Ozlem's Turkish Table

I couldn’t help sharing a few more photos from last week’s Istanbul trip. The generosity and the hospitality of Turkish people are apparent in everyday life. For example, go to a simple traditional restaurant (where freshly made salads, vegetables cooked in olive oil, delicious kebabs served) and you are greeted with a warm smile and a generous portion of flat bread, salad or pickled peppers, butter and crumbled feta cheese from the house. Their Turkish version of “fast food” consists of lovely vegetables like green beans cooked in olive oil, or stuffed grapevine leaves, white bean salad with slices of onion, tomatoes and spices (sumac and red pepper flakes over the top are common) and delicious meatballs served over the flat bread with grilled peppers, tomatoes. Ayran, a mixture of natural plain yoghurt with water and a pinch of salt is a traditional drink to accompany this feast. Refreshing and very healthy too.

Another lovely slow cooked Turkish “fast food” is doner kebab; even the sight of it from miles away is so inviting! It is sometimes served in a pita bread with sliced onions, tomatoes and lettuce. Sometimes, slices of doner kebab are served over the bed of pita bread with delicious tomato sauce and warm butter sauce over the top and dollop of yoghurt by the side. This is called the “Iskender Kebab” and it is such a delicious and comforting food, highly recommended.

As always, you would finish this feast with Turkish tea, cay, or Turkish coffee, Turk kahvesi. I hope you make it to Turkey sometime soon and experience the wonderful food and hospitality.

More Turkish recipes will follow next week.

Afiyet Olsun, to you all!

One of the highlights of last week’s Istanbul trip was visiting the Ciya (www.ciya.com.tr) Restaurant at the Asian side, and what a treat it was. The headchef Musa Dagdeviren is now internationally known, and so deserve it. His passion is to bring out the forgotten recipes, dishes alive with adding his own touch. Ciya’s vast menu covers recipes from Mesopatamia to the Ottomans, from the Balkans to Caucasia, and focuses on regional dishes. I was delighted to meet them and I hope they keep on treasuring those wonderful recipes and pass them on.

The charming Ciya was a feast to all senses; I tasted the wonderful Pazi Borani (with a yoghurt base sauce), the stuffed dried eggplants with aromatic rice and ground meat, bulgur pilaff rice with wild herbs, and a dollop of yoghurt by the side. I could have kept on and on if I had any space left.. Highly recommended for a real foodie treat.

Istanbul has been covered in snow last week, unlike the springlike weather in England. I was determined though to visit the Ciya restaurant, famous for keeping the traditional, almost forgotten Turkish recipes alive. And it was well worth every effort.

For me, the most pleasant way of going from the European side to Asian side of Istanbul (and vice versa) is via the traditional, nostalgic ferries. And you get to see the Bosphorus and the coast, as well as enjoy a traffic free 15 minutes journey. I once again admired grand buildings like the century old elegant Haydarpasa Terminal(busiest rail terminal in Turkey and the Middle East)with seagulls of Marmara at the background.

One of the treats of a ferry journey in Istanbul during winter is the offer of Salep drink. Salep is made from salep flour, that is made from grinding the dried tubers of Orchis mascula, Orchis militaris and related species of wild orchids. This flour, which is readily available at home, is then mixed with hot milk to make the salep drink. Turks love this drink in winter time, served with a generous pinch of cinnamon over the top. I enjoyed a cup of salep made at the ferry on the way to Kadikoy, really warmed the heart and soul.

You can also hop on and off at the traditional ferries; why not stop by at Ortakoy, enjoy the wonderful Ortakoy mosque, feed the pidgeons and have a little cay break? Istanbul is always calling, snow or sunshine:)