Turkish taste

It was Thursday..a few weeks ago...Saime (the ironing lady) came. I immediately told her that there was something in the kitchen. A Malaysian something. I suggested her to try it. It was this:

She tried it. She came to me with a totally screwed n tortured face and asked me politely

"Simah bu içinde balık mı var?" (is there any fish inside this?)

hahahahahahahah i knew she would respond that way!!She did!! hahaha i was just being naughty!! hahahahhaha

U see, Türks in general when it comes to fish they have only this one very specific conception on fish. They either fry the fish.. or they bake the fish in the oven or they barbeque the fish. Next to it, they it with salad n bread. If u choose, u may have sauce on it. But trust me, they like it just like that. An example is this *Lazy Fish Dish*..Just fish..salad n bread. The corn is just for my benefit. They dont like corn with fish either..

What i made Saime tasted was this keropok pusing ikan bilis..some sort of a cracker with fish inside, sent to me by my teacher thru the guests who came the other day. Türks..their taste bud cannot accept fish any other way. So if u have a türk visiting u, though we Malaysians love it, try not to serve them keropok ikan (fish cracker) n the keropok pusing ikan bilis (in the above picture). They may eat it out of politeness..but to expect them to take more than a bite.. that will be too much.. i know coz besides Saime, i had tried this on the others as well.

Laksa..another fishy food..a favourite among malaysians especially in the northern states.. that i doubt they will even like the smell...let alone the taste hehehe..hmmm alinlai was supposed to cook laksa this weekend..i wonder if she had burnt the kuah (gravy) hehehehe

Rice. I think i have mentioned this in my previous entries..The Türks' definiton of a rice is..rice cooked with salt n butter or oil. If not, they dont consider it rice. The rice when it is cooked should not be sticking to each other..U should be able to see each rice (setiap butir). That is why they call our Malaysian rice *lapa pilav*...they do not like it.

The last time we went to Malaysia, halil was so relieved when one day i cooked for him the turkish pilav (pilav-rice)..That was why while we were there, my mom made it a point to buy things like nasi beriani, nasi tomato, nasi daging and nasi hujan panas to cater the taste of her one menantu (son-in law)....so that he wont be deprived hehehehe (eee tak larat.. nak ambik hati menantu la tu hahahah..jangan marah mak..) .

When u want to cook the turkish pilav, there is also a problem. Türks..i am referring to halil, his dad n his late mom,..they could not stand the smell of the Malaysian palm oil (minyak Kelapa Sawit). To them, our oil is soooo smelly. It gave them headache. Let alone if u cook the rice with palm oil. I think in Mecca as well..people use palm oil because several relatives who went for their hajj or umrah, they complained of the smell of the oil used. If truth is to be told, i think it has been scientifically tested that among the vegetable oil, palm oil is among the most nutritious.. i guess if the government is ever thinking exporting palm oil to turkey, they will have to do something about the smell..

so what do türks use for cooking.. usually i would say they use sunflower oil or corn oil..n some even use hazelnut oil (expensive).. Though to think again, the turkish cooking uses a lot of olive oil in their dishes. Olive oil is not so nice smelling as well. But i suppose since it is in their culture for thousands of years, the türks r used to the smell just like Malaysians r used to the smell of palm oil.

A thought.. rice cooked using minyak sapi..will türks like it??? i dunno.. minyak sapi can be replaced by butter i think..minyak sapi produces quite a strong smell...hmmm.. i dunno.. what do u think?

Malaysian fruits..i think our exotic fruits captured halil's heart when he was here. He went bananas over sweet mango..he loves our papaya, he had tried almost every fruits..jackfruit, star fruit, rambutan, duku, buah mata kuching, manggis...he basically loves almost all of them..those sweet n juicy ones..
And the king of Fruit in Malaysia...ahhhh..this i love.....i said i...not he hehehehe ..nope! i am afraid our beloved durian is not for a foreign's taste...halil, his mom n dad admitted that to me..i suppose they dont like the smell as well.. it is more of a personal taste i suppose.. in my family for example, my dad n i love durian a lot..but my younger siblings... they dont like it.. dunno why..i think they r missing something heavenly....still personal preferences should be respected right? By the way, dont try giving them dodol as well.. unless of course u r feeling naughty heheheh

The drinks...our fruit juice..freshly squeezed sugar cane, soy milk, fresh mango juice,fresh pineapple juice, air kelapa muda.....those..a must serve to türks esp the mango n pineapple juice.. no need to serve them watermelon juice if u know what i mean..*chuckles*

What else?
-kari? Türks may like it as long as u dont make it too hot...fish curry?.... let us not be too adventurous heheh
-tomyam - halil i think likes it but the one i made is the somehow modified version of the real tomyam.. again less hot n less masam..is preferable for türks
-fried bihun, koey teow, mee.. i think türks can take the taste as long as we dont put udang kering in it (udang is makhruh)
-Pasembor Penang - tak payah jamu..the last time we went, i bought around 20 ringgit of passembur, i ate alone..terus packet bawak balik hehehe
-belacan hehhehe i would say let the malaysians eat it alone heheheh..türks dunno how to appreciate it

I cant think of anything else at the moment......this is what i see so far from my point of view..

The thing is.. it takes time for one person from one culture to be able to accept the food of another culture especially if the food is totally different in many sense. It also depends on the individual. If one is brave enough or is open minded enough to accept the challenge of the new food..then, the person will get used to the new food faster.

I remember when i first came to turkey how i didnt like the turkish food. The only thing i loved at that time was lahmacun. Now after years of living here, the taste bud changes. I like most of the food here. And though it saddens me so, my endurance for hot n very spicy (pedas) is not what it used to do..

One taste of a food and u decide that u dont like it.. doesnt mean u wont like it forever...things change over time..even the taste bud....