FIVE KEY TURKISH INGREDIENTS
Wild zahter ‘A cross between oregano and thyme, zahter grows in the mountains around Antep and Hatay in southern eastern Turkey. It’s used dried in za’atar [a spice mix]. But used fresh and blanched, in salads or with fish, it’s powerful and aromatic. Eating it gives me goosebumps.’
Chef-patron Esra
with family in her grandma’s garden in Istanbul in 2006
Mulberry molasses ‘We use dut pekmezi, mulberry molasses, in many ways, from desserts with roasted winter pumpkin to – one of my favourite things – on toast in a sweet-and-salty mix with tahini, topped with walnuts.’
‘Back home, we eat completely different food. We don’t often go out to eat kebabs,’ says chef Esra Muslu, as she contemplates the grill dishes and street foods which dominate British understanding of Turkish cuisine. ‘It depends on the person and how you grew up, but my family food was based on vegetables and fish, with a little meat.’
Tulum cheese ‘So many Turkish regions have different intense and punchy cheeses, from smoked to blue. Tulum is aged in lamb or goat’s skins; the old school method is to bury it underground for six months to a year. It’s salty, creamy and very crumbly.’
It’s such ‘seasonal, home-style’ Turkish cooking which the 43-year-old explores at her new London restaurant, Zahter – or a small slice of it, at least. As Esra acknowledges, as you travel from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean or out to Turkey’s eastern border, in a country simultaneously shaped by centuries of Armenian, Jewish, Persian and Arabic influence, the regional and cultural differences in Turkish cooking are such that it is a never-ending journey of discovery.
Sumac paste ‘You can make a dried sumac powder, but in Turkey and the Middle East, people make a paste out of the cooked sumac fruit, called sumak ekşisi. It creates intense flavours when making dolma or seasoning meat, a completely different sourness to lemon.’