Balik Ekmek

serves 4

* 2 smoked mackerels
* Olive oil
* Salt and ground black pepper to taste
* 4 ciabatta's or other bread to preference
* Lettuce
* 2-3 spoons of yogonaise
* 2 spoons of capers
* 0,5 red onion
* 3 medium tomatoes
* A handful of flat leaf (Italian) parsley
* Juice of 1 lemon
* 1 teaspoon ground sumac


Balik Ekmek is a Turkish dish. It means Fish Sandwich.
I first saw this on a cooking program where a guy visits all kinds of street food stalls all over the world. This time he went to Istanbul and ate the Balik Ekmek. Of course this caught my interest and I had to try it for myself. I browsed the net and this recipe is the closest I can find which suited my tastes. That's a little history here; now on to the recipe!

Cut out the filets of the mackerel and heat up a  grill pan lightly greased in olive oil.
Grill the fish carefully for 5 - 10 minutes. Check every now and then so it doesn't burn. Turn halfway.

While the fish is cooking, prepare the herb yogonaise with capers.
Chop the parsly and rinse the capers. In a small bowl, combine the yogonaise, chopped parsley and the capers. Drizzle with a little olive oil to taste.

For the sumac salad; mix some salt to taste and sumac into the onion slices with your hands really well in a bowl. This will soften the onions, make them more palatable and let the sumac really penetrate to the onions. Add the chopped tomatoes, some parsley, juice of lemon and olive oil to taste into the bowl and combine well. Season with ground black pepper. Set aside.

Once the fish is grilled, slice the bread open and toast it in the grill pan a little, if you prefer. Spread a thin layer of the herb mayonnaise over the bread and place a fish filet on it. Then place a spoonful of the sumac salad over the bread. Now add the lettuce place the top of the bread.
Wrap in foil so the contents don't fall out of the sandwich.

I hope you like this recipe and enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Hawaii Chicken

serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

* 500g chicken breast

* 2 garlic cloves

* 1 can pineapple cubes

* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup soy sauce

* 0,5 cup Brown sugar

* 1,5 cup Cornstarch

* 1 Red paprika

* Salt and pepper to taste

* Pineapple juice from the can

* Rice

* Spring onion for decoration

* Cornstarch

* Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 160 °C. 

Cut chicken breasts into cubes and season with salt and pepper.

In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch first then coat in egg mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned, after that put the chicken in a  greased baking dish.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, and cornstarch. Add the red paprika and pineapple bits. Pour over chicken and bake for 30 minutes.

Stir the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce. 

Meanwhile you can prepare the rice.

Once done, serve the chicken with the rice and some spring onions for decoration.

I hope you like this recipe, and enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda