FOOD Part 2

Continuing on with the deliciousness...

• Mantı: This delightful dish is composed of small, ravioli-like pieces in a broth. The ravioli things are handmade by rolling out a very thin dough, cutting it into tiny squares, dabbing a tiny piece of spicy meat paste on top of the square, and squishing it together to ensure that the meat remains inside the dough. Then these little pieces are cooked into a soup and served in a bowl with hot pepper and yogurt on top. The yogurt sounded really strange to me at first, but surprisingly it is actually quite delicious. I really enjoy this dish, especially after learning how to make it at one of my friends' houses.
• Künefe: A most intriguing pastry that includes two of my absolute favorite things: cheese and baklava. In essence, this is a giant, round hunk of cheese, with about a five or six inch diameter, covered in phyllo dough and the yummy honey-like substance of baklava. It is served warm, so that when you slice into it the white cheese forms long strings, and...ahhh...I am drooling just thinking about it. Whoever thought of putting cheese with phyllo dough was absolutely crazy and absolutely brilliant.
• İskender Kebab: Though not as good as the Adana Kebab in my book, this is definitely a delicious meal. Piping hot sliced meat is placed on top of small chunks of bread along with a tomato-based sauce. You spoon yogurt on top and mix it all together and eat it up. Quite delicious indeed.
• Sıkma: I have a mental block against remembering the name of this food for some reason, but no block when it comes to eating it...Sıkma begins with a tortilla-like flatbread, which is carefully rolled out using a rolling pin with a very small diameter. It is evidently a traditional meal from this area, so I often see older women rolling it out outside their houses. After the tortilla (for lack of a better word) is rolled out, it is fried in a pan over the stove until it is warm but not too crisp. Then your choice of filling is added, usually a white feta cheese with spinach or parsley. I also have had the dessert version, which is filled with butter and sugar. I can't help thinking that a sugar and cinnamon one would be absolutely wonderful...I'll eat it all though - so delicious, especially when served piping hot, as they always are. 
• Patlıcan: This is the Turkish word for eggplant. Eggplant, however, deserves its own explanation here, as it is used in so many dishes I've eaten, especially at home. It seems to be quite multipurpose - it is found floating in broths, fried up and eaten with ketchup, served on top of rice, and hollowed out and stuffed with rice (more on that later). I am actually not certain if I have ever eaten eggplant in the U.S. before; if I have, it has been quite a long time. At first I was a bit skeptical of the merits of the odd, purple vegetable, but it has grown on me (not literally, thank goodness).