Charcoal Doner Kebap

I like to give practical recipes so that it can be made at home using ingredients that are easy to find. Purpose of this recipe is different. In our SBS radio program, we spoke about the sad imitation of doner kebab in Australia, so I like to give the original recipe to everyone to show how it should be done.

Here is the recipe for an authentic doner kebap.

Best doner is made from leg of veal. If the veal is aged – over 1 years old, you can add a bit of lamb leg not exceeding 20% of the whole meat.

Meat should be cut as thin and long as possible. Best type of doner in Turkey is called “yaprak doner” literally translating as “leaves of doner” not due to the thin slicing of the cooked meat, but for thin slicing of the veal to prepare the doner. You then need to pound the meat to make it even thinner.

Marinate the thinly sliced meat in milk, vegetable oil, juice of onion and black pepper overnight in a fridge.

Spike the meat on to a vertical doner skewer. On top of 8 layers place a thin layer of lamb mince to hold the meat together. Every 16 layers place lamb tail fat cut to the size of doner meat. The purpose of the mince is to bind the meat and fat together.

Repeat the process until all meat is skewered, then add a thick layer of lamb tail fat on the top so that while the meat is cooking fat drips and keeps the outer layer moist.

Once completed, tightly wrap it with a glad wrap and place it in a freezer overnight. This will make the whole meat tighter and give your doner a round shape.

There are two types of doner grill. Authentic charcoal grills have stacked wood charcoals behind the doner and contemporary grills work with gas.

Naturally, there is a notable difference in taste between the two, but not to the extent to horizontal skewered kebaps. Unlike skewer kebaps cooking on the charcoal and flavouring the meat with the dripping oil dropping on coals  and reheating and smoke flavouring the meat, since the doner grill is vertical dripping fat drops down to the bottom.

You can use this fat to brush to the outer skin to keep it moist while cooking.

Cooked kebap is cut with a doner sword in 4-5 cm. long strips.

Traditionally it is served either within a pide or lavash bread or on a bed of rice.

It is either served plain or with condiments like pickles and lettuce.

But never with cheese and definitely not with tomato sauce or even worse bbq sauce!

Somer Sivrioglu

Kadayif Karides: Our signature meze, the only dish that is left from the original menu 5 years ago. Ali Nazik: Very traditional kebap from Gaziantep, that I learned on my recent trip to the region Trio of Pistachio desserts: Baklava, sarma and kadayif, all handmade of course … and our Icon dish was lamb testicles, pan-fried in butter and served with garlic almond toum

I thought we can prepare 20 serves of testicles every session, quickly learning our lesson after we sold out each session in less than half an hour. But the real star of the show was Ali Nazik, a succulent kebab made in traditional way with mixing equal amounts of veal backstrap, leg of lamb and lamb tail fat.

I have always been asked why we did not make kebaps before. Here is the reason. I refuse to do any dish if I don’t believe I can represent it properly. The only way you can make real Turkish kebaps are with lamb tail fat and always cooked in purpose built barbecue. I am so lucky to have access to this liquid treasure, lamb tail fat, travelling in to outer Sydney to pick up every week from the only local farm that produce it in very small quantities.

So, you say why is lamb tail fat so essential in kebabs? Soon, I will explain in detail why, how and what real kebaps are made the way they should be. But getting back to Taste of Sydney, in total we rolled kadayif on to 2000 king prawns, cooked 30 trays of baklava and smoked 800 kgs of of eggplant. In making Ali Nazik we opened 500 tubs of wonderfully strained Chobani Greek yoghurt. I really like this product cause you don’t need to strain the yoghurt losing half of its volume and it is time and labour costly. It is very important to use strained yoghurt for this recipe, since you need to warm the yoghurt and straining stops it from splitting.

Ali Nazik was such a laborious project  since we chop the meat with a zirkh knife and do not mince. On the first night in the middle of service we were asked to submit our dish for the awards. So, I picked up the first four dishes on the line, put them in to our traditional copper domes to keep it warm and send it over for judging.

Chefs at Taste of Sydney 2012

All the chefs were called for a group shoot to the VIP area for the announcement of the award,  Looking at the talent and legends of the industry I was very happy to be among them representing a cuisine that is much misunderstood and mistranslated in to Australia. I just could not believe my ears when the chief judge announced the winning dish saying she was very happy the restaurant that won the best dish did not serve them the ICON dish lamb testicles. Our humble kebap was the WINNER ! This was a win not only for us but for Turkish food and kebabs. We were very happy to win the inaugural Best in Taste award in front of best chefs of Sydney but even more excited to win with a dish that represents us in true tradition. For an in-depth blog on Best in Taste Wards click on the link.

http://84thand3rd.com/2012/03/10/exclusive-taste-of-sydney-part-1-best-in-taste-award/

I like to thank the brilliant Taste of Sydney team and in particular Meghan and Toby for their support and never ending energy, Chobani yoghurt for producing such a great tasting, authentic  yoghurt that I could use at ease, my two neighbouring restaurants Manu and teams’ L’etoile and Alessandro and Anna Pavoni’s Ormeggio for putting up with all the smoke and smell of the charcoal BBQ, all the Efendy crew led by Fatih, manager extraordinaire, that stayed behind and ran the restaurant with minimal staff while we were at Taste of Sydney, my crew at Taste, Mehmet, Utku, Memocan, Fouad, Sinem, Serhat and Tayfun, my wife Asli for being at the show for every session while juggling the demanding schedule of our two lil’ ones and finally our friends Faruk and David of Wasamedia who came just to say hi and stayed all day and night long to help us trying to feed everyone at the ever present queue in front.

Until next year,

Turkish Coffee with Turkish Delight

I grew up in 70’s in Istanbul in the midst of transition from traditional to modern lifestyle.

I still remember grandmas devotion to make perfect Turkish Coffee traditional way, over burnt charcoal slowly cooking for more than 15 minutes, while regularly removing the ‘cezve’ the traditional copper pot- from the coals to prevent coffee to overcook.

Those days, a prospective wife was judged by the taste of her coffee making skills, that shows not only the technique but more importantly one’s patience.

For seasoned Turkish coffee drinkers it is not hard to tell the difference between a properly made Turkish coffee and one prepared the way cheap restaurants would do, basically boiling the coffee quickly, degrading thus the taste and producing little if any froth that needs to cover the cup of coffee.

Although to this day there are still a few people who either do or at least know the days when coffee was heated on charcoal, for all practical purposes modern electric or gas stove tops became the heating equipment of choice.

Turkish coffee is made by pulverizing freshly-roasted medium-roast beans in a mortar and pestle, or grinding them extra fine in a cylindrical brass coffee mill (kahve degirmeni).

To make Turkish coffee:

1. Pour in cold water in the coffee pot. You should use one cup of cold water for each cup you are making and then add an extra half cup “for the pot”. Add a teaspoonful of the ground Turkish coffee per cup in the water while the water is cold and stir. The amount of coffee may be varied to taste, but do not forget, there will be a thick layer of coffee grounds left at the bottom of your cup for properly made Turkish coffee. Don’t fill the pot too much. If you need to add sugar this is the time to do it.

2. Heat the pot as slowly as you can. The slower the heat the better it is. Make sure you watch it to prevent overflowing when the coffee boils.

3. When the water boils pour some (not all) of the coffee equally between the cups, filling each cup about a quarter to a third of the way. This will make sure that everybody gets a fair share of the foam forming on top of the pot, without which coffee loses much of its taste. Continue heating until coffee boils again (which will be very short now that it has already boiled). Then distribute the rest of the coffee between the cups.

Since there is no filtering of coffee at any time during this process, you should wait for a few minutes before drinking your delicious Turkish coffee while the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup.

Here’s how to order ‘Türk Kahvesi’ when you’re in Turkey:

Sade (sah-DEH) – plain, no sugar (fairly bitter)

Az sekerli (AHZ sheh-kehr-lee)- w. a little sugar (takes off the bitter edge; less than a teasp. per cup)

Orta sekerli (ohr-TAH sheh-kehr-lee) – with medium sugar (sweetish; about a teaspoon of sugar for each cup)

Sekerli (CHOK sheh-kehr-lee) – with lots of sugar (quite sweet; two teaspoons of sugar or more)

Midye Tava with Tarator Sauce

Beer-battered Mussels with Walnut Sauce

Serves 6 as part of a meze

1. 30 blue mussels, scrubbed
2. 1½ cups plain flour
3. 165ml lager beer
4. 1 egg, separated
5. Vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
6. Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
7. Tarator, for serving (recipe follows)

• Place mussels in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
• Using a blunt knife (such as a butter knife), along the broad edge, open shells and remove mussles. Snip off the beards and place on paper towel to drain.
• Place ½ cup of the flour in a bowl, pour in beer and egg yolk and mix well.
• Whisk egg white until it forms soft peaks and fold into the flour mixture.
• Heat oil in a frying pan.
• Add salt and pepper to remaining flour.
• Toss mussels in flour, shaking off any excess, then dip in the batter.
• Lower carefully into the oil, in batches, fry for a minute or so, until dark golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towel. Serve with Tarator.

Tarator – Walnut Sauce

1. 3 slices day-old white sandwich bread, crusts removed
2. 100ml milk
3. 1½ cups shelled walnuts
4. 2 cloves garlic, peeled (see notes)
5. 1 teaspoon salt flakes
6. ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
7. 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
8. 1 lemon, juice strained

• Soak bread in milk for 5 minutes, then squeeze to remove excess liquid.
• Finely chop walnuts in a food processor then place in a bowl.
• Add bread and knead to combine.
• Place garlic and salt in a mortar and crush with a pestle to form a fine paste.
• Stir oil, vinegar, lemon juice and crushed garlic into the walnut mixture.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour; return to room temperature and stir well before serving (as it may separate). If refrigerating overnight, mix in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to loosen it up before serving.

Notes: If you don’t like the taste of raw garlic, roast it at 200°C for about 5 minutes, or use finely chopped garlic scapes (or shoots) when in season. Mix in a drizzle of olive oil before serving if refrigerating overnight.

Somer Sivrioglu, Efendy Restaurant

Patlican Ezme ( for 6)

Ezme is one of the most popular dishes in Turkish cuisine, that can be served as a meze ( Antep Ezme), as a salad – coarsely chopped with walnuts ( Gavurdagi), even as a cold summer soup, without the olive oil but with ice and cold water.

Most important trick in making this recipe is to chop all the ingredients with a sharp knife or Zirh ( Turkish style large mezzaluna) and never to use food processor.

Ingredients

• 2x large eggplants
• 1x large red capsicum
• 2x spring onions
• ½ bunch Italian parsley
• 1 teasp. Salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablesp. EVO oil
• 2 tablesp. Lemon juice
• 1 tablesp. Apple vinegar
• For decoration
• 2 tablesp. Pomegranate molasses
• 20 pomegranate pearls

Patlican Ezme

Method

• Pierce the eggplants wih a fork
• Smoke on the charcoal turning when blackened and until all soft
• Put in a colander to drain excess water
• When cool down, peel the skin.
• Put back in colander to rest 10 more minutes
• Cook red capsicum over open flame
• Leave until all skin burnt
• Take in to a container and seal with a stretch film
• When cool down, peel the skin under water to get all black parts out
• Chop spring onion finely
• Chop parsley finely
• Chop eggplant coarsely in to a chunky puree
• Finely dice red capsicum
• Mix all the ingredients in a deep bowl
• Add salt and pepper, EVO oil, lemon juice and apple vinegar
• Mix it all
• Take in to a service platter
• Drizzle pomegranate molasses and decorate with pomegranate pearls

Here is the recipe I came up with.

KARNIYARIK $ 7.65 4 medium eggplants ( Appr.8 kg@$4/kg ) $ 3.20 250 grams ground lamb( $8/kg) $ 2.00 1 large onions, diced $ 0.10 Flat leaf parsley, for garnish $ 0.05 2 tomatoes, one sliced thinly other one grated $ 1.00 2 long sweet green chilli peppers $ 0.50 Ground pepper, salt $ 0.05 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced $ 0.10 1/2 cup boiling water 1 tbsp tomato paste, divided $ 0.10 Canola oil, for frying $ 0.30 1 tbsp granulated sugar $ 0.05 2 tbsp olive oil, divided $ 0.20
BULGUR PILAVI $ 2.15 1/2 cup butter $ 0.50 2 cups coarse bulgur $ 0.80 1 small onion, chopped $ 0.10 3 green onions, chopped $ 0.50 4 cups chicken broth $ 0.15 salt and pepper to taste $ 0.10 total $ 9.80

Karniyarik

Karniyarik ( Lamb stuffed eggplant)

Karn?yar?k which literally translates as “split belly” is widely made and dearly loved almost in every part of Turkey. But by going over the ingredients and cooking method, I believe it’s from southeastern and eastern Mediterranean regions of Turkey. I must warn you; this is not a light dish, but it is absolutely fantastic and if you haven’t had karn?yar?k before, it will change your ideas on eggplant dishes. Enough said to advertise eggplant – Turkey’s adopted vegetable.

There are a couple things to be careful about when you’re cooking with eggplants. Buy eggplants right before you cook and pick the firmer ones; eggplants tend to get soft in the refrigerator. And for this dish, do not use huge eggplants. Try to find smaller ones.

METHOD

- Pare eggplants in stripes lengthwise.

- Place eggplants in a large bowl of salted water, invert a plate over the eggplants to keep them submerged in water and set aside for 30 minutes to remove any bitterness.

- Drain and dry well with paper towels.

- Add enough canola oil to a large pan to reach a depth of 2 inches.

- Heat oil over medium-high heat and fry the eggplants

- Transfer immediately to a plate lined with paper towel to drain. Once drained, place eggplants in an oven dish and set aside.

- Preheat your oven to 190 C.

- In a separate pan, place 1 tbsp olive oil and garlic and cook over medium-high heat until garlic is evenly browned. Add diced onions and saute until translucent.

- In a separate pan, place 1 tbsp olive oil with ground beef and cook over medium-high heat.

- Combine onions and beef and grate one tomato over the beef mixture. Add 1/2 tbsp tomato paste adjust seasoning and cook until all tomato juice evaporates.

- With the help of two spoons, slit eggplants into two, leaving the tops and bottoms attached.

- Sprinkle 1/4 tbsp sugar on each and stuff with the ground beef mixture. Slice one tomato thinly and arrange one slice and half a slice of green pepper on each eggplant.

- Whisk together boiling water and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste.

- Spoon a little over the eggplants to moisten them and pour the rest around them. Bake until the peppers have softened and the liquid in the pan has reduced to syrupy juices, 30-40 minutes.

Bulgur Pilavi ( Cracked wheat and spring onion pilav )

Bulgur, also called bulgar or bulghur is a form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, steamed/parboiled, dried and then ground into grains of different sizes. Bulgur is a precooked grain and therefore requires minimal preparation while cooking. Bulgur has a rich and mild nutty flavor. Bulgur can be substituted for rice as it is higher in nutrient content with more minerals and vitamin B.

METHOD

- Melt butter in a pan and sauté onion until just softened

- Add bulgur and sauté another 2 minutes. Add green onion and sauté 1 minute.

- Heat broth in a separate saucepan; stir hot broth into bulgur

- Add salt and pepper to taste.

- Cook on high for approximately 10 minutes. Stir with fork and simmer an additional 15 minutes.

Turkish cuisine is considered to be one of the leading cuisines of the world due to the variety of its recipes, the use of natural ingredients, the singular flavours and tastes which appeal to all palates and the influence of Turkish cuisine throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The roots of Turkish cuisine come from the Nomadic ages and central Asia, the first home of the Turks. The cuisine and culture evolved with the contributions from inland Asia and the Mediterranean on their arrival in Anatolia.

In a sense Turkish cuisine provides a bridge between Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. The focus is always on enhancing the natural taste and flavour of the ingredients. No single element dominates Turkish cuisine, like sauces in French and pasta in Italian cuisines.

The Palace was the central point in the Turkish empire and chefs were brought from far and wide to cook for the royals and their guests fostering a great

hub of food and culture. While the Palace cuisine was developing in ?stanbul, local cuisines in Anatolia were multiplying in several regions, all displaying different geographical and climactic characteristics. These cuisines, after remaining within regional borders for centuries, are now being transplanted to the big cities and their suburbs as a consequence of large scale urbanisation and migration towards new urban centres. As a result, the national Turkish cuisine has been enriched by a number of local recipes.

Due to a pleasant climate and rich soil Turkey enjoys an abundance of locally produced fresh food. Turkey’s long coastline runs along the Mediterranean Sea

providing unending amounts of fresh seafood. In fact, Turkey is one of the few countries self-sufficient in food production and produces enough for export as

well. This means that Turkish food is usually made from fresh, local ingredients and is all the tastier for it!

Unfortunately, with the exception of few restaurants that are trying to showcase the real Turkish cuisine, Australia’s exposition to Turkish cuisine is somewhat

limited to fast food kebab chains and belly dancing kebab and pide restaurants. As a result, there are many misconceptions about our world-class cuisine.

1. Heaps of Dips: As an avid fan of regional Turkish cuisine, I was lucky to try humus once in Turkey in Hatay, a southeastern border town. As for the majority of the Turks they would have a better chance trying humus in UK, USA or Australia than in Turkey since it is pretty much non-existent. Same goes for

babaganoush, cacik ( the real Turkish version is more of a cold soup than a dip) and other dips that are served in Turkish restaurants in Australia as Turkish dip platter. Most common Turkish mezes are generally olive oil marinated cold vegetables, dolmas or humble white cheese and melon

2. Turkish Bread a la Oz. The popular Turkish bread is not consumed in Turkey. In Turkey, there is nothing like the version that we have so commonly in most cafes in here. Its closest cousin would be Ramadan pide that is only

available during a one month fasting season a flat and round bread cooked daily in local bakeries. The Real Deal is something more of across between Vienna bread and sourdough loaf.

3. Turkish Coffee would keep you up all night. Not unless you never had an espresso, latte or flat white in your life. As a matter of fact, Turkish Coffee is Arabica beans finely grounded with a heaped spoonful of tea. Cup of espresso/

latte/ flat white has three times more caffeine than Turkish Coffee.

4. Belly dancers are quintessential part of a Turkish restaurant. I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey until the age of 25, going out since I was 15 and never ever seen a belly dancer in a restaurant. They either perform at tourist shows, cabaret shows or some seedy clubs. I believe it is the chefs duty to ensure your belly is dancing with many tastes of Turkish cuisine.

5. Lettuce, cheese, onion, tomato but no meat?

In Turkey, kebap stands would only serve you doner kebap in the bread, only condiment on offer is onion and maybe a bit of dried chilli flakes. I guess when the meat taste so good you don’t need cheese with it. Doner kebaps

in Turkey are made of sliced meat and held together by a mince mix, unlike in Australia where bread crumbs, mince meat, fat and lots of msg constitutes the mix otherwise known as kebab. Try it in Turkey you’ll notice the difference.

Story

Sucuk

A popular egg dish commonly served for breakfast in Turkey is sucuklu yumurta , a delicious Turkish style fried eggs topped with a dry beef sausage called sucuk.

Since the early years, sucuk has already been traditionally eaten for breakfast from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia. Turkish sucuk, also known as soudjouk or sujuk in other neighboring European countries, is made locally with ground beef, seasoned with a variety of spices such as garlic, cumin, sumac, salt and pepper. The sausage is then dried for several weeks making it to become hard and stiff. When sucuk is cooked, it produces a very strong appetizing smell and flavor.

Since sucuk is usually not eaten raw, the Turks usually fry it without the need for using oil. When cooked alone, it goes well when eaten with bread, cheese, olives, hard boiled eggs and slices of tomatoes and cucumbers which all make up for a typical Turkish breakfast. Sometimes, sucuk is also used with a variety of Turkish main and side dishes such as sucuklu kuru fasulye or white beans with sucuk. Due to its very strong, appetizing taste and aroma, sucuk can easily satisfy anyone’s appetite may it be for breakfast, snacktime or dinner.

In Sydney you can find Sucuk from Turkish markets and butchers in Auburn.

Below is a very simple and easy-to-cook sucuklu yumurta recipe that can surely boost anyone’s appetite during a warm summer or cold winter breakfast.

Here’s how to make this Turkish style scrambled eggs:

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive, corn, or sunflower oil
• 4 large farm laid eggs
• 6-8 thin slices of sucuk
• a pinch of salt and pepper

Method

• Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.
• Place all the sausages lying down side by side on the bottom of the frying pan.
• Cook the sucuk sausages slightly on both sides, turning each side through the help of a fork. You may notice when they are ready for turning over as soon they start to release its own fat or turns a little red brown.
• As soon as both sides had been slightly cooked, start moving the slices of sucuk sausages using fork to make room for the eggs or you may remove all the sucuk from the pan, crack the eggs in and immediately put the sucuk back on top of the eggs.
• Gently crack the eggs one after the other and pour directly on the spaces in-between the sausages.
• Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
• Cover and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the eggs (especially the whites) are fully cooked.
• Carefully remove the pie-like scrambled eggs and transfer it to a plate with the help of a spatula.

Serve hot with ekmek , a traditional Turkish bread or with pide , a Middle Eastern flatbread, a bowl of green salad, and a cup of Turkish tea.

Yields 2-3 servings.

Afiyet olsun! (Have a good appetite!)

Narli Ordek

Ingredients

For the duck

2 pcs of Duck Maryland

Duck fat

100 ml. Pomegranate molasses

cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg

For the sauce

200ml. Tawny port

20 x pomegranate seeds

5x sour dried plums

Method

1. Put the duck marylands into a deep oven tray and cover with duck fat and 100ml. Pomegranate molasses
2. Add cinnamon sticks, star anise and nutmeg
3. Cook in an oven, at 120 degrees 4 to 4and1/2 hours ( depending on the oven)
4. Meanwhile, glaze the pomegranates and unseeded sour plums with port and pomegranate molasses
5. Add duck legs in to the glaze adding a spoon of duck fat to give a shiny finish
6. Cook for 30 minutes.
7. Serve over blanched greens of snake beans, broccoli and/or asparagus