There is a way that pumpkin (as well as gourd) is enjoyed in Turkey: kabak tatlısı, which, rather simply translates to `Gourd (in the case of pumpkin, we call it `Honey Gourd` Dessert`.
The dish is simple: cut some gourds (or pumpkins) to size, and cook them in a sherbet made of equal or slightly less/more amount of sugar by weight until they are soft.
A delicious, simple dish that many have grown up with. But I also want to offer an alternative, that is a specialty of Antakya/Hatay/Iskenderun region, made by using the humble lime!
No, not that lime! This lime:
Well, not in rock form but more like this:
Oh don't get so uppity! Those delicious tacos you eat? The tortillas are also treated with the same lime, in a process called nixtamalization! Usual pumpkin dessert is quite soft, but with the lime treatment, the outside gets a nice crunchy shell, and the inside remains nice and soft. Also, you can almost certainly get this at your local hardware store!
So let’s go through this. First, cut your pumpkins to size! Thinner than the first picture to give it a nice crunch and make sure that the inside gets cooked properly - but not too thin: we’re not making pumpkin chips here.
An image from Pinar’in mutfagi, shows the slicing procedure for a gourd:
(By the way, you can apply this procedure to a pumpkin as well)
Next mix the water and the lime at about 1 to 0.1: for, say, 5 kilograms of water, mix about 500 grams of lime. In American: for each 10 pounds of water, mix about a pound of lime.
Next stir, and let sit, until the mixture separates (usually takes about an hour or two).
Then put your sliced pumpkins (or gourds) into a large pot and slowly cover it with lime water (off the top, you don’t want any of the separated lime powder) until it is fully submerged.
After that, put a plate or whatever convenient weight you have to make sure that all of the pumpkin is submerged, and let it rest for a day (you can do it for shorter. Day is about right, though).
Next, thoroughly wash your pumpkins and let them sit in some clean water for a while (maybe an hour or so?). The purpose here is to clean off all the unnecessary lime that’s stuck of the pumpkin.
Add in some water (not too much, you don’t want to boil the pumpkins!) — say, for a pound of pumpkin, a little more than a cup of water. The water should settle in nicely at the bottom of the pot.
Next step, put all your pumpkins into a clean pot, and add equal amount of sugar by weight. (for every kilo/pound of pumpkin, add a kilo/pound of sugar). Don’t stir, but let it sit on top of your pumpkins.
Next, in medium heat, let your pot boil, and let the sugar slowly dissolve over the pumpkins.
Cook for about 2–3 hours until the pumpkins are nice and translucent:
And they have a nice hard crust on the outside, but are nice and soft on the inside:
Pour the remaining/reduced sherbet (from the sugar in the pan) on them.
Let them rest for a bit until they are cool (an hour or so should do the trick), and serve them with some crushed pistachios or walnuts or whatever else you feel makes them taste good. Maybe some clotted cream too. I’ve heard (though not tried myself), that tahin (tahini) improves their taste from this video (which also gives you a (Turkish) step-by-step visual recipe:
Enjoy!
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