Agushi, Coincidental Beninese Stew
Life is strange. Coincidental relations may end up with strange results. The story of how I reached this recipe is one such strange story. It is a bit long but I had to tell it...
As you may know, our dog, Mickey, is very precious. He has sitters if we go away, he wouldn't be left in a dog pension, we don't miss his walks etc. So we found a professional dog walker to walk him when we are busy. But her services are quite expensive so when we needed him to be walked regularly for a while, we ...
Celery Salad with Walnuts, Pears and Roquefort
I am quite fond of salads with fruits. To me fruits overpower the bluntness of regular green salads. In Turkey we are used to a few salads like spinach with pomegrenates. But fruity salad world is very vast and it is waiting for us to discover! Well, one of the gems I discovered recently, and I hesitate each time I prepare and end up with a happy surprise, is this celery salad with walnuts, pears and Roquefort.
Back in Turkey, celery branch was not very easy to find. Traditionally we use the ...
The Unexpectedly Good Vegetable Soup
I have been exposed, so I confess. I do not like vegetables. I am also well aware of the necesssity to eat. My mother told me one day about a soup she just discovered and gave me all the ingredients. You have to imagine my disappointment. I managed to get away with not doing it for a while but eventually she cooked it for me and I of course had to taste it. I couldn't believe the result! It should literraly be impossible to achieve such a taste with those ingredients! It smells weird, its ...
Antalya’s Famous Beans Salad: Piyaz
Piyaz is a famous accompanying dish (even a main!) in Turkey but Antalya has a distinct version, we use tahini in the sauce. For us, Antalians, a piyaz without tahini is just a bean salad.
People who have lived in Antalya, especially those who have spent their childhood there, usually miss it a lot when living away. The warmth, the sun, the sea, the pebbly beach, ... So everthing related to Antalya becomes a bit too important. Like piyaz... You get annoyed when others refer to a plain bean ...
Ready for a Challenge? Suböreği
Don't get me wrong, I am always up to new challenges in kitchen. But this classic Turkish pastry, called suböreği, is the hardest challenge you can try. The name can be translated as "water patty". It is a pastry prepared with home made dough, butter and a main ingredient like Turkish style beyaz peynir (white cheese, or Greek feta), or ground meat.
So far so good
It's almost never easy to work with dough. But if you are handy it is fun. Well, I'm not really handy so I cheated! I know how ...
Döner Kebab, home made!
Living abroad can be hell when you know that there is great food at home and you don't even get to taste a fraction of it unless you make it yourself. OK, there are restaurants everywhere from your home but they are not even close to good. Especially döner kebab... I always hear people say oh we ate kebab and it was great. No, it is was not great. It wasn't even good. It was factory made with strange tastes. Even EU decided against them, apparently they use phosphates to enhance or protect or ...
