Semolina Halwa - A Divine Ottoman Imperial Culinary Art of Dessert

After getting some good reach to my yesterday's Bonito recipe, I have decided to share another very authentic recipe which has been in Turkish kitchen since the Ottomans. Its called, Semolina (Irmik) Halwa. It is a wonderful dessert after having a nice fish plate, very simple but can be a tricky one to cook. I don't like to confuse you with all the metric, inch, pound and kilogram stuff, so all I use is a small drinking glass, after all if you like math, then go build a space shuttle. Don't forget, if you want to be happy, keep your three things simple: Your life, your love and your food.

Ingredients

OK, enough with the philosophy, and let's get started. Here is the list of ingredients:

- Deep sauce pan (or even a stew pot would do)
- Glass of semolina
- Half a glass of crystallized sugar (or if you like it sweeter, add more genius)
- Two glasses of full fat milk.
- Some hazelnuts
- Dry black current (*)
- Two - three table spoons of butter.

(*)

Dried black current

Natural black current

Ingredients: As simple as it gets

Let's get started

So, are you ready to rumble? Here we go....take your pan and heat it up with medium fire on your stove, and add your butter to let it melt slowly. Try not to burn the oil, just let it melt and sizzle a little bit.

I used a saucepan but a stew pan would be easier to handle stirring

Let your butter melt slowly....do not burn it !

Did the butter melt already and start sizzling? Then it means we are going well...now fill you glass with your semolina, and pour it into your pan. Do the same with the sugar -depending on how sweet you like it- then add your hazelnuts (handful) with the black current.

Semolina

Regular sugar, nothing fancy ! 

Everything into the pan, let's get heated up :)

Well done...now we are going to have some stirring to do about 7 -15 minutes until your semolina get nicely golden brown. Be very careful not to let them get burned. We want them to be golden brown, not black. So do not heat your stove at its full rather, keep it in the medium and start stirring. This is the most boring part but very crucial. Meanwhile, pour two glasses of milk into a cup, and start slowly heating it up. Don't forget, we don't want to mix hots with colds, so heat the milk up until its boiling point. While its heating up, keep on stirring your main mix in the pan.

Milk heating up 

Jing and Jang : Never mix Hots with Colds

It is almost cooking a rice pilaf isn't it? Well the idea is almost the same, and instead of water and boullion, we use milk. Right now, your mixture with hazelnuts must become nice and golden, where the milk has started to boil bubbly. Here is the best part....while stirring you main mixture, VERY SLOWLY start pouring your pot of boiling milk into your sauce pan.

Milk into the pan, starts boiling, and sizzling

Watch your hands because we are now mixing hot with hot, and you don't wanna burn yourself. With the help of you wooden spoon, continue to stir it rapidly. Now, we want to evaporate the milk, and semolina to suck all the milk into them so they can get softer. At this point, you may be disappointed with the goulash looking scene in your pan, but don't worry. It is just going to get better, as you keep on stirring.

Good mix of ingredients.

Reaching the Nirvana

Do not forget, stirring is crucial....now that the water in milk has evaporated, and the semolina has sucked all the buttery milk, you have another 10 to 15 minutes of stirring until it starts getting clingy, and finally you are almost there. Everything in your pan must be clinged and glazed with the sugar. Keep everything together you are almost done. Take it into a plate, add some cinnamon on it, and you may serve it warm or at room temperature. A ball of vanilla ice cream next to it, would give you a top-notch look and of course a breathtaking taste.

After having a Bonito, green salad and a glass of Raki yesterday, so now, I wanted you to finish it off with a Imperial Taste from Ottoman Era "Semolina Halwa". 

Afiyet olsun ** 

(** - Enjoy it -in Turkish)

Cooking Bonito (Palamut) fish at home...,When its simple, then its delicious.

Fish season is opened, long live Bonito !

Cooking among men are becoming very trendy these days and supposedly it is perceived as very "sexy" by most of the ladies. I have been enjoying all kinds of cooking since ten years now, and experimenting new recipes from different kitchen cultures including Turkish, Italian and some of my own treats me during my utmost stressed times. Not only cooking but, I enjoy very much eating as well. Fishing season has just begun in Turkey so, most of the fish are very fresh and tasty.

One of my favorite fish is Bonito, or so called "Palamut" in Turkish and it can be cooked in many different forms. Grilled fillet, deep fried medallions (takoz - Turkish), stew (bugulama -Turkish), or baked in oven.

Bonito Fish or "Palamut" in Turkish

Today I chose to cook them on diecast pan over the stove. After having them professionally cleaned, had them cut as fillets.However, I further cut them into two pieces because my diecast pan is rather a small one.

Bonito Fillets

Just simply season them with sea salt, and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and let them rest for about five to ten minutes so that they can suck up the salt and olive oil. In addition, if you like herbs, you can also add some black pepper and oregano as well. I like to taste the fish, so I only use salt and olive oil.

While your fish are marinating, put your diecast pan on the stove, spread a little olive oil on it and let it heat up for that ten minutes with medium heat. Once you start seeing a slight smoke coming out of your pan, you are all set to go. Be careful when placing your fish on the pan, because the oil is hot, you can easily burn your fingers. Gently, place your fish and do not turn them for five minutes.Which side to start with? No difference, but I normally start with the skinned side, so that when its crispy and cooked, it is easier to turn it with tongs.

Diecast pan with Bonito medallions

What is good with it?

Mixed green salad with French onion, corn and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt is Bonito's second best friend. Very easy to do, in fact you can have it in five minutes while your Bonitos are being cooked. Take a good size of lettuce, and fresh basil and use your hands to chop them off. Yes, you heard me right....Do not use knives when chopping greens. Simple tear them off into pieces. Now you are set to go cutting French onion. When finished with all chopping and tearing apart, just put everything in a nice salad bowl and add good portion of extra virgin olive oil, squeeze one medium size lemon, add some sea salt. Finally a can of corns to finish the final touch....

Lettuce, French Onion, Fresh Basil, Corn with simple Olive oil and lemon dressing

What is event better with it?

Yes, you are right...a glass of Raki, but for those who doesn't know what Turkish Raki is, let me give you a little explanation. I will let the Wikipedia do the work for me : Raki (Turkish: rakı,^[1] Ottoman Turkish: راقى, pronounced [ɾaˈkɯ]) is a Turkish unsweetened, anise-flavored hard alcoholic drink that is popular in Turkey and in the Balkan countries as an apéritif. It is often served with seafood or Turkish meze. It is similar to several other alcoholic beverages available around the Mediterranean, Albanian regions and the Middle East, e.g. pastis, ouzo, sambuca, arak, and aguardiente. It is considered as the nationalalcoholic beverage of Turkey.^[2] 

Should you wish to learn more about Raki here is the link for you:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raki)

Soon, I will write an entire page on Raki, its do's and dont's....

Don't forget....simpler it gets, tastier the food gets. So, dont try to go over your head trying to discover America again. Just keep it simple, believe me, people will love your food.

Enjoy your Palamut... Serefe ("Cheers" in Turkish)