The turkish cuisine has a vital place in this travelogue. Unlike any other European countries, I did not depend only on McD’s French fries because I am a “naan"-vegetarian-types. Though we find a lot if Indian restaurants throughout Europe, I did not find any in Istanbul. Blame it on my no-time-to-search-internet-for-indian –restaurants. Although, we continued to clarify the term “any vegetarian food; no meat, no egg, no fish, no beef, no pork”. Huh!! Sometimes I curse myself for being a vegetarian. However, we have survived our long journey in Europe. Thanks to Mc D’s and Burger kings.
Turkish cuisine is a delight to all type of food-lovers. They are famous for their sweets, apple ÇAY (pronounced as "Chai" i.e., Tea) served in Tulip bulb shaped clear glasses. And at every shopping halt, we were asked to take this chai. It tasted heavenly for that weather. I even got 3 kgs of Apple tea bags each of red, golden and green apples.
Dolmas are the vegetables-stuffed-on-vegetables kind, baked and boiled with some mild spices. And you can imagine anything stuffed on anything. Like I had baked potatos stuffed in Zucchini and Eggplant, variety beans and vegetables stuffed in Bell pepper. Dolmas became a part of my days food there, and the taste was very Indian.
Vegetables are generously used in all food, and eggplant is an important element apart from Spinach, artichokes, celery, cauliflower etc. Like, every restaurant had 4-5 only vegetable/beans related curry, plain or seasonsed rice that they call Pilav, naan and lenthil soup. Pilaf/Pilav was also served with numerous combinations like chickpeas pilav, tomato pilav, eggplant pilav, zucchini pilav etc, and each of it carried a fancy turkish name, which I hardly remember.
Mercimek (Lentil soup) is also another famous dish throughout turkey, and that’s a delight for veg like me. It was not like the normal lenthil soup they give in Indian restaurants across Europe. I think this is prepared with red lenthils.
Yogert is another famous food here, and in fact, the English word yoghurt or yogurt derives from the Turkish word yoğurt I(one nice uncle in the restaurant told us these stories). How can I complete this without a word left for sweets and desserts, which are again-again-again famous here. You can smell the sweetness in the air while walking down the streets in Sultanahmet.
The turkish cuisine is not complete without their world famous Baklava dessert. They are either served with nut toppings or with icecream. I had both the versions, and again, another wonderful taste. I also noticed a shop having Helva on its display.
Now I really had enough, and the tastes and the smells are still lingering in me.
Turkish cuisine is a delight to all type of food-lovers. They are famous for their sweets, apple ÇAY (pronounced as "Chai" i.e., Tea) served in Tulip bulb shaped clear glasses. And at every shopping halt, we were asked to take this chai. It tasted heavenly for that weather. I even got 3 kgs of Apple tea bags each of red, golden and green apples.
Dolmas are the vegetables-stuffed-on-vegetables kind, baked and boiled with some mild spices. And you can imagine anything stuffed on anything. Like I had baked potatos stuffed in Zucchini and Eggplant, variety beans and vegetables stuffed in Bell pepper. Dolmas became a part of my days food there, and the taste was very Indian.
Vegetables are generously used in all food, and eggplant is an important element apart from Spinach, artichokes, celery, cauliflower etc. Like, every restaurant had 4-5 only vegetable/beans related curry, plain or seasonsed rice that they call Pilav, naan and lenthil soup. Pilaf/Pilav was also served with numerous combinations like chickpeas pilav, tomato pilav, eggplant pilav, zucchini pilav etc, and each of it carried a fancy turkish name, which I hardly remember.
Mercimek (Lentil soup) is also another famous dish throughout turkey, and that’s a delight for veg like me. It was not like the normal lenthil soup they give in Indian restaurants across Europe. I think this is prepared with red lenthils.
Yogert is another famous food here, and in fact, the English word yoghurt or yogurt derives from the Turkish word yoğurt I(one nice uncle in the restaurant told us these stories). How can I complete this without a word left for sweets and desserts, which are again-again-again famous here. You can smell the sweetness in the air while walking down the streets in Sultanahmet.
The turkish cuisine is not complete without their world famous Baklava dessert. They are either served with nut toppings or with icecream. I had both the versions, and again, another wonderful taste. I also noticed a shop having Helva on its display.
Now I really had enough, and the tastes and the smells are still lingering in me.
baklava for lifeeeeeeeeee ! I can have tonnes of it without taking a burp :)
ReplyDeleteYeah..i loved them!
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