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Archive for the Category »Culinary Culture «
Gaziantep in southeast Turkey boasts the country’s foremost regional cuisine. A legacy stretching back into antiquity, combined with the culinary cultures of the Türkmen tribes, and with influences from diverse local and neighbouring communities, have all contributed to this rich cuisine. In addition the location of Gaziantep on traditional trade routes linking Asia, the East and Africa with the Near East and Europe has meant that spices and other culinary ingredients have always been readily available. Many of the dishes of Gaziantep cuisine have become widely known outside the region, making it one of the principal threads in the colourful tapestry of Turkish cooking.
Gaziantep’s cuisine is distinguished by a broad range of dishes and ingredients, and one aspect which is of particular interest today is its affinity with modern health food concepts.
Unlike the common misconception Gaziantep cuisine does not consist merely of numerous kebabs, but makes generous use of vegetables, yogurt, fruits, herbs and grains. Stews incorporating these ingredients form a large category which is central to the domectic cuisine, and most of which demand considerable culinary skill and experiance to prepare. The influence of Gaziantep cuisine on the haute cuisine of the Ottoman court and upper classes in past centuries is irrefutable. Note for example the striking similarity between ali nazik and the beğendili kebab of the palace. The tendency to use plenty of pepper and other spices is typical of other hot climate cuisines, arising from the need to raise the internal temperature of the body in response to high external temperatures.
The province is also renowned for its sweet dishes, particularly many delicious varieties of baklava made with clarified butter churned in the Toros mountains and filled with the pistachio nuts which grow in abundance here. Even those desserts which are not unique to the region appear in versions distinclty recognisable as belonging to Gaziantep cuisine.
The people of Gaziantep attach as much importance to the quality of their drinking water as to their food, and will make regular journeys to renowned springs to fill containers with water. Some people are even fussy to Alman Spring at Osmaniye in the foothills of Gavur Dağı. This is no surprise for people who regard food as central to family and social life and never think of time spent in the kitchen as wasted.
INGREDIENTS
1 lamb’s liver
1/2 cup flour
1 tblsp red pepper
salt
To garnish:
3 onions
1 bunch parsley
1 cup olive oil for frying
Arnavut Cigeri ( ALBANIAN STYLE LIVER ) recipe
Remove the tissue and any veins and dice the liver into pieces as big as a hazelnut. Rinse in plenty of water and drain well.
Add 1/2 tablespoon of red pepper to the washed liver and mix it well. Taking a handful at a time, flour the liver, shaking off the excess.
Fry in a small pan of very hot oil for just 1 minute, stirring them once as they cook. Continue to cook all the liver a handful at a time in the same way, making sure that the oil is hot each time.
Salt the cooked liver.
Take a quarter of the oil in which they were fried, heat it up well, and when very hot, remove from the heat and toss in a further 1/2 tablespoonful of red pepper. Pour this mixture over the liver.
INGREDIENTS
125 gm whole wheat
50 gm pudding rice
15 cups water
375 gm granulated sugar
3 cups milk
25 gm dried white beans
25 gm chickpeas
25 gm dried butter beans
50 gm shelled walnuts
50 gm dried apricots
75 gm sultanas
50 gm dried figs
1 tblsp currants
50 gm blanched almonds
1 tblsp rose water
Asure recipe
Soak the white beans, chickpeas and butterbeans separately in water overnight (the chickpeas must be soaked in salty water) and boil separately in fresh water until well cooked. (They must be cooked separately as their cooking times are different.)
Soak the wheat and rice in plenty of water overnight and the next day boil in fresh water (15 cups) for 6?7 hours until really soft and mushy.
Add the granulated sugar and milk to the boiled wheat, stir until the sugar is dissolved and bring to the boil. Add the cooked beans, chickpeas and butter beans, the washed and picked sultanas and currants, the diced apricots, figs and the pine nuts and boil for a few more minutes. Add the whole almonds, chopped walnuts and rose water and boil for another few minutes.
Pour into individual bowls and when cool garnish each bowl with chopped nuts, currants and single pomegranate grains.