Scaled to however many of you there are.
Change the headcount and the amounts follow. Salt and spice do not scale in a straight line, and we account for that.
Ali Nazik
The Gaziantep classic: charred aubergine crushed with garlicky yoghurt under sautéed lamb. Everything rests on properly charring the aubergine — made with oven-roasted aubergine, this is simply not the dish.
Green beans in olive oil
A classic that cooks in the vegetable’s own water, with none added. The secret is patience and a low flame: the beans sweat, they never boil.
Semolina halva with milk
A three-ingredient dessert on the table in twenty-five minutes. Its entire aroma comes from one step: toasting the semolina.
Menemen
Pepper, tomato and egg. Know the order and the heat and it takes fifteen minutes; miss them and you get a watery omelette.
Red lentil soup
Turkey’s default soup. Four ingredients, thirty-five minutes and one rule: the lemon is squeezed at the table.
Butter and cheese pasta
Three ingredients. What makes the difference is not an ingredient but the ladle of cooking water you keep.
Chickpea stew
Dried chickpeas, tomato paste and olive oil — and a pinch of bicarbonate that halves the cooking time.
Buttered pilaf
Separate grains are not a recipe but two steps: rinse it, and leave the lid alone.
Crêpes
Flour, egg, milk. The one condition for crêpes that do not tear is half an hour of rest.
Crushed potatoes with yoghurt
Boil, crush, roast. A rough surface means more crust.
Tahini and honey bowl
Two ingredients, five minutes. It seizes as you stir; keep going and it loosens.
Fried eggs in butter
Eight minutes and one number: the butter must not pass 150 °C.
Baked rice pudding
That mottled skin is Maillard, and it forms in the last ten minutes under the grill.
Pasta with tomato paste
There is no sauce until the paste has been fried: raw paste stays sour and metallic.
Spinach and eggs
Crack the eggs before the spinach has given up its water and a green puddle collects on the plate.