All posts tagged: healthy eating

Brussels sprout kimchi

Fermented Goodies: Brussels Sprouts, Mustard Greens Kimchi

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Better late and never! The latest freezing temperature, I hope, will do some justice to this post. But then again, there isn’t a right time for fermentation obsession, is there? I took advantage of the cold weather with drizzles and gutsy wind, I busied myself with much delayed winter chores. But before I begin, I send out my apology for not being able to do the annual kimchi workshop, nor any Korean food events this winter. But I certainly will this year! I hope that you still made your favourite kimchi to store away for months to come. On my part, so caught up between two jobs, I was getting anxious that I might not be able to make any kimchi myself. The bigger issue than time, though, was not finding Napa cabbages in Canakkale! As a desperate resort to stock some fermented goodies, I made kimchi with Brussels sprouts and mustard greens, called ‘hardal otu‘ in Turkish. There are three things that give me a sense of security, and they are Kimchi/Cheese/Wine. Neither a man …

Humble Delights: Garlic and Onion Scapes

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When I got back home after 2 weeks’ absence, I was delighted to see my plants still healthy. This wine bottle watering system really worked! The bottle was still half full and the soil was wet. Now I don’t need to worry about plants when going on a holiday, yeah! I’ve created a few dishes this week and some turned out really amazing. I can’t wait to share them with you. But for today, I’ll share some tricks you can do with humble garlic and onion scapes you probably see a lot these days. When I see the scapes at the market, my knew-jerk reaction is ‘PICKLE’~! This salty, tangy and sweet pickle is a delight at a meal.  But instead of garlic scapes, I’ve been seeing a lot of onion scapes. Did I miss them while I was away?? I bought the scapes anyway and pickled some of them since I couldn’t eat them all. I threw in some fresh green garlic cloves as well. When pickled, they develop a different flavour. I’ll start eating them after 2 weeks …

radish miso tahini

KIMCHI Workshop and Radish Spinach Miso Tahini Rice Bowl

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It was fun making kimchi with many people and I was proud to share my know-hows and clarify some of the myths surrounding the most essential Korean food. I was also very surprised by the enthusiasm of the participants, who seemed more obsessed with kimchi than me!

I would like to thank those who joined the event and also, Istanbul Cooking School for opening their space for us.

Palamut(Bonito) Freekeh Sarma with Tahini Soy Sauce

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Let’s have a break from the Sicilian story and talk about what I’ve been cooking. I’ve been cooking more Asian foods lately and experimenting a combination of Korean and Turkish flavours. I have affinity  to everything wrapped or rolled, which is ‘sarma’ in Turkish. It sounds even similar to the Korean word for wrapping, ‘ssam’! You’ll see this stuffed leaves or stuffed vegetables everywhere in Turkey, and they are usually made with rice and meat. Of all, the most common type is stuffed vine leaves and I have a very funny story to tell. We had a big row over the vines in our garden over the summer. Some friends of an upstairs granny came around to pick vine leaves from time to time but I ignored them, finding it rather cute that people even in the city go around foraging. Also, the vines needed pruning anyway. But then one day I came home to find the ladies in the garden and the vines stripped naked of leaves so I told them not to pick the leaves from inside. One day while our helper lady was …

Baked Artichoke Bottoms Stuffed with Mushroom and Goat Cheese

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If you follow me on FB or Instagram, you’d probably have seen some photos of the lovely weekend trip to Çanakkale. I did a wine tasting, ate local specialities such as cheese helva (peynir halvasi), ice cream, and oğlak(kid), yeah!, which can be eaten only through March and April. I’ll dedicate a whole post on the trip later because I think what I saw and did there is worth a whole page and it wasn’t all about food this time. Also, April is extra special for that area because of the Battle of Gallipoli and Anzac Day. So today let’s just talk about food and sharing food. Spring conjures up asparagus and artichoke. Do you remember I was eating lots of white asparagus in France? I sometimes see them in jars at Metro supermarket but I don’t buy them of course – strictly shop locally and find alternatives! In Turkey, when you go to farmers’ markets these days, you see many guys trimming artichoke bottoms. The artichokes here are bigger and how they are cooked …

cauliflower

Cauliflower Steak with Thracian Wine

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Winter is almost over as the temperature is heading for the 20 range and the daylight saving will start in started a couple of days ago. For some reason, WordPress is working again so I’m going to cram blog! I couldn’t because of the unbelievable nation-wide power outage yesterday, but it’s more to do with my personal affairs happening all at once lately, which makes it very difficult to sit down and write. Amid all this, I find it important to continue writing and let things off my chest. Some of you might have detected some sort of change in my voice as if molten lava boiling its way through a tiny crack. Well, I’m dramatising it a bit but I think there will be quite a huge change with my life soon but until it really happens, I’ll keep silent not to stir up the good karma, however, I’ll try my best to keep you informed and inspired just about everything I come across, culture, food, history, and my observations and random thoughts, which …