December 15, 2011 Lunch - Istanbul Market and Deli; Dinner- Chickpea stew

December 15, 2011 Lunch - Istanbul Market and Deli; Dinner- Chickpea stew

I went to Istanbul Market to find fava beans and there were dozens of choices between prepared and plain beans in cans and dried beans.  I finally settled on three 24 oz. bags of large dried favas and then turned my attention to lunch.

The Deli is on one side of the store and seats about 30 people.  The menu is extensive.  I ordered my favorite, Kebbeh platter, and Peter Eller ordered a lamb shish kabob platter, with small cubes of flavored grilled lamb.  The platter contains your choice of meat or other dish on a bed of fluffy tumeric flavored rice, a pickle, a small pile of tabouli or hummus, and a salad with iceberg lettuce, fresh Middle Eastern cucumber slices, tomato slices, and a feta cheese dressing.  Each platter is served with a round slice of warm pita bread and a small cup of yogurt sauce.  The cost of each platter is $6.99; Peter and I both agreed that the food and the value were wonderful.

The Kebbeh platter had three halved kebbehs.  I love the kebbeh at Istanbul because they are stuffed, so to speak.  They are oblong with a deep fried grain outer shell and a soft meat and spice inner core, so they look like little boats floating on a turbulent yellow sea of rice.  I do not know exactly what the ingredients are but I guess bulgur wheat is the grain and lamb in the stuffing with cinnamon, allspice, fenugreek, cumin and a few other herbs and spices.  I taste wonderfully crunchy under a coating of cool spicy yogurt sauce.   I usually drink a pint bottle of mint flavored yogurt drink ($1.39).  The Deli serves baklava and other desserts, coffee and teas, if you want.

Istanbul Market is one of my favorite restaurants and stores in Albuquerque.  I feel so lucky to live in Albuquerque, with it abundance of ethnic markets and restaurants.  Besides Istanbul there are Alpine Sausage Factory, with its Northern European foods and Ta Lin with its extensive selection of oriental foods and produce and fish market.

When I returned home, I put the chickpea stew back on the stove and added most all of the ingredients in the Tapas recipe except for the saffron; 1 tablespoon ground cumin, a dash more salt, about 1/3 tsp. white pepper, and about ½ tsp. Spanish paprika (pimienton) and I substituted the last ½ pound of PPI blackened grilled marinated lamb left in the meat drawer of our fridge, chopped into bite sized pieces, for the Spanish sausage called for by the Spanish recipe.

 
When Suzette came home she said she did not want to cook because she had just left another Lucy celebration, so I dished up a bowl of the thickened stew, cut slices of Swiss Gruyere and laid them on sliced French bread and toasted the cheese sandwiches in the microwave for a minute to melt the cheese and fetched a bottle of Marques de Riscal Tempranillo from the cellar and poured a glass of it.  The chickpea stew was surprisingly more flavorful and tasty that last night’s effort.  I finally feel like I have crated a recipe for chickpeas that anyone would like, even picky carnivores like Suzette.   The stew now included an interesting balance of cooked winter greens, strongly flavored meat, the still crunchy chickpeas and the soft pureed chickpeas and vegetables with a more accentuated spice and herb (rosemary and thyme) and garlic flavor.

Suzette tried a bite of the stew and said it was better, which was the death knell for the dish making it onto Christmas Eve’s menu.  Suzette’s comment was that that it would be better to cook the beans slowly in our ceramic bean pot.  After talking to my brother, Bill, to confirm the purchase of fava beans, I followed his suggestion and immediately began soaking 1 cup of the favas in a pot of filtered water with 1 tsp. of baking soda to test the favas and baby clams recipe I want to use for Christmas Eve; another recipe in progress. 

Friday will be the beginning of shopping for Christmas Eve (nest Saturday night) Open House, if you do not count today, plus a German meatball dish Suzette wants to test this weekend, so I am getting excited.

Bon Appètit