Turkish Treats

Turkey is one of my favourite countries to visit.  Fortunately its easy to do from India; it's just a six hour flight from Delhi to Istanbul.  Apart from all else, I really enjoy tasting Turkish food - it is fresh, wholesome, strewn with nuts, fresh fruit, herbs, honey in combinations one doesn't find elsewhere.

I haven't visited Turkey in a while but recently my husband had an eight hour stopover in Istanbul.  Fortunately he braved the long exit queues and went into the city.  He took a tram, crossed the Golden Horn via the Galata bridge, got off at the Karaköy tram station (about a 45-50 minute journey, with the metro service available about every 5 minutes) and went in search of - some food!

He brought back with him assorted boxes of delicacies - black olives, peynir (delicious, stringy Turkish cheese typically eaten with freshly made bread), from a gourmet store called Namli Gurme.  From an adjacent store,  Köşkeroğlu, he bought baklava stuffed to the brim with nuts and lokum (Turkish delight).

We are eating all of this (in small rationed doses) for breakfast each morning.  And we feel we are truly basking in Turkish delight!

Just for information, here are some pictures.  Everything that was bought came perfectly packed in his hand baggage, and kept very well (for a week or ten days, as its being so rapidly consumed!) in the refrigerator.  We have actually kept Turkish olives refrigerated for years and they still taste very good.  And the baklava, with all its thin layers of pastry and very thick layers of pistachio or walnut still remains crisp despite the generous drizzles of honey (the power of filo pastry)!

Assorted Baklava and Turkish Delight (lokum)

A good shop for baklava and lokum

Baklava and lokum, overflowing with nuts

A good source for peynir, olives and more

A packet of peynir