Best kitchen invention (+ recipe for chicken)

This may sound ridiculous, but I had to come to Kurdistan and befriend a couple of Turks before I was able to discover the best kitchen invention ever. The item I am holding in the picture above is a package of oven roasting bags imported from Turkey - essentially just big see through plastic bags for roasting food in. Many of you may already be familiar with them, and many more of you may think that it is an apalling atrocity to shove something you are going to serve loved ones into a eco-unfriendly unnatural synthetic item where it will stay potentially absorbing anti-nutrients for an hour, but I challenge you... It is a potentially life-changing discovery! The advantages of using the bag is that there is almost NO CLEAN UP and the chicken stays moist. So far, I just cut up potatoes into wedges and throw these along with some garlic cloves into the bag under the chicken. But recently I began experimenting and would like to share a recipe with you:

Zanmei's Pomegranate (or other fruit?) Roast Chicken

1. Clean chicken, take a lemon or two, grate off zest, cut into halves and stuff into cavity of chicken.
2. Combine a few diced shallots (or one small onion) and local savory shredded and chopped herbs (I use basil and thyme) and some pepper. Take half of this mixture (or as much as you need - 2 Tbs?), loosen the chicken skin with a paring knive and rub the mixture between the chicken and the skin on breasts and thighs. Rub a little olive oil on the outside of the chicken and slip it into the roasting bag.
3. Put remainder of herb mixture in a bowl and add about 1-2 Tbs of honey, 1/2 cup of pomegranate (or cranberry or orange) juice and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. Pour this into the bag with the chicken and tie off the bag.
4. Place the bag into a glass or ceramic baking tray and put into oven (high heat - gas mark 6 on my oven) and roast for about 1 hour until skin is crispy-looking on top.
5. Serve with rice. I do a mixture of wild rice and barley cooked in chicken stock. Start by lightly sauteeing onions in olive oil, add dry wild rice and barley until grains are coated with the oil, add chicken stock and cook until done. Then after cooking, toss tegether with pomegranate seeds, toasted pine nuts, lemon zest (that you grated off the lemons stuffed into chicken) and a couple of Tbs of chopped parsley. Veggies roasted on a piece of tinfoil are also a nice no-clean-up-required addition. Zuccini slices instersperced with onion slices sprinkled with olive oil, red pepper flakes and thyme roast up nicely as do halved cherry tomatoes. You can add a little balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes after roasting.

Please let me know if this works for you. I tried this in Canada and there was too much water from the chicken and I thinked the juices that ran off the chicken in a pan with a bit of flour. Alternatively you could just add a dusting of flour to the bottom of the bag before adding the juice mixture.

PS. Apparently you can cook loads of stuff in these nasty-looking, but oh so useful bags. I will try fish when I return to Canada next.

Kumkapı

Unfortunately, there were no wandering gypsy bands playing an odd assortment of folk music; Turkish, Kurdish, Russian... and there were also no belly dancers, professional or amateur. But despite it being Eid, there were still diners and shops were open for business. First stop, the fish market...
Second stop, dinner. Specialties of Istanbul: levrek (sea bass) and çupra (sea bream) are plentiful. Also available are mussels, prawns, etc.... But Kumkapı being popular among Istanbul natives and Turkish tourists, dinner doesn't come cheap.

Creamy Lokum, Turkish Delight

It is virtually impossible to go to Turkey without coming home with a little box of Turkish delight. Usually I go for the double pistachio variety at Hacı Bekir... or when Mu goes to Turkey, I receive (can't afford this myself) a lovely box of exquisite dark and milk chocolate coated lokum from Vakko luxury department store. This time, I tried something new from a little shop called Locom Lesley discovered in Sultanahmet... and something impossible to transport home to Erbil - this amber colored bit of sticky sweet lokum gently wrapped around something soft, creamy and closely resembling mascarpone.

Fistik

Did you know that people in some countries in the Middle East use their word for pistachio as a term of endearment for a someone sweet? I didn't (well until my Lebanese friend explained to me why she called her brother and sister Fustu and Fusti). I also didn't know that the shells were encased in soft pink hulls. These ones aren't really fresh as I forgot they were in my fridge... but am posting it now to remember how tasty they were... season for finding them in the grocery stores seems to be over.

Barbecue Feast for Eid

Yes, this is yet another post about food.... What else is there to do during Eid in Erbil? Mu, being picky about his meat (he only buys at New City as he others aren't fresh-looking enough) is happy to be able to choose his own and grill it at the table himself.
Maybe because of Eid (?) the self-service mezze were also better last night. There were even mint leaves and pomegranate seeds! Nice to have more than humus and salads made from varying proportions of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, eggplant and onions.
The wait staff brings your meat and plate of hot peppers, onion slices and tomato halves to grill with the meat. They also serve the best of Turkish raki (if you like raki or arak) and speak Turkish. Maybe that's why Mu always knows someone here whenever we go... Since coming back, I have already been dragged here far too many times.

But being bad at directions, I can't tell you how to get here... other than it is not on the main drag (of course in Ankawa), but is just after the church with the hidden creche in the garden. Maybe you will recognize it from the bottom picture the next time you drive by in a taxi.

Authentic Chinese Restaurant...

... serving authentic Chinese food, with authentic Chinese staff. At least that's what the business card for Good Heart Chinese Restaurant says. The directions on the card are: Ankawa, after Saint Joseph's church take second right, the restaurant is immediately behind largest building (with Asia Cell tower on top). Typical directions for Hawler/Ankawa. The truth is, whether good or not, it is excellent to have something so different here. I like Bakery & More and the other Lebanese owned establishments that keep popping up, but food from places outside the Middle East is even more savored. Now we have fake Indian at the fake Sheraton, a new Turkish grill (just in time to replace two other Turkish restaurants which disappeared over the summer - rumor has it the owner left the country to avoid having unwarranted trouble with the police) and CHINESE!

Chinese already existed in Sulemania and just before summer, Tf paraded a bunch of colleagues into a new Chinese restaurant in Ankawa that appeared to be more brothel than restaurant. The owners were purportedly surprised to see so many women in the group and had to go out shopping to accommodate the food orders (seemingly corroborating suspicions that food is really the highlight of the "restaurant")... and the bill was exorbitant. Anyway, I regret that Tf has moved on to... Saudi? Like me, he speaks Chinese (only better) and would love this new place. Only open for 10 days, but it already seems like a keeper.

Public eating banned in daytime Ramadan

It is always an additional culture shock (piled on top of the already sizeable back-in-the-Middle East culture shock) when returning to Iraq after the long summer holiday as the country is usually already well into Ramadan, the month of fasting. People are grumpy, work slowly and try to go home early if possible, shops keep unusual hours, women who normally do not wear hijab are headscarfed... and you have to search harder to find restaurants that are open. On the plane on the way back to Hawler, I picked up a newspaper and this was he first thing I saw:

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The Iraqi Ministry of Interior on Wednesday announced that it will ban eating in public places and close down restaurants and food stalls during daytime hours in the holy month of Ramadan. "Concerned authorities should take necessary actions against the violators," according to a ministerial statement received by Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI). The statement noted that all liquor stores will be closed down during the holy month. All restaurants and food stalls will be closed down from sunrise to sunset, with the exception of those inside factories, as well as student, first-class and tourist restaurants, the statement explained. Cafés are also included in the ban, the statement noted.

Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance that takes place during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, believed to be the month in which the Qur'an began to be revealed. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which Muslims don't eat or drink anything from sunrise untill sunset. Fasting is meant to teach the person patience and humility. Many scholars are of the view that competing in sports or exercise should be refrained during the daylight hours since it causes one to be more thirsty, and thus, less patient. Most people who keep fasts choose to exercise in the night after the fasts are broken.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/refid/E2F-30-09-2008/article/35746

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Understandably, I was worried as I thought about how much harder this ban will make this year's return. No restaurants open during the day... NO ALCOHOL!!! That meant no late afternoon cocktail hour on my balcony.... and I thought I was living in a "secular" region.

Well, today is the beginning of Eid. Ramadan ends today and while everyone has been talking about how we are not aloud to eat or smoke on the street this year, I think the Iraqi ban had no effect on us here in "Kurdistan". We do not seen to fall under Iraqi laws at all as several of us went for lunches at Bakery & More... and with the restaurant on the second floor, there weren't even sheets on the window. At 10:00 am in Ainkawa (granted this is a Christian enclave) the only shop already open was a liquor shop! Anyway, this year was the first year I really participated in anything Eid-like. Last night we had a house full of non-practicing Muslims from Turkey who spent the night eating and drinking... and then before leaving, they taught me how to kiss all my elders' hands and press them to my forhead before asking for Eid money. I think my Turkish friends/neighbors are on their way down now for theirs!

Pacha

Before you read this entry, I must admit first of all that I stole this photo from some guy's website and that it is primarily intended to give you an idea of what goes through my head when I hear the word 'pacha'..
This evening, for the first time in probably about a year (the last time I ate there, I developed dysentery the following day), I went for dinner in the atrium at the 'Sheraton'. Although filled with smoke and men, it really is somewhat special. A little like a huge gazebo, it sits in the garden; a glassed-in octagonal structure with a skylight, a traditional place for drinking tea and coffee from an antique silver and pottery service (not that it is used for anything more than decoration), and waiters carrying carrying around buckets of coal to add to diner's nargile. To one side of the dining area is a table displaying a row of seven huge shiny silver chafing dishes, dishes that only come out on Thursday - because Thursday is pacha day! Each of the dishes contains part of today's specialty.

The truth is that although the picture above is labelled 'pacha', the dish doesn't really look like that. First there is a deep dish that is filled with the contents of the first two chafing dishes... lamb's brain served in the half-skull (but it doesn't have any teeth or eyes showing as above - the whole thing is whitish) and soft flat bread soaked in broth. Then a second plate is loaded with one item from each of the other chafing dishes, stomach and intestines stuffed with rice, tongue, foot and one other unrecognizable part of the lamb. I personally couldn't stomach this although my dining companion desperately wanted me to. However, the truth is that while I ate my grilled chicken, I felt just a little wimpy because beside our table was a party of five little girls. The youngest two of these girls were greedily licking their fingers and running back to the chef to have yet another stomach placed on their pacha plates. Perhaps if I was born in Iraqi Kurdistan (among other places) I wouldn't find the idea of offal so horrifyingly awful.

Wild Mountain Boar

Berwari is quite far from Hawler and I now understand why more of Lorene's classmates have not been to visit her. After a 2 hour drive to Dohuk, you should try to find a taxi willing to take you to Berwari... an area it seems most taxi drivers don't know well. Our driver, however, agreed to take us. Unfortunately Lina didn't wasn't so good at directions and we drove around in the mountains for several hours before we found Lorene and Lina's village of Iyate. Luckily, we ran into some of Lina's relatives as we got closer; men with rifles slung over their shoulders... Goodness knows where they were going in the dark (it was dark by then) in the treacherous mountain paths with rifles. We finally found our way around the hair pin turns and onto a path balanced precariously on the end of a drop into a valley which gradually narrowed into two tire tracks with grass growing in between... Lorene's family's house! We got out and went directly to her uncle's house... one of the men with rifles. There was a fire crackling and grilling on the fire were skewers of freshly caught wild mountain boar interspersed with the skewer of garden-grown vegetables.
As Lorene's family are Orthodox Christians rather than Muslim's, we were able to wash the chunks of boar down with plenty of beer and raki. Lesley said the Iraqi raki is smoother and more licorice-like than the Turkish variety. (I suppose you already guessed they weren't Muslim given that we were eating pork)
Although I am not sure that I can say that boar is my favorite meat, the leftovers, served a couple days later, cooked with fresh organic veggies from the garden in front of the house (tomatoes, onion greens, marrow, zuccini, etc) was fabulous. Lorene and Lina's dad is a great cook!
And in case you were wondering what Iraqi mountain boar look like, here is a picture of a few babies that the hunters managed to capture. Believe me, the adults aren't nearly so cute. (Top photo is by Sarah, bottom one by Lesley).

Cilantro, basil, rosemary...

   
... and mint. Those who know me may wonder why someone with a black thumb is posting pictures of plants. (And by the way, I am really pleased that these have not died on me yet. Knock on wood.) It's that I miss food flavored with fresh herbs. The only fresh herb available in markets in Erbil is dill... although I think there are some rosemary bushes lining the walkway to the front gate of the fake Sheraton. And of course, lots of people have mint growing in their gardens. Anyway, if any of you think of things to add to my herb garden that are idiot proof, please send seeds.

May Day at the Deutscher Hof

After a long period of NOt going to the DH, not being willing to shell out for exorbitantly priced weinersnitzel, or something which is nothing like what I thought bratwurst was like, I have started going again. Maybe everyone is in better spirits now that the dust storms are less frequent and the sun is out... or maybe because the beer really is the only good beer in Erbil, not being familiar brands (like Heineken, Grolsch or Budweiser) produced in unfamiliar places... or fake spirits imported from China.

In the evening, before International Workers' Day, a Maypole was brought out, but there was no dancing around it, or scaling of the pole... Instead people drank ridiculously huge draft beers or beer from little boots...

Or hammered nails into stumps. Who knew this was a competitive sport? Sorry to report that all the pictures of Gunter hammering nails in his lederhosen are too dark.

And on May 1st, we returned for lunch! In fact, the meals were surprisingly OK. But better than that was really just the chance to sit in the garden under a big umbrella amongst the garden gnomes (not pictured)...

And listen to the budgies and love birds twitter.




All photos by Corinne

BREAD

Photo by Pambette.
Yesterday I received a comment on my blog asking for photos... and a message in my email inbox complaining about my lack of blogging activity. Well, somehow it seems that my will to blog decreases significantly when my camera is out of action. Anyway, pictures have been promised and should be on the way soon. In the meantime, here is a photo taken at New City Turkish restaurant of sesame-adorned bread (of a particularly delicious variety) made just for me by a baker "Fred" who used to work at our university's cafeteria. Such a shame he is no longer there as it means we also no longer have lamacun on the menu.

Maftoul

This is another post for Saffron (formerly known as W. in Tokyo). A while ago, I went for lunch at Fairuz, a newish Lebanese restaurant in Hawler. Instead of ordering the Western dishes popular with locals, I ordered the day's special Lebanese dish, which I unfortunately promptly forgot the name of.

Anyway, it had these little pasta-like balls combined with chickpeas and chicken, all of which had been stewed for 4 hours. Although rather colorless,the flavor was delicate and pleasing (was it allspice?). Anyway, a little search led me to believe those little pasta-like balls were in fact Israeli (or Lebanese) cous cous (as pictured). Anyway, this recipe from Recipezaar souds like it would taste like what I had (minus the tomatoes and the chicken-browning step).

Beef Biryani with Substitutions

Ingredient substitutions for all the things you can't get here is par for the course in feeding your cravings for foods not available in restaurants here... I have never cooked so much in all my life! Follows is my recipe for biryani cooked in the pressure cooker:

1. Marinate a pound of sliced steak in salt and yogurt.
2. Grind together about 2 sliced hot chillis, some ginger powder (no fresh available), 2 cloves of garlic, about 1.5 T of dried mint and (as there is no fresh coriander) some coriander seeds, powder and/or other dried/fresh nicely scented green.
3. Pour about a half cup of olive oil 2-3 large chopped onions, 4-5 cardamon pods and a pinch or 2 of cinnamon in the cooker and fry until golden.
4. Add the ingredients you ground in step no.2 and 2 medium tomatoes and fry a little longer.
5. In a separate pan, fry the beef... just a little.
6. Add the beef and 2-3 cups of basmati rice (uncooked). Add just under 1.5 cups of water for every cup of rice and cover.
7. Cook for 5 minutes on high, then turn down heat and cook 5 minutes on low.
8. Let pot cool, stir and serve with a salad made of tomatoes, onions, fresh coriander (ha ha) and green chillies.

PS. This is very aromatic, but the recipe at Recipezaar with cashews and pistachios also looks good! Maybe next time.

Vegetables and Men

Apparently these are the two things you must be most wary of in Kurdistan. The person who shared this advice apparently bleaches her veggies! I wonder what she does to her men...

Please feel free to comment on this if you happen to feel strongly about either subject.

Dolma

If you have ever been to local home in Hawler or neighboring areas, you definately know what dolma is! Last weekend, due to a sudden recurrance of a particulary pernicious sort of chronic social disease in which I seem unable to come with any polite excuse whatsoever to defer, postpone or decline invitations, I ended up going out for meals 3 times last weekend. It all started with dinner on Thursday night at Haji M's house:
Above is Haji M inviting us (Dr. F, Dr. S and I) to put a little more biryani on our plates already heaped with dolma (see center plate). In South Kurdistan, dolma is made of any and all local vegetables available: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, courgettes, aubergines, onions, etc. All are hollowed out and stuffed with rice cooked up with spices and meat. (Please note I received an essay last year where the main premise was that it was clearly evident that Kurdish culture was far more advanced that Turkish culture via the fact that Turks only stuff peppers for dolma, whereas Kurds use all vegetables. In fact, I like all the variations, and in Turkey I love some of the different ways of serving yaprak sarma (stuffed vine leaves): cold with yogurt, hot wish spicer accompaniments. In Kurdistan, the ones where the vegetable skins are rubbed with lemon before stuffing are good.
Anyway, enough about the dolma... the real reason I try to avoid invitations is not because I don't like dolma... which invariably shows up in quantities enough to serve an army, but because the hosts usually force feed the guests until they are unable to stand up and walk to the street afterwards. In our case, Haji M's wife (a lovely lovely lady) would hold kupa (little fried meat dumplings) in her fingers and look at you with a distressed look when you turned a 4th helping down, "But they are so good."

This second photo was taken on Firday, a week ago exactly. On Saturday late morning, I went to a 2nd home for lunch; however, shock of all shocks - there was NO DOLMA! And the food was not served on a plastic tablecloth on the floor (Which I am quite comfortable with being rather festive and picnic-like). Instead, everything was carried on the overly fancy silver serving trays (identical to the ones in our Naz CIty flats) and laid out on a table in the living room: a kind of meat biryani, apricot stew, fasulya, chicken... The food was plentiful, but not as heavy or overabundant as usual. Then I found out the family was not exactly local, but from Sulemaniya. Hmmm... very similar to what one might order at Abu Shahab restaurant (a local favorite), but less greasy. I actually left with enough energy to go shoppping at lenga market and for ice cream at "Me and You". This second picture is of Bilge and Dr. I enjoying Ice Cream. After Ice cream, we continued on to Izzy's house for coffee, food and drinks. I spend all of Saturday recovering. (More about Izzy to come soon).

Balık Ekmek

What you see below is the most fabulous value for money to be had anywhere in Istanbul- Balık Ekmek! You can find it at Kadeköy, Karaköy, Eminönü... Anywhere there is a ferry dock: It is grilled fish (as good as any in the expensive restaurants) served with your choice of compliments (parsley, tomato, onion, lemon, red pepper flakes) all in a fresh sandwich roll! Add a drink and the total comes to $3 YTL. Seems an especially good deal after paying $18 YTL for the lousiest Iskender kebab and a mineral water in Sultanahmet yesterday. I should have looked at the menu prices before ordering... or gone back to Karaköy