Massaging a golden retriever’s paw while chatting with new friends and digesting a wonderfully home-cooked meal is probably the most comfortable experience I can imagine. It’s the kind of experience that I grew up with and something I’ve almost thought I would never experience in Turkey. Thanks to our hosts, Selda and her husband Ahmet, this was just one great moment in an evening of many.
Selda is the co-founder of YeatUp, a recently launched website aiming to connect great chefs and hosts with those looking for one-of-a-kind dining experiences. Active in over a dozen cities in Turkey and around the world, its service is of particular value to travelers and foreigners far from their own comforts of home. Never one to pass up great food and socializing, a crack team of Yabangee contributors; Franny Varty, Paz Griot, Minji Lee, Špela Grošelj, Melek and Michael Barngrover; embarked upon an evening of new foods and new friends.
As we entered into Selda and Ahmet’s chic two-floor home, we were greeted by their two friendly dogs (and sometimes by their shy cat). That already would’ve been enough to make my evening a success, there were more and we each ultimately discovered our favorite moments. As Paz observed, Selda and Ahmet’s home was very chic, and it was clear that we had entered into the abode of master hosts. Wine glasses waited at the ready with our names already written upon them in soft typography that fit perfectly a presentation that felt casual but had obviously been meticulously prepared for our pleasure.
Over glasses of sweet red wine leading into the meal, Selda spoke about a creative time in her life when she woke up every morning with one goal in mind: to make a list of what she loved to do. Her simple points were the following: a love for travel, for connecting with people, and for opportunities to enter the homes locals’ and smell what’s cooking in their kitchen. YeatUp is the manifestation of these loves. It’s this love of being a brief part of another home that surely speaks most powerfully to Yabangees young and old. Life in the big city can feel isolating and many of us share, but may be hesitant to speak about, the experience of coming ‘home’ to a lonely place. The feeling of being inside a fully furnished home and of sharing meals with large groups of friends, of sitting around tables adorned to their edges with chubby bowls of soup, salad, appetizers, and steaming main dishes, brings up a sweet aroma of nostalgia and a savory taste of home outside one’s home.
Minji later recounted that her attention was instantly taken by the aroma of buttered chicken, which turned out to be her favorite dish of the night. The source turned out to be upside-down pilaf and chicken dish made with organic chicken, white rice, carrots, onion, black pepper corn, butter, and a pinch of parsley and salt. The chicken and rice were prepared separately, then cooked together in a pot for a few hours until the rice absorbed the water and the chicken became crispy. Because there were quite a few vegetarians in the Yabangee contingent, Minji did her best, heroically and without shame, to finish the 10-person serving of upside down chicken pilaf by herself. She put up a good fight, but on this night the chicken pilaf won. The recipe is shared at the bottom of this review.
Despite the chicken pilaf core of the dinner, those of us who are vegetarian were not disadvantaged. Our collective dietary needs had been shared ahead of time, and Selda and Ahmet prepared a smorgasbord of traditional regional cuisines, many spiced up with personal twists. The eggplant with tahini and parsley and celery root with carrots were the definite crowd pleasers from the cold plate offerings. They were accompanied by a variety of fresh börek.
The conversations flowed as naturally and enjoyably as the delicious spread before us. We talked about some of the popular places that tourists often frequent in Turkey, such as Konya and Cappadocia. For Franny, hearing which food comes from which region and how different families prepare the same staple dishes was something she really enjoyed. Discussing the origins of particular foods parallels the inevitable discussions of our own personal journeys. In settings like this, one can truly appreciate how much eggplant muttabal might be a metaphor for our lives or how lentil çorba may be our spirit soup. We talked as well about our personal and professional experiences in Turkey, as well as the challenging and uplifting insights we’ve gained from them. Our host Ahmet himself came from Iraq before naturalizing in Turkey, and thus the table featured both Anatolian and Levantine flavors and a truly international range of topics.
The evening finished with a dessert of laz böreği served with coffee. As Minji put it, “it was the perfect mix of savory, sweet, crispy, and melty, and I was glad to have kept a margin of space in my stomach for it”.
Without reservation (except for the one needed by the website), our team loved the evening and our hosts and recommend YeatUp as an experience for anyone looking for a special evening of dinner and conversation in the home of interesting people. More eloquently put by Špela: “if Proust’s Madeleine can take you on an unaware journey of a memory, YeatUp can take you on an unexpected journey of a local dining culture. The experience definitely is for those who dare to meet new people and taste new food as sometimes stepping out of comfort zone can be the place for getting our best and most unique experiences”. Paz found YeatUp to be great for “anyone who enjoys the warm atmosphere of home-cooked meals and auspicious interactions between hosts and guests”.
We’re all looking forward to a second YeatUp experience, which may be in another city. As Franny observed, “YeatUp is a great way for Istanbul-living foreigners to experience home cooked regional food while travelling since the company has locations in most cities in Turkey. It would be a great way to connect even more with the local culture and environment while also visiting the historical sites or beautiful beaches on holiday”.
If you would like to try out the star dish of the night, here is the recipe.
Ingredients to prepare the chicken for the pilaf:
A Whole Organic Chicken
1 Carrot
1 Onion
A Pinch of Parsley
5 Pieces of Black Pepper Corn
A Pinch of Salt
Place all ingredients into a pressure cooker, add some water (the water needs to cover the chicken) and cook over a low heat for around an hour. Sieve the chicken broth and put aside 1,5 cup for the rice.
Ingredients to prepare the pilaf:
2 Fine-chopped Onion
750 Gr Carrots (Julienne-cut)
2 Tablespoons of Butter
A Cup of Rice
1,5 Cups of Chicken Broth
Directions:
Melt the butter in a pan.
Add the onion and carrots and cook until the onions become the same color as the carrots.
Break the cooked chicken into pieces and cover the base of the pot with the chicken.
Add the onion and carrots.
Soak the rice in lukewarm water, sieve it and rinse.
Add the rice into the pot and distribute evenly.
Take a spoon and make a hole in the center, add the chicken broth in here.
Cook on low heat until the rice absorbs the water.
Then cover the pot with kitchen paper and close the lid.
Cook for an additional hour until the chicken becomes crispy.
Afiyet olsun!
