TableConversation.com

Exploring Turkish Regional Cuisines

Even if you never go to Turkey, you can still taste its wonderful food through the book "Istanbul and Beyond" by Robyn Eckhardt, with photographs by David Hagerman, her husband.

The subtitle of the book is "Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey," which they did by getting off the beaten track, dropping into villages to see what might be cooking, winding up with recipes and often invitations to eat, because Turkish people take pride in their hospitality. 

Eckhardt, shown here with Hagerman, describes their book as "a little bit of a love letter to Turkey." Apart from Istanbul, the book concentrates on eastern Turkey, which offers a rich variety of cuisines and is visited by few tourists.

This area is in the limelight now, because Hatay province in southeastern Turkey has just been honored for its cuisine by UNESCO. The Hatay Metropolitan Municipality (Antakya) is now a Creative City for gastronomy along with Gaziantep, also in southeastern Turkey, which was honored in 2015.  

Hatay has a pronounced meze culture and a penchant for chile-laden foods, Eckhardt said at a book-signing and cooking demo at Melissa's Produce. An example of both is this zesty olive salad with tomatoes.

The salad in the photo is my homemade version. It was easy and required only inexpensive, readily available ingredients, which is true of many recipes in the book.

This spicy egg salad, also from Hatay, is even easier, composed of just five ingredients, two of which are olive oil and salt. The others are hard-boiled eggs, crushed red pepper flakes and flat-leaf parsley.

Melissa's chefs prepared the salad in the photo. It was so good I couldn't stop eating it. 

Paging through the book, I came across one of my favorites, the bulgur wheat salad called kisir (above).    

This version is from Hatay, where it is seasoned generously with a leading product of the area, pomegranate molasses. There, it is often served with an omelet, Eckhardt says in the book, or with preserved grape leaves for wrapping. I substituted crunchy romaine leaves (above), and that was good too.

Turkey is a land of regional cuisines with immense variations, Eckhardt pointed out. One area might focus on lamb, another on beef and dairy products. On the Black Sea Coast, anchovies are revered.

"We were eating foods on the Black Sea that we had never eaten in other parts of Turkey," Eckhardt said. Corn is fundamental there, especially dried corn. This Black Sea salad combines fresh corn with eggplant, bell peppers, parsley and dill.

Here, Eckhardt shows how to make a flatbread typical of eastern Turkey. A dented design on top is made by pressing the dough with the fingertips.

These Kurdish style cabbage rolls get a sourish flavor kick from ground sumac in the tomato sauce. 

In this photo, Eckhardt rolls the meat and rice filling in leaves from cone-shaped Kool Cabbage. The recipe is from Diyarbakir province.

Eckhardt and Hagerman have been fascinated by Turkey for 20 years. Eckhardt has studied Turkish, and Hagerman said he speaks a little. They researched through repeated road trips, coming up with recipes never before published in English. "I want people to come away with the idea of what Turkish food really is," Eckhardt said.  

BULGUR & HERB SALAD
Kisir
From "Istanbul and Beyond"

1 cup fine bulgur
2 teaspoons sweet or hot Turkish red pepper paste
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
1 packed cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 packed cup finely chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses, or to taste
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Turkish or other crushed red pepper flakes, optional
For serving: crisp lettuce leaves, preserved grape leaves (rinsed, soaked at least 2 hours in several changes of cold water, rinsed again and patted dry) and/or lavash or other flatbread

Place the bulgur in a medium bowl, add cool water to cover, and swish the grains with your fingers. Tilt the bowl to drain off the water, and repeat until the water remains clear. Drain thoroughly and set aside for 30 minutes.

Add the pepper and tomato pastes to the bulgur and work into the grains using a spoon or fingers (wearing latex gloves). Pick up a handful of bulgur and rub the grains between your palms, letting them fall into the bowl. Repeat. After 2 or 3 minutes, the bulgur should be crimson.

Continue to massage the bulgur, now adding cold water 1 teaspoon at a time. Test for doneness by squeezing a clump of bulgur between your palm and fingers; it should hold its shape when released. The grains should be al dente, soft on the outside with some resistance within.

Add the scallions, parsley and mint. Mix with a fork or with your hands, lightly crushing the grains and herbs together. Add the pomegranate molasses and olive oil and mix gently.

Taste the salad, add salt and more pomegranate molasses by the 1/2 teaspoon if needed.  If the salad isn't spicy enough for your taste, add red pepper flakes 1 teaspoon at a time.

Set the salad aside at room temperature for 1 to 4 hours before serving, or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Serve at room temperature, with the accompaniments suggested.

Makes 8 servings as a meze or 4 as a side dish. 

A Turkish Brunch Plus a Recipe

Imagine going all the way to Turkey to learn about its fabulous cuisine and falling in love with--French fries.

This happened at Orkide Ibrahimli, a restaurant in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey. The fries appeared there at a brunch for journalists attending Gaziantep's first bulgur festival. 

The plate was simple, fries topped with vibrantly red tomato sauce and garnished with mild peppers. It intrigued me to the extent that I recreated it at home, making up my own tomato sauce. See the recipe below.

Was this all I liked at the brunch? Goodness no. The assortment of dishes was fantastic (above), covering the table.

Here is my plate, filled with good things only to be emptied and filled again. 

These beautiful puffy rolls are called kubban. I tore mine apart and smeared the pieces with kaymak (thick, rich cream) and honey.

A highlight was Gaziantep's famous cream-filled breakfast pastry katmer (above), topped liberally with local pistachios, considered the finest in Turkey, and probably the world.  

After that came another pistachio-laden treat, batma kaymak (above). This arrived as a circle of dough spread with cream.

A waiter came by to sprinkle on pistachios and honey (above). Sugar added even more sweetness. (A plate of the fries with tomato sauce is in the photo too.)

You can tell that I love sweets, but there was plenty of savory food too, including skillets of soft-fried eggs (above), skewers of grilled vegetables and sucuk (sausage), eggplant, stuffed breads and more.

There were olives and other condiments to eat along with the dishes (above), also fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and green peppers set out with a bowl of red pepper flakes.

Cheeses, fruit preserves and kaymak were on the table too. And syrupy dried apricots with almonds. 

(For a full description of the brunch and mouth-watering photos, check Faye and Yakir Levy's article at this link.)  

Afterwards came Turkish coffee and a survey of the heavenly pastries in Orkide's bakery. The photo shows only a little of the enormous variety. Next time, I'll leave with a sackful. 

FRENCH FRIES WITH SPICY TOMATO SAUCE
Based on the dish served at Orkide Ibrahimli in Gaziantep

3/4 pound tomatoes, peeled
1/4 cup chopped shallots or onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon bottled red pepper paste
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Dash Aleppo pepper or other hot pepper
French fries, frozen or homemade
Sliced fried or sauteed green chiles

To make the tomato sauce, puree the tomatoes, shallots and garlic in a food processor or blender.

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Stir in the tomato paste and red pepper paste, then the pureed tomato mixture and water. Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Add enough Aleppo pepper or other hot pepper to make as spicy as you like.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 5 minutes. 

Serve over hot French fries. Garnish with chile slices. 

Makes about 1 cup tomato sauce, equivalent to an 8-ounce can.

Note: Aleppo pepper and jars of tomato and red pepper pastes from Turkey are in markets that stock Middle Eastern ingredients. 

Thanks to Mustafa Özgüler, chef/owner of the restaurant, for this sumptuous morning meal.

Photos by Barbara Hansen

Turkey's Refreshing Red Plum Drink

My refrigerator has been crammed with jars of erik suyu, a red plum drink from Turkey, but it took only one heat wave to eradicate them all.

I drink this luscious concoction straight or dilute it with water. Best of all is a fizzy drink topped with pink foam, produced by adding gingerale. In any form, this drink is great in the middle of a steamy night or throughout the day.

The only way you can get erik suyu here is to make it yourself, which is easy. Steps and the recipe follow. I first tasted it at Zencefil, a vegetarian restaurant in Istanbul (above).

Zencefil not only makes the juice drink but a plum sorbet, plum ice cream, a plum tart and plum cheesecake, at least those were on the menu (above) when I was there in June.

Luckily, I was with food writer and historian Nazli Piskin. Nazli's an excellent cook (follow her on Instagram under Nazli Piskin and Edible Istanbul) and she told me how to make the drink. To explain the name, erik is Turkish for plum and suyu is juice.

The first step (above) is to place washed plums in a bowl and add sugar.

After the plums stand for an hour or two, turn them into a large pot, add water and a stick of cinnamon and boil the plums until very tender.

The plums will float as they boil, and the skins will turn the water a beautiful red. After they cool, work them through a sieve with fine holes, a few at a time. Discard the seeds and skins. Strain the juice into a bowl. 

Now stir the plums into the reserved juice, taste and add more sugar if wanted. Then bottle, refrigerate and watch it disappear. I drank my last batch so quickly there was no chance to share, but it would be lovely in a pitcher for a summer party.

ERIK SUYU
Red Plum Drink
From Nazli Piskin, Istanbul

15 red plums, about 3 pounds
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups water
1 stick cinnamon

Wash the plums well. Place them in a large bowl. Coat them with the sugar and let stand at least 1 hour or longer.

Turn the plums into a Dutch oven (Nazli uses a pressure cooker). Add the water, rinsing out the bowl with some of it. Add the cinnamon stick.

Bring the plums to a boil and boil until very  soft, 30 to 40 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the plums stand until cooled, at least 1 hour.

Place a sieve with small holes over a large bowl. Place 1/3 of the plums in the sieve. Working with a heavy-bottomed glass or small jar, force as much pulp as possible through the sieve. Discard the skins, seeds and cinnamon stick.

Repeat with the remaining plums, in two batches.

Strain the liquid in the Dutch oven into another bowl. If any bits of plum are in the liquid, put them through the sieve.

Combine the sieved plums and the liquid and stir.  Taste and add more sugar if wanted, but the mixture should be sweet enough.

Pour into clean storage jars, cover and refrigerate. Serve as is, over ice, diluted with water, or in a pitcher with ice for a party.

Makes about 9 cups or 10 servings.  

How to Make Turkish Style Eggplant

It takes only one word to describe this eggplant dish--yummy.

A second word makes it even more appealing--easy, meaning easy to make. 

So if you want to expand your international eggplant repertoire beyond eggplant parmigiana and caponata, add a recipe from Turkey. It's Sebzeli Sogurme, which means roasted eggplant with vegetables.

The ingredients are simple. The only one you might not know is Aleppo pepper, red pepper flakes named for the city of Aleppo in Syria. This can be replaced with any spicy red pepper. 

The recipe is from Kamuran Dover of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey (above). Dover showed how to make it during a cooking class in her home. Here are the steps. The full recipe is below.

First, Dover roasts, peels and chops two eggplants.

While the roasted eggplants cool, she prepares this combination of chopped onion and red and green bell peppers.   

Next, she  sautés the vegetables in olive oil until tender.

Then she adds chopped fresh tomatoes. If the tomatoes are not flavorful enough, she supplements them with her own homemade tomato preserves.

Along with the eggplant, she puts in butter to enrich the flavor and the Aleppo pepper and salt.  

Here is the finished eggplant, which she serves as a vegetarian dish sprinkled with pepper (at the left) or as a base for sautéed lamb.

The version at the top is mine. It's a flexible dish, so that even without the exact proportions that Dover used--we didn't measure in the class--it turned out fine.  

SEBZELI SOGURME
Roasted Eggplant with Vegetables
From Kamuran Dover of Gaziantep

2 eggplants, about 1 pound each
1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely diced onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup canned tomatoes, chopped, optional
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Salt
1/2 teaspoon medium hot Aleppo pepper, or more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper

Pierce the eggplants with a knife in several places. Place on a baking sheet under the broiler and broil until soft throughout, turning to cook evenly.

Set the eggplants aside on a plate until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, prepare the red and green bell peppers and the onion.

Drain off any juices that have accumulated from the eggplant, then peel. Chop the flesh coarsely, removing any excess seeds. Again, drain off any juices.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the bell peppers and the onion and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook to sauce consistency, about 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes if using and cook until well blended, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add the butter and let melt. Then stir in salt and Aleppo pepper to taste. Add the eggplant and cook about 7 minutes, stirring to blend with the other ingredients. 

Serve sprinkled with freshly ground pepper.

Makes 6 servings. 

A Turkish Cooking Class in Gaziantep

I'm now making the most delicious Turkish pilaf. It's bulgur pilaf, packed with bright and healthy things such as bell peppers and tomatoes. And it's so easy you could throw it together at the last minute for dinner or to take to a party.  

The recipe is from Kamuran Dover (at the top), a caterer and cooking teacher in Gaziantep, a city in southeastern Turkey that is on UNESCO's list of places with great gastronomy.

As part of a group attending Gaziantep's inaugural bulgur festival, I went to Dover's home for a cooking class. Her spotless apartment was set up not just for the class but for an elegant dinner afterward.

We crowded into the kitchen, taking notes as she prepared more food than we could possibly eat. The pilaf came first, starting with the sautéing of vegetables in olive oil (above). To these she added tomato and red pepper pastes and canned tomatoes. 

Then in went coarse bulgur, water, salt and generous pats of butter (above). The butter came from Ardahan, a province in northeastern Turkey known for agriculture and livestock.

Without the butter, the pilaf becomes an excellent dish for vegans, as bulgur is known for its nutritional richness. 

After boiling, Dover let the pilaf cook over low heat until the liquid was absorbed. Then she turned off the heat and placed a double layer of paper towels under the lid to collect excess moisture. This is how the pilaf looked when she dished it up.   

Next came eggplant cooked with peppers and tomatoes. Dover presented the eggplant two ways, one vegetarian and the other topped with sautéed diced lamb (above).

Both fresh and dried mint went into a salad along with sour cherry molasses that Dover had made herself (above).

I was astonished to learn that she prepares everything she cooks with, even condiments such as red pepper and tomato pastes and dried red pepper flakes that are readily available in local markets. The canned tomatoes she added to the pilaf were homemade too.  

I had never seen anything like her bread salad, made with flakes of a dried bread called yufka ekmek. These she crushed even finer, mixing in peppers, onions, tomatoes, her homemade seasoning pastes, red pepper flakes, olive oil and shredded Antep cheese (above).

Rather than piling the loose mixture into a salad bowl, she formed it into little kebabs (above). 

I had seen purslane (verdolaga) in produce displays in Gaziantep and wondered how it was used. One way is the hearty soup that Dover had made before we came (above).

She combined the greens with lentils, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, bulgur, garlic and vegetables, adding cherry molasses and sumac molasses and finishing with a drizzle of red pepper flakes heated in oil. The soup alone would have been enough for dinner.

Then we went to the dining table, which was beautifully set with fine linens and china. 

Dinner ended with fresh fruit and Turkish tea (you can see us taking photos in the mirror behind the table).

Dover wanted to know which dishes we liked best. Well, everything. But I singled out the bread salad omac. I couldn't stop eating it.

The dishes she taught were practical and easy to make back home. Markets that stock Middle Eastern ingredients have everything needed, including tomato and red pepper pastes from Turkey, breads that could be substituted for yufka ekmek in the salad omac,  Turkish cheeses and pomegranate molasses, which could replace Dover's sour cherry molasses. 

After dinner, we settled into plushy gold-upholstered chairs in the parlor (above) and talked like old friends. Dover was married at the age of 14, lost her husband in a traffic accident (his photograph is above the mirror behind the dining table) and developed the catering business to support herself. She showed us a huge freezer packed with food for her clients. 

As we left, we retrieved our shoes. Turkish custom is to remove them before entering a home, and we were given slippers so that we would be comfortable during the evening. 

Dover welcomes tourists to her classes. She doesn't speak English, but a translator will be provided. It's a unique opportunity to see genuine Turkish home cooking and then enjoy a superb meal.

To inquire about her classes, contact Filiz Hosukoglu, who works with her and speaks excellent English. Her email is [email protected]. 

TURKISH BULGUR PILAF
From Kamuran Dover of Gaziantep

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced small
1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced small
1/2 medium onion, diced small
1 medium tomato, diced small
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon Turkish red pepper paste
1/2 cup canned tomatoes
1 1/2 cups coarse bulgur
3 cups hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the green and red peppers and the onion and cook until they start to soften. Add the tomato and cook until tender. Stir in the tomato paste and red pepper paste, then add the canned tomatoes and stir until blended.

Add the bulgur, hot water and salt, then add the butter and let melt.

Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook until the liquid is absorbed but the bulgur is still soft and not dry. Turn off the heat. Place a double layer of paper towels until the lid to absorb steam and let the pilaf stand for half an hour.  Reheat if necessary.

Makes 8 servings.