Turkey is truly a cradle of human civilization. For more than 5000 years it was home to one wave after another of different tribes and nations. There were Hittites,Phoenicians, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonions, Greeks, Macedonions, Romans and finally the Turks themselves. The history of this part of the world is truly amazing and this is reflected in a vibrantly rich cuisine. In my last blog I mentioned my old friend Selcuk and that led to a somewhat fusion Risotto. Today I want to do something really Turkish and fortunately I have the help of a delightful Turkish delight.
Demet looks like an Egyptian princess. She could pass for a Nefetari, or Cleopatra in some Hollywood movie. Maybe she’ll get a role in Mummy 4 when they decide to make it. Whenever I am with her I always try and get anyone we meet to try and guess her nationality and hardly anyone ever gets it right. She comes from Adana actually. Yeah. Where’s that??? It’s actually at the south-eastern corner of Turkey near to Syria. Anyway, the only claim to fame is the Adana kebab. “What’s that as well?” It’s rather delicious actually so worth looking up on Google.
Anyway Demet is my stock broker and not my girlfriend. We got together nevertheless to make a Turkish dinner. Our only guest was a rather large Viking from Sweden named Peter. Peter the Viking! He didn’t bring his Viking longship along.
Kofte and Tzazik
This combination was inspired by several meals I had at the Sultan Ahmet Koftecisi in Istanbul, a really famous meatball restaurant near the Blue mosque which has been there for decades. A competitor started right next to it with almost the same name but everyone knows which is the original.
I suspect the original meatballs are made of ground lamb but this is not easy to find in local supermarkets and lean ground beef seems to work just as well.
I decided to make a lot of them so I could eat for a couple of days and feed my two hungry teenage sons as well. So, let us start with 1Kg of ground beef. Mix this with 2 chopped onions, several cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, a dash of cumin and several handfuls of chopped parsley and mint.
I also chopped up two slices of bread and mixed it uniformly into the meat. Drench the mixture with the juice of one whole lemon.
Make the meatballs into the shape of American footballs or Stewie’s head in “Family Guy”. They should be about 4 cm long and 2 cm at the widest diameter. Coat a ribbed iron grill with olive oil and then melt a knob of butter over the grill. You can omit the butter if you prefer a healthier but less rich version. Lay the meatballs individually over the grill and brown each side of the meatballs. One has to be somewhat patients about this as it is best not to do too many at one time so that you can brown them just right. For practical purposes I prefer to consider each meatball a 4 sided object so that each meatball has 4 sides to brown individually. If you do about 10 at a time, you can turn them one at a time and once number 10 is turned it is time to turn number one again. It takes about 15 minutes to grill the lot.
Now for the Tzazik which is the sauce. Puree a handful of garlic cloves. Chop up a whole cucmber. Mix the garlic and cucmber together with a tablespoon of olive oil with a cup of yoghurt. Mix well.
Eat this with Turkish pita flat bread and a glass of Chianti.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Healthy Fusion Risotto
Selcuk Mercan is an old friend from Istanbul. I haven’t seen him in years and was pleasantly surprised when he suddenly showed up in Singapore with a new wife no less!
I had always though he was a, sort of, bachelor with a vengeance. We had dinner at a fine Singapore restaurant hosted by the famous S.S. Ngoi no less. I was fortunate to get the seat right next to this legendary gentleman. Not only is he a famous Turkish surgeon but also quite a chef.
I pleaded with him to teach me his favorite Turkish recipe hoping to learn something exotically Ottoman from a descendant of the fabled Seljuk Turks. To my amazement he said his favorite dish was Risotto. He spent the evening teaching me the finer points. Actually I have never ever made Risotto before and this dish has never been on the menu in my busy kitchen. Well, there was that one time when my Belgian ex-girlfriend Lucie tried to teach me to do it. Being Belgian, cooking was somewhat in her genes. The Belgians were renowned for their cuisine since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Gaul(55BC). In fact he remarked on it in his Gallic Commentaries. It is also a known fact that some of their warriors fought stark naked in those days. I do remember that Lucie’s rendition of this famous dish turned out reasonably well.
Risotto with Japanese mushrooms
Although a famously Italian item, this dish is beloved internationally. In keeping with all recipes in this blog we will keep our version relatively healthy.
Put one knob of butter in a pan and heat. When the butter has melted put in a handful of chopped garlic and onions. Once they are seared for a few minutes pour in 160g of Italian risotto rice. The rice has a somewhat starchy quality. Fry the rice for 2 or 3 minutes then add chicken stock 150 ml at a time letting the liquid absorb into the rice before adding the next 150 ml. The rice would need about 650 ml of liquid to reach the right consistency. After reaching about 450 ml of stock, simmer for a while then top off with about 200 ml of dry white wine of your choice. Finally stir in a handful of chopped fresh Shitake mushrooms, a handful of chopped parsley and finally a handful of grated Parmesan Cheese. Switch off the fire and stir well for 30 seconds.
Sauté the rest of the Shitake and Inoki mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Pour the Risotto rice into a casserole and level the top of the rice.
Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few sprigs of the remaining parsley.
The dish will feed 4 people easily giving everyone about 600 Kcal. This repast is best washed down with some chilled Frascati wine. Who says you can’t eat well and be slim!
I had always though he was a, sort of, bachelor with a vengeance. We had dinner at a fine Singapore restaurant hosted by the famous S.S. Ngoi no less. I was fortunate to get the seat right next to this legendary gentleman. Not only is he a famous Turkish surgeon but also quite a chef.
I pleaded with him to teach me his favorite Turkish recipe hoping to learn something exotically Ottoman from a descendant of the fabled Seljuk Turks. To my amazement he said his favorite dish was Risotto. He spent the evening teaching me the finer points. Actually I have never ever made Risotto before and this dish has never been on the menu in my busy kitchen. Well, there was that one time when my Belgian ex-girlfriend Lucie tried to teach me to do it. Being Belgian, cooking was somewhat in her genes. The Belgians were renowned for their cuisine since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Gaul(55BC). In fact he remarked on it in his Gallic Commentaries. It is also a known fact that some of their warriors fought stark naked in those days. I do remember that Lucie’s rendition of this famous dish turned out reasonably well.
Risotto with Japanese mushrooms
Although a famously Italian item, this dish is beloved internationally. In keeping with all recipes in this blog we will keep our version relatively healthy.
Put one knob of butter in a pan and heat. When the butter has melted put in a handful of chopped garlic and onions. Once they are seared for a few minutes pour in 160g of Italian risotto rice. The rice has a somewhat starchy quality. Fry the rice for 2 or 3 minutes then add chicken stock 150 ml at a time letting the liquid absorb into the rice before adding the next 150 ml. The rice would need about 650 ml of liquid to reach the right consistency. After reaching about 450 ml of stock, simmer for a while then top off with about 200 ml of dry white wine of your choice. Finally stir in a handful of chopped fresh Shitake mushrooms, a handful of chopped parsley and finally a handful of grated Parmesan Cheese. Switch off the fire and stir well for 30 seconds.
Sauté the rest of the Shitake and Inoki mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Pour the Risotto rice into a casserole and level the top of the rice.
Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few sprigs of the remaining parsley.
The dish will feed 4 people easily giving everyone about 600 Kcal. This repast is best washed down with some chilled Frascati wine. Who says you can’t eat well and be slim!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Surviving Halloween Parties
Halloween is ultrakool. Once a year you get to live out your fantasies and be somebody dashing and exciting. This year I chose to be Zorro. Antonio Banderas in disguise. Underneath the mask, I could be the hot Latin hero which would raise the temperature of any fair Lady.
The combination of costume and alcohol is wonderful. Inhibitions disappear and a carnival mood permeates the occasion. This year I hit two parties. The first was the Champagne promotion at Mimolette and the second was a really swinging Russian gig at the Galleria Hotel.
From the point of slimming however, Halloween can be a dangerous time. I put on 1.5Kg just on the weekend. Aaargh! This time it’s not about the food. The problem lies in drinking calories. Amidst the deluge of endorphins and testosterone flowing around the room, no one is really in a Calorie counting mood.
Once again, the aim being to have maximum fun without the disgusting side effects, we need to look at the mathematics of the situation. The calories are for standard bar portions.
Alcoholic Drinks:
Beer (12 oz) 150Kcal, Light Beer: 103 Kcal.
Wine (per oz). Red: 25Kcal, White: 20 Kcal, Sweet : 47 Kcal
Champagne : 91 Kcal for 1.2g, Vodka Orange: 150 Kcal, Brandy, Gin or Scotch : 100 Kcal
Cocktails: 250 Kcal, Pina Colada(30g) 56 Kcal, Sherry: (50g) 58 Kcal.
It is apparent that one can not only become inebriated from drinking but can also put on several unwanted Kilograms at the same time. From the data wine seems to be the healthy and lower calorie option.
Those choosing soft drinks may also like to know that a glass of cola or lemon soda contains 150 kcal on the average and even juice would give 100 to 150 Kcal. True weight watchers would choose Perrier or Pellagrino with a slice of lemon. A cup of black coffee would be 4 Kcal and black or green tea without sugar would give about 2Kcal.
A sensible option would be to have a glass or two of wine, then switch to mineral water or ice tea without sugar. I am afraid I just took away half of the fun of a drunken Halloween but one must remember that most of the fun is in the social interaction, the flirting and the uninhibited play acting. Suspend reality and be your fantasy hero or heroine for one night!
The combination of costume and alcohol is wonderful. Inhibitions disappear and a carnival mood permeates the occasion. This year I hit two parties. The first was the Champagne promotion at Mimolette and the second was a really swinging Russian gig at the Galleria Hotel.
From the point of slimming however, Halloween can be a dangerous time. I put on 1.5Kg just on the weekend. Aaargh! This time it’s not about the food. The problem lies in drinking calories. Amidst the deluge of endorphins and testosterone flowing around the room, no one is really in a Calorie counting mood.
Once again, the aim being to have maximum fun without the disgusting side effects, we need to look at the mathematics of the situation. The calories are for standard bar portions.
Alcoholic Drinks:
Beer (12 oz) 150Kcal, Light Beer: 103 Kcal.
Wine (per oz). Red: 25Kcal, White: 20 Kcal, Sweet : 47 Kcal
Champagne : 91 Kcal for 1.2g, Vodka Orange: 150 Kcal, Brandy, Gin or Scotch : 100 Kcal
Cocktails: 250 Kcal, Pina Colada(30g) 56 Kcal, Sherry: (50g) 58 Kcal.
It is apparent that one can not only become inebriated from drinking but can also put on several unwanted Kilograms at the same time. From the data wine seems to be the healthy and lower calorie option.
Those choosing soft drinks may also like to know that a glass of cola or lemon soda contains 150 kcal on the average and even juice would give 100 to 150 Kcal. True weight watchers would choose Perrier or Pellagrino with a slice of lemon. A cup of black coffee would be 4 Kcal and black or green tea without sugar would give about 2Kcal.
A sensible option would be to have a glass or two of wine, then switch to mineral water or ice tea without sugar. I am afraid I just took away half of the fun of a drunken Halloween but one must remember that most of the fun is in the social interaction, the flirting and the uninhibited play acting. Suspend reality and be your fantasy hero or heroine for one night!
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