Sesame Simit

via Uniglobalexotic.wordpress.com

Growing up I knew three things about sesame : Sesame Street, Open Sesame, and a rhyme about a sesame seed bun. What else did I need to know? Right?

Ummm....Tahini?

Yeah...tahini is made from ground up sesames. It's very important to middle eastern cuisine. You can't make yummy halva (confection) or hummus (chick pea spread) without it. I dare you to eat a falafel sandwich without tahini sauce. (Lemon juice, salt, garlic, tahini = yum!) Actually, I put that sh...

Sorry, wrong commercial. :)

As I was saying, sesame is an ingredient in tons of things that I love. My two Turkish favorites are Tahin Pekmez (Turkish spread, sort of like peanut butter) and Simit (pic above). Simit and çay are standard fare for every Turk, from all walks of life.

What variety of sesame do you crave? And what does this have to do with writing?

Well, I was thinking about my first post. There are so many ways I could have gone with this blog, with my manuscript, and they all would have been fun. There was one message that I kept coming back to: Tales of Turkiye, from my American-bride perspective. And it all started from one small seed.

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Meze

Image via Wikipedia

Meze is to Turkey what Tapas is to Spain. It's a mediterranean thing to sit around and socialize while spending hours on the appetizers. And I highly recommend this yummy activity.  The pic on the right is actually more arabic with its offerings of dips and such, but it's the same idea.  Little plates of tasty stuff you share (no double dipping).  Notice each person has a dish in front of them to take what they like.

Sybil gets to try a few and I describe them in Burnt Amber with relation to the story.  Here in the states, we can get hold of some at Costco ...stuffed grape leaves from there are decent if you add a lot of fresh lemon juice btw... Even hummus (chickpea dip) and baba ganouj (eggplant dip) are names people recognize nowadays with the advent of Trader Joe's and a more diverse deli section at the supermarket.  Really, all you need is a bit of creativity and a tray and you can replicate the experience at home. Invite some friends and have drinks (prefereably Raki, if you can stomach it). Or not...and just indulge.



1515 kind of meze?? That's a LOT of creativity!!

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