Turkish home cook
Aysel’s story
Aysel, one of our Turkish cooks at Hey! Food is Ready, started cooking due to her role as a stay-at-home mum, initially cooking for just friends, family and neighbours, where she gradually taught herself how to cook by trialling different flavours and spices in every meal. Excited to cook for everyone at Hey! Food is Ready, Aysel is proud to say that all the dishes she prepares when catering, are exactly the dishes that her and her family eat at home, and as well as all being halal, are also all made with authentic Turkish ingredients.
It is unsurprising to hear that the food from this transcontinental, cultural melting pot is one rooted in various traditions, including Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European cuisines. Aysel’s menu is full of authentic foodie delights, ranging from Karniyarik and Rice, stuffed aubergines served with Turkish butter rice, homemade yoghurt and cacik (aka tzatziki), to Izmir Meatballs with Potatoes - a heart-warming traditional Turkish dish, almost completely homemade, to kuru fasulye ve pilav (white beans, served with pickles and white rice), with all these dishes accompanied by pide – the Turkish take on pitta bread. Aysel’s menu also boasts a whole range of Turkish pastries, with both feta cheese and vegetable borek (made with homemade phyllo sheets), the Anatolian delicacy gözleme, and poğaça - flavoured with parsley and its notable beyaz peynir (Turkish white cheese)..
This authentic food is perfect for sharing, with a range of side dishes, including kiymali pisi (deliciously spiced fried dough treats), kisir (a cold salad, made from bulgur wheat, herbs and tomato paste) and sarma, literally the Turkish word for ‘wrapped’, this slightly spicy dish consists of delicate vine leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice. Aysel prides herself in creating a real feast, so why not top it off with her Revani cake, a classic dessert that has been present in Turkish cuisine since the Ottoman period, made with a single layer of soft, yellow semolina sponge cake steeped in lots of light syrup. With this menu to choose from, it is impossible to not ‘have a nice meal’, or in Turkish, Afiyet olsun!