Gozleme and Kebabs.
They explained that the authentic way to cook the filled pastry dish was on a hot plate fired by fresh wood.
“A few ladies from the village usually gather and make large batches for family members,” they said.
‘Goz’ translates to ‘eye’ in Turkish.
“Although there’s no exact translation to gozleme it sounds something along the lines of ‘to make eye’,” the Dough Works team said.
“When the gozleme is cooked, small round darker circles appear on the pastry and looks like eyes, and this is the reason why it is called gozleme.”
Only spinach, salt and pepper feature in the traditional gozleme.
Dough Works serves up spinach and feta; chicken, spinach and feta; chicken, mushroom and feta; lamb, spinach and fetta; and create-your-own options.
“It is a dream come true for savoury lovers,” they said.
“Cheese melted with absolutely fresh spinach and deliciously spiced meat or, if you are vegetarian only, a mix of vegetables melted with cheese.
“It tastes amazing, it looks beautiful, it smells divine – you just need to try.”
The Dough Works team opened its caravan shutters at Dandenong Market in early 2008.
“Gozleme was a food our mothers and grandmothers made on weekends in Australia to continue the Turkish village street food tradition,” they said.
“We decided that this food was getting ever-popular in Sydney and not many people in Melbourne were providing it to food-loving people around, so we were here to start the gozleme craze in the South-Eastern suburbs.
“Even where people don’t have much money in Turkey, they still eat like kings and queens.
“Gozleme is so tasty and it isn’t well known like some of the other traditional street foods of other countries like pasta, pizza, kebab etcetera so we wanted to sell something that’s not like anything else.”
Dough Works also serves up traditional Turkish kebabs with lamb, beef or chicken, garlic sauce and salad.
