Back to School: Cooking class in Istanbul
I like the idea of learning something new in my different ports of call (like Spanish in Buenos Aires), so I decided to sign up for 2 half-day cooking classes with Cooking Alaturka. These are run by a Dutch lady, Eveline, who had studied at Le Cordon Bleu and worked in hotel management in NY, Paris, and Istanbul, together with a Turkish chef, Feydi.
Each day we prepared 5 different dishes. We divided and conquered the chopping and dicing, while the special-to-Turkish cooking skills we all did individually (laying out and folding up the grape leaves, for example).
Eveline did all of the talking, while Feydi quietly brought the different ingredients together on the stove and in the oven, or would say "excuse me" when we were doing something wrong, silently showed us how to do it, then hand us back the knife/pestle/etc. so we could resume. She said that he didn't speak English, but I found that he could understand my questions (like,what is the ratio of Turkish coffee grounds to water) and respond reasonably well. I guess he just doesn't speak with the poetry that Eveline does; I will always remember her telling us to put our pieces of şekerpare (semolina cake) dough on the sheet "with a determined little throw." It described the task just perfectly.
For really special tasks, Feyzi was the one who demonstrated. Here he is intently skinning an eggplant that we just roasted directly on the gas flame.
I really liked taking this class after having been in Turkey for a while. It meant that I could recognize some of the dishes that we were going to prepare, and pay extra special attention to the ones I really liked. I've especially enjoyed eating the simple dishes like green beans braised in olive oil, and the lentil soup below. I also liked the class for a good balance of demonstration as well as practicing on your own. The only part that made me uneasy was that Eveline would sometimes seem to criticize Feyzi in Turkish in front of us, or they would have some sort of disagreement, lending to some negative energy which I don't like in the kitchen! But maybe I'm reading into things, since I don't understand Turkish at all...
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From Cooking Alaturka, with my notes
Ezogelin çorbası
(btw I think it's really cool that in Turkish, "ı" without the dot on top is its own letter)
Spicy lentil and bulger soup - serves 6
250g red lentils, washed
50g bulgur
1/2 - 1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 - 1 tbsp bellpepper paste (I think you need to get this in a Turkish store)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp dried mint (I would guess you could dry your own, and then pulse it in a food processor to fine pieces, since I've never seen this ingredient before in the US)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (this is a special Turkish kind, it's not exactly the hot pepper flakes with the seeds we have in the US, but it's similar though less spicy)
5 cups cold water (or chicken stock)
1 tsp water
1. Cook the lentils 15-20 minutes in 2x the water until they fall apart. Set pot aside
2. Melt butter with the oil in a large pot (this is where the soup is going to end up). They put oil with the butter, so the butter doesn't burn. Add the flour to make a roux, then add the mint, and the red pepper flakes, bellpepper paste, and tomato paste, stirring constantly.
3. Add the lentils, and then the water
4. Bring to boil, stirring frequently. Once the soup is boiling, add the bulgur and cook for 5-10 minutes more.
5. Serve hot, with a squeeze of lemon in each bowl (this is key to making the soup addictive!)
