Tuesday, July 29th: A Cooking Experience

Tuesday, July 29th: A Cooking Experience

Deniz börülcesi (called samphire in English but literally sea cowpea in Turkish) is a type of marsh weed readily available around Burgaz Island. One can find it growing on the sidewalks in this area actually. I witnessed a couple of Kurdish women scraping it up in to some plastic bags today, apparently to cook it later. Our batch, however, was purchased at Friday's open-air market and is fresh (and not scraped off a sidewalk). It is stiff and looks like seaweed when it is uncooked.

After cleaning it thoroughly, we immersed the stalks in a pot of cold water, and brought it to boil on the stove. We let it boil for about 15 minutes.










After draining the water, Vincent pinched each stalk between his fingers and pulled off the cooked shell off each stiff strand. What was left was like a stick and this part was thrown away.

The cooked shell slips off easily

Vincent shows the stiff stalk

This is the most time intensive step in cooking deniz börülcesi

The cooked shell is limp and ready for eating.

Although, of course, no Turkish dish is complete without garlic. Vincent grated 3 cloves in to the bowl with the cooked deniz börülcesi.

Lastly, we added 2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil and 2 spoons of tomato paste and mixed it all thoroughly. Turkish tomato paste is pre-salted and delicious right out of the jar. With the tomato paste mixed in, the dish is then ready to eat. Served cold, it is a great side salad for a hot day.

Here's the meal we ate:

Cooked deniz börülcesi
Cucumber salad with garlic and yoghurt.
Dolmas
Cold red lentil dolmas
White feta cheese
Roasted eggplant and garlic
Raw green peppers



Afiyet olsun!




If you haven't had enough, here's another recipe you can try:
http://www.petersommer.com/turkey-travel-country/turkish-food-cuisine/deniz-borulcesi-samphire-salad/