Hünkar Beğendi - Turkish lamb on eggplant mash

I love lamb overall and this particular way to cook it just became my absolute first choice. I first tried the dish couple of months ago at Hünkar restaurant in Istanbul. Simple and intense melt in your mouth lamb stew with smoky and creamy eggplant mash made a truly perfect combination. I started researching and it turned out that Hünkar Beğendi was a well known dish. There were many recipes around, but none really resembled the version I had at Hünkar. It took quite some time to replicate it, but finally it worked. Now it seems that at home it comes out even better.

Turkish eggplant salad #1002

In Istanbul they told me many times: we are experts in one thousand and one way to cook eggplant. And indeed they are. Eggplant salad on a menu can stand for a dozen different things. One of our dinners included two eggplant starters plus one eggplant side dish and so different all these were that nobody felt overwhelmed by eggplant. However there is much beyond the classics. My favorite eggplant starter in Istanbul was a chef's special at Meze by Lemon Tree restaurant - spicy fried eggplant with sweet tomato sauce and creamy yogurt topping. I couldn't trace it in google, but I still found a way to make it. Trial and error method always works if you go on with it long enough.

Turkish baked halva (sicak helva)

Before I came to Istanbul I heard about sicak helva - a kind of custard made of crushed tahini halva mixed with cream and baked. The dessert is traditionally eaten after a fish main as it removes fish aftertaste completely. The idea really resonated with me, so the evening we did visit a fish restaurant I was more concerned about my dessert than about my fish main. I ended up loving it and cooking it at home. It turned out to be very practical in Moscow, as tahini halva is very common around here.

Baklava

It seems that I found something strong enough to heal a broken heart, which is almost magic. I only made baklava a couple of times and I'm not going to pretend I know everything about it. There are people who learn to make baklava throughout their lives and hopefully I'll once have good talk with one of them. But right now I can say for sure that you can make it very well from the very first attempt and enjoy both the making and the eating just extremely.

Home made Kazakh dinner and Beshbarmak

While I was planning my recent trip to Almaty I wrote an email to my Insead friend Gulnazi. Gulnazi originates from Almaty and moved back to work there some half a year ago. She invited me to her house for dinner made by her mom. That was how I tried the Kazakh beshbarmak for the first time.

Moroccan mint tea and stuffed dates

I absolutely adore Moroccan mint tea. After a tagine dinner there is nothing better than this hot and aromatic lightly sweetened drink. You pour it (in an ideal world from a silver pot into colored glasses) and sip it throughout the evening. It relaxes you and makes you smile. Moroccan meal doesn't really need a substantial dessert to follow it. However once I tried these dates stuffed with pistachio marzipan along the mint tea and it turned out that these two really work magically together.

Falafel home making

I always thought it was difficult and time consuming but now I know it isn't. Making falafel at home turned out easy and fun. But even if it wasn't I'd still do that at least sometimes because nothing can compare to having that first falafel ball. It is yours right out of the hot oil before anyone even knows that falafel is coming. I mean, you have to taste when you cook, right?

Baba ganoush (eggplant hummus)

Once we were discussing the Lent with Leo. It turned out that he keeps the fast so I asked, what he eats at this time. He just said "hummus" and I thought "of course!". Can there be any problem with getting through the Lent once you know about hummus? That must be one of the most nutritious and at the same time delicious, almost addictive vegan foods on earth. With all my love to hummus and to eggplants one day I had to start making baba ganoush.

Slow cooked vegetable tagine

I got used to eating tagine in Fontainebleau. The town though small has two or more Moroccan restaurants, one of which was almost next door to our house. We frequented that tiny hospitable place with dark red walls and always well made food. I loved the tagine there, but once I made it at home I realized it can be even better when you can afford to cook it really slowly.

Hummus, not seriously

I got addicted to hummus in Insead and a year after graduation it seems it is not going away that easily. My cravings finally made me learn to make it and, surprise, it turned out quite rewarding both in terms of the result and in terms of the process.