Give an average chef some good EVOO, fresh bread and a few veggies and watch them create wonders in the kitchen. Now think of a huge land and an endless supply of earth’s magnificent bounties and you can start to understand how vast and varied the vegan/ vegetarian Turkish cuisine is.
Instead of diving head long into this humungous kitchen we’ll just dip our toes a little, for I will be focusing only on the dishes I tried, loved and sometimes replicated. I am going to introduce you to those succulent dishes, tell you were to find them and maybe give a few tips on how to eat/ enjoy/ cook. I will also be giving honest reviews on all the vegan restaurants I tried (loved or hated). Yet before you hop on board make sure you read Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, first because, well do I need to tell you why it’s important to start a series from the beginning?
In this blog post, I want to finally wrap up the “Zeytinyağlı” chapter with a few honorable mentions; again this is in no way to say that my list is comprehensive far from it.
Acılı ezme / Antep Ezmesi:
Taze Fasulye (Fresh green beans) a dish i love sooooo much
I was speaking to my mom yesterday and she asked about the various spices used in Turkish cooking (the subject in question was Taze Fasulye). Of course, like most people her assumption was that Türk cooks add spices by the handful. What most people don’t know is that Turkish food is generally characterized by clean flavors and very little heat … well except for maybe Acılı ezme!
If you’ve ever been to Turkey, then you’ve eaten Acılı ezme. Remember the dip/ salsa that hits your table the moment you walk into any restaurant or Lokanta that serves “mezeler” (accompanied by the infamous Ekmek)? That’s Acılı ezme right there.
Acılı is the Turkish word for spicy (unless you are Sichuan Chinese, Indian, Ethiopian, Korean, Senegalese, Mexican or me then Turkish spicy isn’t necessary “spicy”), ‘Ezme’ means ‘crushed’. You’ll also see the word used to describe any other Turkish food that involves a bit of crushing, smashing up or grinding. Antep ezmesi is also one of those dishes where no two look or taste quite the same. You’ll know this if you order it from restaurants regularly. The amount of ingredients used and the texture created is down to the preferences of the chefs making it.
What I mostly do is order some “Tam Buğdalı”[1] Ekmek, attack the breadbasket with all the might of a starved animal, dip, scoop, and devour. A messy affair but so worth it. I wish I can say that I’d be full – like normal Homo sapiens -by the time food arrive, far from it. The ezme / ekmek combo are a teaser and I’d be all pumped up and ready for the real deal.
Ekşili Patlıcan (sour eggplant)
Yep, one more eggplant dish, get over it.
Kısır
Tabbouleh’s distant cousin? I vehemently disagree. OK, they are both salads, served as part of the Meze, and include bulgur, olive oil and lemon juice, but if you know anything about food you’d see they not only look and taste differently, but are also eaten differently. Tabbouleh is pretty standard, one recipe no one EVER deviates from (Hint, all you people in faraway lands, stop messing with our tabbouleh already). Also tabbouleh is mostly about the finely chopped veg esp. the parsley, so if it’s not painstakingly finely chopped I’m sorry but “your” Tabbouleh is your “parsley salad”. On the other hand, Kısır is really Bulgur masquerading as salad. Not to mention it can be dressed and played with to anyone’s liking. Eat enough of it and it will fill you up just like rice or quinoa or whatever. Tomato paste is what gives the Bulgur its lovely reddish hue, and Nar adds lotsa tang and a hint of sweetness.
Portakal Sulu Zeytinyağlı Yerelması (Sunchokes/ Jerusalem artichoke) with Orange Juice
Every time I’d see JA in stores I’d be puzzled but not really curious. To me it looked like ginger root on steroids. I’ve heard about Jerusalem Artichoke before and I thought it’s kinda the eastern version of Artichoke (I know how lame that sounds). As it turns out, this veg is actually in the sunflower family, native to North America and has nothing whatsoever to do neither with artichokes nor with Jerusalem. It was also called "sun roots" by Native Americans (a more proper name don’t you think). In Turkish, it’s called yerelması, which literally means "earth apple"; the same term that the French use for potato, pomme de terre, which makes lotsa sense as it does taste like something between an apple and a potato, well kinda (it’s complicated).
Long story short, it’s a dish you gotta try especially if you’ve never had AJ before. Actually, after trying it, those weird looking thingies became a cooking staple for me. I like to alternate between them and potatoes. Aj when I want something light and potatoes when i’m going for a heartier dish. I also love them in salads (they can be eaten raw by the way, but ….) With lotsa dark leafy greens (I’m not big on lettuce) and olive oil … yummm.
To be continued…..
[1] Whole wheat bread, usually it’s sourdough