food and politics

One of the most popular dishes of traditional Turkish cuisine is buttery rice pilaf.

The varieties of rice pilaf in Turkish cuisine, taking root from 13^th century Ottoman cuisine, are one of the well preserved culinary traditions from the countryside to the city. The pilaf cooking tradition, which seems to have narrowed with a few varieties in urban areas, expands with different flavours from region to region. The famous anchovy pilaf of the Black Sea region, the types of pilaf prepared with olive oil in the Aegean region, and the pilaf with white meat and bulgur on the Mediterranean coast symbolise different cultural patterns.

For one thing, cooking pilaf with the right consistency is not an easy task. So not easy that it is the main indicator to call one a good cook. Even the skill of professional cooks can often be measured by the way that they cook pilaf properly. Here I’ll give you a couple of versions of rice pilaf; vermicelli pilaf, tomato pilaf, almond pilaf and one of my favourites: shrimp pilaf.

Here are some tips before starting:

• The recipes are for 4 people (the first three recipes usually served as side dish) and prepared with medium grain rice.
• Click here to check out the best pan to use for these recipes. It is similar to ceramic paella pan.
• Except the shrimp rice, instead of 2 cups of water you can use one cup chicken broth and one cup water. If you don’t have chicken broth but still want the aroma, use one chicken stock cube (bouillon) while adding hot water.
• Us Turks, we eat pilaf with some yogurt on the side. Give it a try!

– Vermicelli Rice Pilaf
Ingredients: 1 cup medium grain rice, ¼ cup vermicelli, ½ tablespoon butter, ½ tablespoon sunflower oil, ½ tablespoon salt

1) Steep the rice in salted hot water for half an hour.
2) Roast the vermicelli in the pan with sunflower oil for 2 minutes. Careful, they shouldn’t turn very dark brown.
3) Wash rice with wire strainer until the water is clear and drain it. Pour it in the pan.
4) Roast the vermicelli and rice together with butter and salt for another 2 minutes. The more tasty the butter, the more delicious the rice will be. Here feel free to use salted butter, depending on how salty you like your food.
5) Add a little less than 2 cups of hot water. It is nearly twice as much water as the rice you use, one finger less. This is the part which makes Turkish rice pilaf cooking tricky. Rice grains shouldn’t be sticky once cooked.
6) Once the water is boiled, turn down the heat to minimum and let the rice cook for approx. 23 minutes. The pan lid is always closed! It is important that rice cooks with the buttery steam.
7) After 23 minutes, turn off the heat. Open the lid and cover the pan with a cloth (if you don’t have a cloth to cover the pan, keep the lid closed). Wait another 10 minutes while the rice sits.
8) After 10 minutes, stir the rice and your vermicelli rice pilaf is ready!

– Tomato Rice Pilaf
Ingredients: 1 cup medium grain rice, 2 tomatoes, 2 drops of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter, ½ tablespoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (optional)

1) This step is the same. Just squeeze 2 drops of lemon in the hot water.
2) Grate the tomatoes and cook them with butter. Boil down the tomatoes until the half of the juice is evaporated. Otherwise pilaf can turn out to be sticky.
3) Look above: Steps 3, 5, 6, 7.
4) (Optional) You can melt more butter on it at the end and add some ground black pepper.

– Almond Rice Pilaf (goes great with chicken on the side)
Ingredients: 1 cup medium grain rice, ½ cup blanched sliced almond, ¼ cup raisin (optional), ½ tablespoon sunflower oil, ½ tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon sugar, ½ tablespoon salt

1) Look above. + Also steep ¼ cup of raisin in hot water.
2) Roast the blanched sliced almond with sunflower oil until the almonds are slightly brown.
3) Drain and wash the rice. Melt the butter in the pilaf pan and roast the rice.
4) Look above: Step 5.
5) Add raisins, almonds, salt, and sugar.
6) Look above: Steps 6, 7 and 8.

Pilaf can be an unpretentious (still delicious) side dish, but also depending on the ingredients it may become a feast. To your delight, you can cook pilaf with vegetables or meat or chicken and create a main dish that is both delicious and nutritionally adequate. It is also possible to add many “traditionally unusual” ingredients in the rice and create your very own pilaf.

Shrimp rice pilaf is one of these special ones. The recipe takes origin from one of the Prince’s Islands of Istanbul, “Büyükada”. It brings together the taste of Marmara Sea and traditional buttery rice pilaf.

– Shrimp Rice Pilaf
Ingredients: 500 gr small or medium sized shrimp, 1,5 cup medium grain rice, 2 large tomatoes, 1 clove garlic, 2 teaspoons salt (1 for rice, 1 for shrimp), 1 teaspoon grounded pepper, ½ tablespoon sunflower oil, 1 tablespoon butter (half for rice, half for shrimp), 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 drops of lemon juice, parsley (optional), 1 sweet green pepper (optional)

1) Look above: Step 1 and 3.
2) Ground the rice with lemon juice in sunflower oil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, ½ tablespoon of butter and a little less than 3 cups of hot water. Measurement as explained in above step 5. Then follow steps 6 and 7.
3) In a separate pan, cook the grated garlic and the diced sweet green pepper (optional) with ½ tablespoon of butter. Grate 2 tomatoes in it. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of grounded pepper.
4) When this mixture starts to boil, add the shrimps, which you have washed and extracted from the dew, into the pan. Cook them all together.
5) Put the pilaf on a “boat shaped platter” (shape is of course up to you…) and pour the shrimp sauce on top. Ready to serve! You can decorate it with parsley.

I inherited the love of cooking from my grandma alongside the love of living and many more qualities. A real intellectual, an altruistic woman who passed away last year around this time.

One of the reasons why I started this blog was to share her recipes, one of our mutual passions. Now it becomes a means to keep her knowledge and wisdom alive.

Everyday feeling incredibly lucky to be raised by her. May she rest in peace.