Day Trip to India and Turkey
In my continued search for ways to use my abundant zucchini, I came across an interesting recipe on the Yogurtland blog. It's a site about Turkish food, written by a woman named Fethiye, who lives in Folsom. She takes beautiful photos and always has interesting recipes. I zeroed in on Negerek because she claimed that those who are tired of the green veggie in everything they've eaten for two months will still enjoy it. That fit me to a tee.
However, there were two ingredients in the recipe that I didn't have: white sheep's cheese and nigella seeds. Fethiye made a point of saying that substituting feta doesn't work as well, although it's much more available. I tried the recipe last night using feta because it's what I had, and I really liked the result. It's especially interesting that you put uncooked rice in with the mixture and it cooks in the milk (or soy milk, as I used). But I wanted to try the more authentic version, so off I went to Fulton Avenue to visit two of my favorite ethnic markets.
Kaveri Grocery is right next door to Kaveri restaurant, and has all the obscure Indian spices that you need to make great home-cooked Indian meals. However, you might need a translator for some of the packages, which are often marked with the Indian names of things. So for nigella, I looked for a packet of "kallonji" or "graines d'oignons." I'm not sure why the French was on the package, but it translates to "onion seeds," which somewhat describes the flavor of nigella. I also picked up a similar-looking small black seed called "tukmaria." I have a great reference book called The Indian Grocery Store Demystified
Next I had to find the sheep's cheese, and Fethiye had recommend Mediterranean Market, north on Fulton. I had been there once before to stock up on dried limes (for Persian rice), tahini, and phyllo dough. They have a great array of olives, sweets, and beans, as well as cheeses, baklava, and hallal goat meat. I found two cheeses that I thought would work: Turkish peynir (icim beyaz peynir) in a carton and Touma Village Cheese, actually made in California. The peynir is marked in English as "white feta cheese," but since it's from Turkey I'm guessing it's a little different. Anyway, I'm always happy to taste cheeses! I'll test the recipe again on Saturday at a class I'm teaching on Mediterranean food and let you know the results.
Kaveri Grocery
1148 Fulton Avenue
Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
489-1558
Mediterranean Market
1547 Fulton Avenue
972-1237
Comments
I made burfi once... it was def. an experience. LOL.
Posted by: Garrett | August 16, 2007 5:50 PM
Thanks for the tip on the ethnic markets!
Yogurtland is one of my favorite area food blogs..and Fethiye is such a great person.
Posted by: Melly53 | August 17, 2007 8:28 AM
I wish I had time to go there with you, I need to get some peynir, too. "Beyaz peynir" is the right stuff to get, it literally means "white cheese" and that's how it is called in Turkey.
Here, note that in India they call the homemade cheese as "paneer", the same word. ;)
I am waiting to hear your experience with the new cheese and taste difference if you can taste after it is cooked.
Posted by: fethiye | August 17, 2007 10:07 AM
Only a couple weeks ago, I took someone for a tour to the Indian store and they ended up purchasing for more then 100 bucks. I have never heard of tukmaria. I am going to reserch on that :)
Posted by: shankari | August 17, 2007 3:43 PM
Mediterranean Market is by far the most authentic place to buy your Mediterranean products, from cheese, olive, olive oil, spices, and much more. They got the best market of Sacramento for 2007, check news and review. I love this market.
Posted by: sam | October 17, 2007 11:57 AM