eG Foodblog: sazji - Istanbul Glutfests

[fou de Bassan]

sazji,

Thanks for blogging! The view from your friends place is wonderful, so peaceful. It was the photos of the sweets that really caught my attention. I just found a little Turkish market not far from me that sells the very walnut-grape confections you show. I bought a few and love them! They did not sell the kataif, which I do love, unfortunately.

[Pan]

Many of us will remember the deadly earthquake that affected the Istanbul area a few years ago. My first thought in looking at the gecekondu is that I'll bet they would crumble right away in an earthquake. Has anything been done since the earthquake to crack down on violations of building codes?

And a culinary question: I ate at a Syrian restaurant in Brooklyn today (Zaytoon's on Smith and Sackett, for those of you who know it). I got lentil soup, a merguez sandwich, and a milk pudding with crumbled pistachios that was strongly flavored with orange blossom water. I'm totally sure that lentil soup would be served throughout Turkey, because it's served most everywhere where lentils grow (and I've also had some at Turkish restaurants in New York), but what about spicy lamb sausages or the usage of orange blossom water in Turkey?

[nakji]

I'm always struck by how much time other cultures spend on the floor compared to in the west! In your picture above of the women preparing food, they're hunkered right down, bowls and all. The other night, I was at a friend's house, and we were preparing for her party. She was lamenting the fact that her kitchen counter had no space for prep. It's entirely taken up by the sink and the gas range. She announced that it must have been designed by a man - and I said, "No - it's Vietnamese style - all of the prep is meant to be done over large plastic bowls on the floor.", and we had a bit of a laugh, as her apartment was built for westerners in a very posh modern style - unlike the average Vietnamese kitchen, which is often just a room with a water tap, a hearth if they're lucky, or if not, a coal burner surrounded by bits of tin. After we laughed, we looked around, and realized it would be much more practical down there anyway, hauled the cucumbers and cutting boards down to the cushions she'd laid out for the party, and continued on.

When I lived in Korea, all of our family meals were taken on the floor with our bosses' large extended family - Auntie would announce the jigae was ready and the mini tables would pop out of nowhere, and the next thing we knew the tables were covered with innumerable panchan and we had bowls of rice in our hand. They always let us sit at the end, as we were unable to keep our legs crossed for long periods of time.

[Pan]

Further to your point, nakji: It is traditional to eat kenduri (feasts) seated on a mat on the floor in a Malay house. I have spent a great deal of time sitting on the floor and having delectable (and at least once, poor -- when a cheap family put too much chili in the goat curry) savories with rice, and desserts, cross-legged, eating with my right hand. It sure was worthwhile!

[Smithy]

After I read that bit about having more floor space than counter space, I took a new look at my kitchen. But of course! We DO have more floor space than counter space! What a revelation!

Then I realized that, in our particular household, any time one sits on the floor (with or without food) there will IMMEDIATELY be one of 5 cats, or a dog, in one's face, or investigating what's there on the chopping board. So much for the Eastern or Middle-Eastern approach to increasing work space.

[Sentiamo]

And a question from me here.....

Turkish Delight. I have been talking with American friends about this wonderful sweetmeat lately and they didn't know what I meant! Even Lokum meant nothing.

A wee bit of investigating led me to an American site that sells Aplets and Codlets ( I think I have that right) which are very much like Turkish Delight. But not either.

Now, I adore the real stuff. I make cheesecakes with it, fill muffin centres with it, flavour panna cotta then top with Pashmak (Iranian Fairy Floss ), etc.

Can you show us some photo's of Turkish Delight if you just happen along to another sweet store?? And some info on what the locals may do with it other than just mouth popping which is my habit?

lolol, I would be grateful.

And craving.

[sazji]

Good morning....no pictures of myself just yet because I'm still so jet lagged (no sleep night before last, about 4 hours last night) that I'm looking and feeling like a living dead. Oy.

So, breakfast. I'm not a particularly Turkish breakfaster. I have only a marginal relationship with tomatoes, early morning is too early. The very un-local beverage of choice was Sumatra coffee from Cafe Vita in Seattle (good coffee is very hard to find in Turkey so I bring it or have it brought...I think of it as a tax...) Bread, Nutella (yes that's a finger swipe...quality control, y'know), Trader Joe's peanut butter (organic, creamy), egg (4 minutes), homemade blood orange marmelade (this I highly recommend!) and a couple pieces of beyaz peynir ("white cheese," known elsewhere as "feta").

By the way, though in the east the "sofra" is a cloth spread on the floor, in central and western Turkey it is often a low table like the one above. Most houses don't have a dining room per se; the modern sofras have folding legs and are packed up and rolled behind something when not in use. Or they just use a big metal tray and put it onto a big plastic tub, which puts it at an ideal height. Often a much larger tablecloth is put on, each person takes his section and puts it in his/her lap. When the meal is over, it's rolled up and shaken off the balcony to the benefit of pigeons, and the detriment of passersby.

Actually "sofra" can be translated into "any place you normally eat food from," and to invite someone to dinner is "sofraya davet etmek" - to invite to the dining table. So for more citified/westernized Turks, the regular dining table is just as much a "sofra" as any of the others.

Exotic foods:

People are often surprised to find that good coffee is a hard-to-come-by commodity here. It's not that you can't get coffee; it's just that a coffee that responds well to the Turkish way of preparing it tastes...well, almost acceptable actually when brewed as espresso, but when you do drip/french press for some reason it is foul. One problem is that imported items are heavily taxed here. 100 g. of coffee beans from Gloria Jeans, last time I checked (which was a couple years ago) was 5 lira, or about $3.75 US. Multiply by 5 - that's close to $19 a pound! And that's a lot for a Turkish salary.

A few foods that can't be bought here (just looking at my latest haul):

unsweetened chocolate

sweetened condensed milk

evaporated milk

grits

sweet potatoes

cranberries

pecans

parmesan cheese (available but extremely expensive)

bacon (meaning pork bacon - available at around 40 dollars a pound)

(or any pork products for that matter)

vegetable shortening

Certain "exotica" are now available because of the priveleged class that can travel and is exposed to them - things like coconut milk fish sauce, maple syrup (priced according to the gold standard), but they are really luxury items for me here. But some things have caught on and are produced locally like soy sauce (but...it's the first soy sauce I ever got that molded in the bottle!), and fresh ginger (still expensive but around 9 dollars a kilo, down from 25 or so a few years ago).

So when I go back home, there is a "list of things I must eat." This time it was pho, sushi, dim sum, a real hamburger, good pizza, and American ice cream. My mother was quite obliging on this last point...so when I went there there was lots of that in the freezer! As she can't eat too much sweet stuff, the duty fell to me. My pants feel tight....

[sazji]

I've seen the recipe for those walnuts dipped in grape in a Georgian cookbook, but it looks like you have to keep dipping them for days.  Tell me, are they so delicious as to be worth the effort to make them here?

And being in the Seattle area, let me say that  I have never in my life imagined our climate to be close to Turkey's.  That alone is a revelation.

What instrument do you play, and can we have a little video clip of you playing?

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My mom remembers this walnut candy from when she was a girl living in Greece. Evidently there it was also dipped repeatedly. The Turkish one is easier as far as I know; the juice/molasses is thickened with cornstarch. It's actually the forerunner to lokum, which was invented once refined sugar became available. They are good; I'd love to try the one dipped over and over, I'd imagine it would be more intense. I don't think it's made in Greece any more; they thicken theirs with flour and it didn't make me do backflips.

As for Turkey's climate - well, Istanbul winters are similar to Seattle's, as they are in the Black Sea area. It stands to reason actually, lots of water, a mountain range. I'd call Seattle's climate a "cool mediterranean" climate. But in the summer it's quite hot and humid here. Luckily we mostly have a breeze and that saves us.

I play saz/bağlama (the long lute-like instrument in the previous photos; the one playing is the person I'm learning most from these days). A video - we'll see.

[sazji]

Thank you for a really educational look at the culture of Turkey from a food and music perspective, it's very facinating. Is that a real estate sale sign over the Simitci store a Remax logo??? Great job keep the pic's coming.

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Yep. Actually one of my best friends works for Remax.

[sazji]

sazji,

Thanks for blogging!  The view from your friends place is wonderful, so peaceful.  It was the photos of the sweets that really caught my attention.  I just found a little Turkish market not far from me that sells the very walnut-grape confections you show.  I bought a few and love them!  They did not sell the kataif, which I do love, unfortunately.

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If it's the "bread kataif" that you love, I can post a recipe. Most people just buy it dried and reconstitute it with the hot syrup but it's not that hard to make. The shredded wheat type is not one that you can easily make at home; they make it by pouring a very thin wheat flour batter through a pourer with a line of small holes in sweeping circular motion, then scrape it off as soon as it sets.

[sazji]

Many of us will remember the deadly earthquake that affected the Istanbul area a few years ago. My first thought in looking at the gecekondu is that I'll bet they would crumble right away in an earthquake. Has anything been done since the earthquake to crack down on violations of building codes?

Yes, but as Istanbul has an estimated population of around 15 million, it's not easy to control. The area of Avcılar was very badly damaged in the quake and many buildings were torn down; since then other buildings have also been declared unsafe and razed. But I remember reading an article mentioning that a good 50 percent of the buildings in the area of Zeytinburnu were sub-standard (this is an area that was mostly gecekondu in the 80s and since then has gone almost entirely to multistory cement apartment blocks). A big earthquake here is not going to be pretty. I always think about it when I move - up to now I've lived in older buildings in Beyoglu which have gone through several; now I'm in a two-story brick building that was built in the 40s - the kind that almost always is left standing. I personally would rather be in a gecekondu (you'll get some wood, plaster and possible some roof tiles on top of you if it collapses) than an 80s-and-after apartment building!

I got lentil soup, a merguez sandwich, and a milk pudding with crumbled pistachios that was strongly flavored with orange blossom water. I'm totally sure that lentil soup would be served throughout Turkey, because it's served most everywhere where lentils grow (and I've also had some at Turkish restaurants in New York), but what about spicy lamb sausages or the usage of orange blossom water in Turkey?

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Yes lentil soup is common here, made from both green and red lentils. The soups are mostly pureed and made from hulled lentils, often cooked with other vegetables before pureeing. Spicy lamb sausages - not something I've had but maybe it exists in the E. Mediterranean area. If I ever get there I'll do an entire blog on that region! I am hoping to go to Çiya restaurant sometime this week; it's the only place I know that specializes in home cooking from S/SE Turkey. I'll try to remember and ask the chef there about them.

Orange blossom water - it's available but I've never had it in anything; here in Istanbul rosewater is the perferred flower water. But once again, it might be used in the Antep region; the border between Antep and Aleppo is a fairly recent phenomenon after all.

[sazji]

I'll comment on the "eating/food preparation on the floor" posts together.

In eastern Turkey I was struck by how almost every room of the house can be a multi-purpose room. Beds are rolled up and stacked when not in use, there is no table, just a cloth to shake out; people sit on cusions with harder cusions for backrests; all of this is easily transportable/rearrangeable. Many villagers there, as well as in western Turkey, recently led at leat seminomadic lifestyles. In the summer you went up to the mountain meadows with the flocks and lived in tents woven of goathair. When people were settled (sometimes forcibly as with many of the Turkish tribes by the Ottoman government less than 200 years ago), they brought this way of living into permanent dwellings.

Also, many dishes like sarma (stuffed grape leaves) or foods that require lots of rolling and cutting of dough are labor-intensive. I have counter space in my kitchen but when I'm doing things like shelling beans or rolling sigara böreği I'll take it into the living room, put down a newspaper and do it sitting on the floor. It's must more comfortable. (Just as back home I'd do that stuff sitting at the kitchen table.)

Then I realized that, in our particular household, any time one sits on the floor (with or without food) there will IMMEDIATELY be one of 5 cats, or a dog, in one's face, or investigating what's there on the chopping board.      So much for the Eastern or Middle-Eastern approach to increasing work space. 

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That would definitely not fly in a Turkish home! Kitchens are generally meticulously clean, and though people do have a soft spot for cats (not so much for dogs), they aren't "four-legged people" in the local mind. A cat or dog who dared stick its face into food for human consumption would probably not try it again if it had any sense of self-preservation...!

[sazji]

I'll comment on the "eating/food preparation on the floor" posts together.

In eastern Turkey I was struck by how almost every room of the house can be a multi-purpose room. Beds are rolled up and stacked when not in use, there is no table, just a cloth to shake out; people sit on cusions with harder cusions for backrests; all of this is easily transportable/rearrangeable. Many villagers there, as well as in western Turkey, recently led at leat seminomadic lifestyles. In the summer you went up to the mountain meadows with the flocks and lived in tents woven of goathair. When people were settled (sometimes forcibly as with many of the Turkish tribes by the Ottoman government less than 200 years ago), they brought this way of living into permanent dwellings.

Also, many dishes like sarma (stuffed grape leaves) or foods that require lots of rolling and cutting of dough are labor-intensive. I have counter space in my kitchen but when I'm doing things like shelling beans or rolling sigara böreği I'll take it into the living room, put down a newspaper and do it sitting on the floor. It's must more comfortable than leaning over a counter. (Just as back home I'd do that stuff sitting at the kitchen table.)

Then I realized that, in our particular household, any time one sits on the floor (with or without food) there will IMMEDIATELY be one of 5 cats, or a dog, in one's face, or investigating what's there on the chopping board.      So much for the Eastern or Middle-Eastern approach to increasing work space. 

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That would definitely not fly in a Turkish home! Kitchens are generally meticulously clean, and though people do have a soft spot for cats (not so much for dogs), they aren't "four-legged people" in the local mind. A cat or dog who dared stick its face into food for human consumption would probably not try it again if it had any sense of self-preservation...!

[sazji]

Can you show us some photo's of Turkish Delight if you just happen along to another sweet store?? And some info on what the locals may do with it other than just mouth popping which is my habit?

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Well, I think popping them into your mouth is a perfectly fine way to deal with them! I don't know of any other treatmet actually. I'll be up in Taksim later today and drop by Haci Bekir's.

[sazji]

All this talk about kitchens reminded me - I do plan to actually cook something this week! I thought I'd share a view of my kitchen (a typical "designed by a man" kitchen here). When I came, it had a tile counter with a sink, that's it. No cupboards, nothing. Actually old houses don't have closets either, people bring their own wardrobes; this is the case in the apartments buildings that most people live in.

The double teapot on the stove (which in retrospect I could have turned to make it more visible) is the typical fixture here. Water is boiled in the bottom part and the tea is slightly moistened and put in the upper part to expand. When the water boils it's poured over the tea, the heat is turned down to a minimum, and it's left to steep. Usually a lot longer than we would - however long it takes till the tea sinks.

Also no heating system; Like many folks still I heat with a soba. Not a constantly hot bowl of buckwheat noodles, a soba is a wood or coal stove. Mine uses both, and is relevant here because it's the "kuzine" type, meaning that it has a regular "stovetop" and an oven, which is great for cooking börek and baked potatoes. It's best to burn wood if you are using the oven; coal gets very hot and can heat the oven to over 500 degrees! The bottom oven is for keeping food warm, and for making yogurt. Which I never do. In the villages in Turkey and Greece, many people still cook in such ovens. Not so great for things like delicate pastries but fine for things where temperature doesn't need to be exact.

The aluminum pitcher on top of the soba is called a güğüm. With its wide bottom and narrow closed top, it's designed to heat liquids fast. It's my hot water source in winter. (I do have a flash heater for my shower...)

The stovetop is great in the winter for roasting chestnuts (just put them directly on), making toast (I lay the tongs sideways on the top and arrange the bread along them; it's toast in a minute or so) and keeping the tea kettle warm. Also for long-cooked things like soups and stews; you are heating the house anyway so why use up your gas canister by cooking on the regular stove?

[nakji]

I wish we had one of those here - it's cold now!

In eastern Turkey I was struck by how almost every room of the house can be a multi-purpose room. Beds are rolled up and stacked when not in use, there is no table, just a cloth to shake out; people sit on cusions with harder cusions for backrests; all of this is easily transportable/rearrangeable.

This is true of many places in Asia - space, after all, being at a premium. And, a lot more people have to share the kind of space we in the west would consider much too small for more than one or two people.

I miss the floors in Korea, which were heated. My house now has a cool tile floor, which is great in July, but not so great now.

Do you do a lot of cooking at home? Your kitchen looks a lot like mine, white utility tile and all! Although mine didn't even have any gas burners when I moved in, I had to sweet-talk the landlady into adding them. I have no oven at all...

[sazji]

Do you do a lot of cooking at home? Your kitchen looks a lot like mine, white utility tile and all! Although mine didn't even have any gas burners when I moved in, I had to sweet-talk the landlady into adding them. I have no oven at all...

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I do. Your landlady gave you burners? Lucky you! Here an unfurnished apartment is really unfurnished. You bring your own refrigerator, stove, etc. Many people do without ovens; much home cooking doesn't really depend on it, and some use separate plug-in electric stoves big enough to hold a single round pan.

[sazji]

Okay, time for another installment. I spent today up in the Taksim area, because I had to get a bag of special plant soil from a friend (I'm also a garden/plant freak). He suggested we meet at Voldemort's, because being recently returned from Seattle, it would make me feel "at home." It's in a 100 year-old building on İstiklâl Caddesi, the long pedistrian street that runs through Beyoğlu. I will say this for them, they have done their homework when it comes to Turkish coffee/tea culture. While many Starbucks in the US seem to be designed to encourage people to come, get the coffee, drink it and make room for the next customer, the ones here have very comfortable living room-like interiors that invite you to stay and chat. (At 4 YTL — almost $3 US — for a short latte, they damn well better invite me to linger!)

Here is what I look like when I haven't had a decent sleep in four days.

After the soil was obtained, I remembered my promise to get lokum pictures, and Hacı Bekir'swas right down the street. Haci Bekir is commonly credited with being the inventor of Lokum as it's known today, and are widely considered to make the best. I have to agree. Here's their display window, sorry about the glare.

A selection of mixed lokum: Plain, rose, pistachio, walnut, hazelnut, mastic.

A decidedly posed shot of my friend Emre not actually eating a piece of walnut lokum. Why didn't he eat it? I don't know, he did buy it. I guess he was waiting for that perfect moment!

Though Hacı Bekir's best known product is lokum, they also make all sorts of other confections as well, notably very good halva, or in Turkish, helva. It's sold in bulk.

Meanwhile, Koska, another old though slightly touristy company, is better known for its halva but also sells lokum.

One winter specialty is hot helva, where helva is melted back to its gooey state. I haven't tried it actually, this was the first time I'd seen it. I would have tried it but it wasn't melted yet!

What I did end up getting (from another place) was a few pieces of cezeriye, which fits into the broad category of helva. To make it, carrots, preferably "black" carrots (actually they are beet red) are boiled, mashed and sweetened. After they have reduced, pistachios or other nuts are added, and after cooling and cutting, the finished product is rolled in coconut. It's said to be very healthy, and an aphrodesiac to boot. I haven't ever taken Viagra but I'm sure this tastes better.

Having had dessert first, I decided to drop by Ferda's (see first installment) restaurant, called 3. Mevkii. It's a small "home cooking" restaurant near Taksim. They have had a very faithful following for many years, have never advertised, and have not even let themselves be written up in the papers, because they have plenty of customers as it is. Even the sign is miniscule - about 8 inches wide in the corner of a window; it's definitely a word-of-mouth place. There are no waiters, you take a menu, a piece of paper and a pen and write what you want, then take it down to the kitchen. The food comes on a dumbwaiter and it's your responsibility to watch out for your own order when it comes up.

I came in just as they were taking their lunch break. In Turkey when you walk in on a meal, they say "Kaynanan seni sevecek!" or "Your mother-in-law will love you!" They make a very nice mixed cream of vegetable soup.

I also had a few mercimek köftesi, or red lentil köfte. ("Köfte" is often translated "meatball" because that's the most common kind we see, but it really is a much broader term and refers to almost anything that's savory and shaped into one- or two-bite pieces like this. A specialty of Adana and the surrounding region, his one is made from red lentils that are cooked till soft, and mixed with fine bulgur, onion, tomato and pepper paste, parsley, mint, salt, pepper and cumin. The "sauce" is a finely chopped tomato, cucumber and pepper salad with pomegranate molasses. It's often also eaten wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf and topped with a squeeze of lemon.

I didn't have the yufkalı kebap, or "kebab with phyllo," but it looked nice, even though the white balance adjustment on my camera seems to have gone on a short vacation. It is a meat-filled pastry, deep fried till crips, then topped with yogurt and olive oil heated with red pepper.

A word about the word "kebab" (or, under the effect of Turkish phonology, "kebap"): Because şiş kebabı (shish kabob) is generally the only kebab known in the west, it is usually assumed that "kabob" refers to a skewer. This results in all sorts of dishes being named things like "fruit kabobs," "marshmallow kabobs," etc. Kebab doesn't mean skewer: the skewer is the "shish!" Kebab/kebap means "cooked over flame," or "roasted." There is a large variety of kebabs (which I'll highlight another day) to be had. Even roast chestnuts are known as "kestane kebap." The sellers cry out, "Kestane kebap, yemesi sevap!" or "Roast chestnuts, eating it is a good deed!"

Actually, though grilled lamb on a skewer is, technically a "şiş kebabı," it's only called that (or "shish kebob") for tourists; Turks generally call it "kuzu şiş," simply "lamb skewer."

One dish almost ready to go into the oven (It just needed a little water mixed with tomato paste) was the "tepsi köfte," or pan köfte. The köfte are alternated with sliced potatoes, and topped with tomato and sivri ("pointed") peppers. These can range from sweet to evilly hot...you never know till you bite into it, though when you cut them the smell does give it away. But they have a very distinct and full flavor; nothing else quite substitutes for them.

The restaurant doesn't make a lot of sweets but one that has been popular for a long time there is their çikolata soslu muhallebi, or muhallebi (milk pudding) with chocolate sauce. It's a typical "home" muhallebi, thickened with wheat flour rather than cornstarch or rice flour, and one of the better ones I've tried. I can post the recipe if anyone's interested.

Edited December 11, 2006 by sazji (log)

[BarbaraY]

This is fascinating to me. I had a friend, now passed on, who's husband was posted in Turkey at Ankara during the early 70s. Unfortunately I have only three things that she sent to me: a set of brass candle sticks, a handmade vase, and a turkish cookbook.

I think it's time to get it out and make something.

Thanks for some great photos and a look into home life.

[Smithy]

A selection of mixed lokum: Plain, rose, pistachio, walnut, hazelnut, mastic.

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I can certainly see the resemblance between this lokum and the Applets and Cotlets with which I grew up. Aside from the names, do you know whether there are significant differences? Someone upthread suggested there are.

I also had a few mercimek köftesi, or red lentil köfte. ("Köfte" is often translated "meatball" because that's the most common kind we see, but it really is a much broader term and refers to almost anything that's savory and shaped into one- or two-bite pieces like this. A specialty of Adana and the surrounding region, his one is made from red lentils that are cooked till soft, and mixed with fine bulgur, onion, tomato and pepper paste, parsley, mint, salt, pepper and cumin. The "sauce" is a finely chopped tomato, cucumber and pepper salad with pomegranate molasses. It's often also eaten wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf and topped with a squeeze of lemon.

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I love the way you can see the fingerprints in that kofte. No careful rolling into a perfect ball or sausage shape here - it looks like it's just "squeeze and cook" in the most efficient way possible. Thanks for giving information about the sauce. I wouldn't have thought of pomegranate molasses in that mix, but I'll have to try it.

One dish almost ready to go into the oven (It just needed a little water mixed with tomato paste) was the "tepsi köfte," or pan köfte. The köfte are alternated with sliced potatoes, and topped with tomato and sivri ("pointed") peppers. These can range from sweet to evilly hot...you never know till you bite into it, though when you cut them the smell does give it away.  But they have a very distinct and full flavor; nothing else quite substitutes for them.

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This is a perfect example of a fine meal that's light on meat, probably fairly low-calorie, and not likely to dirty up a bunch of dishes. I'll bet it's tasty. Are the kofta pre-cooked, or do they cook in the liquid? Are there any tricks to getting the timing right so the meat and potatoes are ready at the same time?

The restaurant doesn't make a lot of sweets but one that has been popular for a long time there is their çikolata soslu muhallebi, or muhallebi (milk pudding) with chocolate sauce. It's a typical "home" muhallebi, thickened with wheat flour rather than cornstarch or rice flour, and one of the better ones I've tried. I can post the recipe if anyone's interested.

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Yes, please!

[scubadoo97]

Reminds me of kibbeh ades. Kibbeh made with red lentils instead of meat.

Love the blog, the pictures and the video are great.

[hathor]

One dish almost ready to go into the oven (It just needed a little water mixed with tomato paste) was the "tepsi köfte," or pan köfte. The köfte are alternated with sliced potatoes, and topped with tomato and sivri ("pointed") peppers. These can range from sweet to evilly hot...you never know till you bite into it, though when you cut them the smell does give it away.  But they have a very distinct and full flavor; nothing else quite substitutes for them.

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Wonderful blog, Sazji!

My husband's family came from Turkey, and I have a bunch of these type of pots. Sadly the interior finish is so deteriorated that I can't cook with them. But, its lovely to see them in use.

Your list of things you craved when you went back to the States was interesting, mine also included Pho, and dim sum, but I also craved toasted rye bread and limes!

And your observation about 'convienence foods' in Turkey is far too similar to what is going on in Italy. Every time the Kraft single slice cheese commercial comes on I start to wail. All of this culinary legacy is just slipping away....so sad.

Turkey is high on our "ToGo" list, and your blog is a lovely intro for me. Sitting on the floor is under rated, if you ask me!

What about wine? Are there local wines to speak of?

[MarketStEl]

Today was not outstanding in terms of food, so I'll supplement with pictures of things I didn't eat.   But it was an interesting day nontheless.

That's okay -- everything about this blog is interesting to someone like me who knows next to nothing about contemporary Turkey.

I saw something new - a simit with kavurma, essentially meat that is simmered in its own fat till very tender. It certainly looked good!

It tasted...fatty. Luckily the tea was strong! 

So tell me a little about simit. In the first picture, the loaves looked a bit like oversized soft pretzels, but in this picture, it's clear that they are traditional bread -- they look a little like hollowed-out baguettes, only larger.

Are they usually stuffed, or eaten plain?

Are they doughy (chewy) or crusty?

At the celebration there was music and dancing, and the bride-to-be received small gifts and wishes from relatives. Most of the singing was in Kurdish because the singer was Kurdish, and these people do mostly the same dances.

The Kurds seem to spend a lot of time asserting their distinctiveness (or autonomy) from the other ethnic groups surrounding them, so this photo comes to me as a bit of a surprise. Are there significant differences between Kurdish and Turkish food and cuisine?

I seem to have had a sweet tooth because I kept getting drawn to the sweet shops.  Many people know "kadayıf" or "kataifi" in its Greek rendition, a shredded-wheat-like pastry.  But other things are known as kadayıf as well. Here is ekmek kadayıfı or "bread kataif," which is soakedin syrup and filled with kaymak, or clotted buffalo cream. It is one of very few sweets I really just can't take more than a bite or two of. 

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I take it that Turkey is introducing a new, revalued lira? Is (was) inflation a problem there?

[Chufi]

I also had a few mercimek köftesi, or red lentil köfte. ("Köfte" is often translated "meatball" because that's the most common kind we see, but it really is a much broader term and refers to almost anything that's savory and shaped into one- or two-bite pieces like this. A specialty of Adana and the surrounding region, his one is made from red lentils that are cooked till soft, and mixed with fine bulgur, onion, tomato and pepper paste, parsley, mint, salt, pepper and cumin. The "sauce" is a finely chopped tomato, cucumber and pepper salad with pomegranate molasses. It's often also eaten wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf and topped with a squeeze of lemon.

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sazji, I can't resist linking to my post about these. A Kurdish friend of mine taught me how to make them..

red lentil kofte

for making them, I bought a big jar of red pepper paste. I think in your first post of this blog you mentioned this and said something like "it's all about the pepper paste". The big jar is still sitting in my fridge, I occasionally add some to tomatosauces and stews, but would love to hear some other uses for it!

[fou de Bassan]

Sazji,

Could you please post the recipe for the bread kataif if it's not too long? I have such wonderful taste memories of it that it would be great to be able to make it at home.

Thanks