No Fear of Lentils: Dhal Lentils and Celery Crusted Seabass

'No, I do not hesitate using all the possible God given ingredients in my restaurant. I use grains and legumes in my menu too. And you will never find a ceaser's salad in this menu.'
This will be the sentences I am going to say when I am giving an interview for my restaurant, one day! If it is Ayse Arman to whom I am giving the interview, I would say, 'Yes, I think it is sexy?!' 

I claimed in my last writing that there could be very posh dishes with dhal lentils. You can benefit from lentils other than making soup or lentil balls. Here is the recipe:

Curry Lentils 
serves to 6
1 cup red lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic - chopped
1 carrot - cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 shallot - chopped
3 sticks of cinnamon
4 cloves
handful of mint
handful of basil
2 cups canned coconut milk
1 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock

1. Sauté shallots in oil. Add carrots, garlic and lentils.
2. Put in the cinnamon sticks, cloves, mint and basil leaves and enjoy the smell of the spices for a while.
3. Add the curry powder and turmeric.
4. Pour in the white wine until it evaporates and leaves it little sweetness to the food with a slightly thick texture.
5. Pour in the coconut milk now and let it simmer.
6. Add the chicken stock ladle by ladle as the lentils  boil down.
7. When the lentils are soft, turn off the oven and add the tomatoes to get a little bit of acidity.
8. Season it with salt and pepper.

Now it is time to prepare the fish that will be laid over the lentils.

Celery Crusted Seabass

2 sticks of celery
2 seabass fillets

You can get the seabass divided in fillets from your fisher. The only thing you must have preparing this dish is that you must have alittle bit of patience when you are placing the celeries.

1. Cut the fillets into two pieces. Cut small pieces from tails from each fillet which we will use them as a glue.
2. Season the fish  with salt, pepper and pour over a little bit olive oil.
3. Seal the fish fillets on both sides on a very hot pan and let them cool down.
4. Purée the tails which you cut frıom the tails and spread this on fillets.
5. Cut the celery sticks crosswise, so that they will look like scales on fish.
6. Place these pieces on the fish.
7. For final heating put the fish in the oven for 5-10 minutes according to thickness at around 220 C
The finished dish will look like this. You are free for plating.

Or like this from a different angle:)

I also made Laksa Sauce which is basically coconut and lemongrass. However, if you do not want to deal with all these preparations here is a very delicious and easy to do plate for you. It will not take more than 20 minutes. and the end result is:

1. Season the fish  with salt, pepper and pour over a little bit olive oil.
2. Seal the fish fillets on both sides on a very hot pan and finish cooking in the oven for about 5-10 minutes at  220 C.
3. Prepare tomato concasse which is made out of deseeded tomato cut into small squares.
4. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper,olive oil, basil and pomegranate sauce.
5. You can place your fish on a piece of fish fillet. 

Dışarıda Yemek Yemek

Son yıllarda yemek yenilen heryer dolu, hatta kaldırımlara, yollara taşar halde. İğne atsanız yere düşmeyecek ‘restoranlar’da bir de kapıda insanlar bekliyor birileri yemegini bitirip de kalkar diye. Nasıl dolup taşıyor bu McDonaldslasan restoranlar? Zenginleşen orta sınıf mı, gittikce küçülen çekirdek aile yapısı mı, artan calışma saatleri mi, sosyalleşme istegi mi?

Bir zamanlar özel gunlerde çıkılan akşam yemekleri nasıl oldu da bu kadar normal oldu?  Tamam insanların dışarıda yemek yeme kültürünün sıradanlaşması sektör icin iyi birsey belki ama biraz daha seçici olmak gerekiyor bence. Tıpkı ucuz müziğin basitligi ve kolaylığıyla bizi anında teslim aldığı gibi,  kötü yemek de teslim almasın bizi. Farklı yerlerde farklı mevsimlerde hep aynı olan mönüleri yemekten umarım sıkılır yakında insanlar.

Aslında bir grup bunu baştan beri hiç sevmedi, bazıları da onları takip ediyor. Belki bu süreci de deneyimlemek gerekiyor.  Ben bunları  zevkinin  her türlüsünün gelisme asamaları olarak görüyorum.  Menüleri birkaç salata, makarna ve bol yagda kızartılmıs patates ceşitlerinden ibaret olan cafe’lerden sıkılıp yemek icin baska yerler kesfeden arkadaşlarımı dinlediğimde mutlu oluyorum. Çok az kullanılan malzemeleri zevkle, lezzetle kullanan yerler görünce herkesi bu yemeklerle tanıştırmak istiyorum.

Çaliştiğim çok şık ve ‘trendy’ bir restoranda, şef, ahtapotun altına fasulye, kalamarın altına nohut koyardı. Şimdi o şefe daha da saygı duyuyorum, çünkü bu insanlara, bu tür bir restoranda, bu paralara, nohut ve fasulye yedirmek kolay iş değil. Ben de bir sonraki yazımda yine yurt dışında başka bir şefimden ögrendigim mercimeği burda tarif edeceğim. Alman bir sefin Cape Town’da yerel yemeklerle dunya mutfağını cok şık bir sekilde birleştirdiği bir tabak bu. Çok yakındaJ

Dining Out

Eating out is getting more popular in recent years, everywhere is loaded, you can hardly walk on the pavements because of the chairs and tables of the restaurants  which overflow to the streets. Besides, people are waiting in queues to be seated in these ‘restaurants’. How does this happen, how does these McDonaldized restaurants get so crowded? Is it the new rich middle class, the nuclear family structure, the growing working hours or the need for socialising which is to see and to be seen?

How did it get so normal to dine out while we were just doing it in special days at one time? Ok, it is very good  for the food and beverage sector that the culture of eating out is becoming ordinary; however, I strongly believe that we should be more picky in what and where we eat. We can not let the ‘cheap’ food to surrender us just like the ‘cheap’ music does with its vulgarity. I hope, people will get sick and tired of eating the same things in different seasons and in different places sooner. (On the other hand, the international restaurants opening new branches in Istanbul and closing down after a couple of months is a totally different topic to discuss.)

Actually some group of people did not like eating this cheap food from the beginning and some of the people are following them.  Maybe we should see this as a process of transition. I take this process as the development of the taste in every aspect. I am happier when I see my friends who discover different places instead of the ones that are offering some salads, pasta and a selection of deep fried patatoes. I want to take all my friends to the restaurants which use some rarely used ingredients in a good treat.

In one of the chicest and ‘trendiest’ restaurants I worked for, my  chef used to place haricot beans under the octopus or serve chickpeas with the calamari. Now, I respect that chef even more since it is not very easy to feed those people in Turkey with these kind of ingredients who pays that much money for a single dish.

Talking all about these things, I will give a recipe from my German Chef in Cape Town in my next writing.  It is a dish that combines local flavours with local techniques in a very elegant way. Coming soonJ